Page 84 of Savage Little Secret

Victor scoffs at me and drops back down into his chair, his face red. “If you truly care about your family and the Bratva, you need to do some damage control before we’re all doomed from your mistakes. Either marry Annika or at least give up the exiled Italian to cleanse this bad blood with the Ferros.”

I told Luca that I wouldn’t throw him to the wolves. He helped me get Cara back, and I don’t plan on rewarding his aid by stabbing him in the back. What kind of man would that make me?

“I won’t do either of those things,” I tell them, hearing a collection of frustrated, disbelieving groans and grumbles.

“Do you understand what kind of danger you’re putting the Bratva in? Unnecessarily?” Valentin snaps at me.

“The Italians have always been a threat!” I bite back, my anger starting to crest. “They’re not innocent. They’re not our friends. We were bound to clash with them eventually, and they are the ones who declared war by taking Cara from me!”

“She is not one of us!” Victor says as he slams his fist against the top of the table, making it shudder from the force.

“If she’s with me, she is,” I grit out before casting them all a warning glare. “And if anyone touches her again, I won’t hunt for proof. I’ll start with this table.”

Eyes widen in bewilderment as silence fills the room. Just for a second, though. An explosion of angry voices follows, demanding that I be exiled or punished for the blasphemy that I just spewed.

I’m tired of hearing it.

“I think this meeting is over,” I say as I stand from my seat and button my suit jacket. “Remember what I said. Don’t even think about going near Cara.”

“Dmitri!” Victor shouts after me as I stride toward the double doors.

I ignore him and all the rest yelling after me. If I go back in there, they’ll just tell me the same shit that they’ve already spouted. Marry Annika. Give up Luca. Toss aside Cara.

I won’t do any of that.

Maybe I was obedient before because I cared about titles and positions, but obsessing over those things has gotten me nowhere.

The only thing that has given me power and strength is falling in love with a woman that I shouldn’t have.

Loving her didn’t weaken me. It showed me exactly what I’m willing to burn down.

Once I leave the building, I walk over to the next street where Mark is behind the wheel of a black sedan waiting for me. I get into the passenger’s seat and shut the door, nodding for him to drive off.

“Take me back to the penthouse. I’m canceling all my other meetings today,” I tell him.

After that unproductive talk, I don’t want to be away from Cara for too long. I trust Isaak to defend her if anything happens, but no one will protect her the way I will.

Mark nods as he pulls away from the sidewalk. “Anything else you need?”

“I need you and the others to discreetly keep an eye on the Council members,” I tell him.

Mark glances over at me with widening eyes. “The Council members? Why?”

“I don’t trust them,” I state as I text Isaak to get an update on how things are at my building. “They’re not very happy about what went down with the Italians. They want me to give up Luca.”

Mark draws in a deep breath before sighing. “I don’t typically trust those outside of the Bratva, but Luca did help us.”

“Loyalty doesn’t mean what it used to,” I tell him as my eyes sweep from window to window, checking our surroundings. “You’re supposed to be loyal to your family and direct allies. Now, you can’t even trust those who are supposed to have your back. You can put more trust in the man who used to be your sworn enemy.”

Mark taps his thumb against the top of the steering wheel, fidgeting as he waits at a stoplight. “When did things get so goddamn complicated?”

“When power and money became more important than family and trust,” I reply, remembering back in the day how tight-knit families were. Now, they’re all splintered, torn apart by greed.

“Do you think there’s any way to get back to that?” Mark asks me.

“Only if the people in charge stop feeding on everyone beneath them,” I say.

Mark lets out a little scoff as he presses down on the gas, heading in the direction of my penthouse. “I don’t see how that can happen. Not without a bunch of people dying.”