Page 20 of Bratva Prince

“I was so worried,” he muttered against her hair.

The words stunned her more thoroughly than the attack itself.For several long seconds she couldn’t even remember how to speak.It didn’t seem like he was lying, the emotions on his face were too genuine, too heartfelt.

Dimitri finally pulled back enough to look at her.He kept his hands firmly on her shoulders, as though he needed to reassure himself she was actually standing there.His grip wasn’t painful, but it was tight enough for Sofia to feel the lingering adrenaline running through him.

“You should have run,” he said in a rough voice.

Sofia blinked, noting the slight anger in his voice.She was still trying to catch up with everything that had happened.Her ears were ringing from the gunshot.

Her pulse refused to slow.The assassin’s body lay only a few feet away, a grim reminder of how close the night had come to ending very differently.

“What?”she managed.

“You should have listened.”There it was, the sharp edge returning to his voice.Dimitri continued, “If I tell you to run, you run.”

Sofia stared at him.For a moment she’d almost forgotten who he was because of the fierce embrace, the fear she’d seen in his eyes, and the way he’d held her like losing her would have destroyed him.

Now the familiar Dimitri was reappearing.The controlled one.The dangerous one.The man who disguised concern as irritation because it was safer than admitting he cared.

Something inside her settled.Oddly enough, it was easier to deal with his annoyance than whatever had possessed him thirty seconds ago.Sofia crossed her arms.

“I only saved you because if you die, our alliance collapses.”

The excuse sounded weak the moment it left her mouth, and she knew it.Judging by the look on Dimitri’s face, he knew it too.He narrowed his eyes slightly, clearly not buying her lie.

Unfortunately for him, Sofia wasn’t about to tell the truth.She wasn’t about to admit that when she’d opened the door and seen an assassin strangling him on the floor, her heart had practically stopped.

Like hell she would tell him that genuine panic had ripped through her, or that she’d never moved so fast in her life.Those truths were infinitely more dangerous than any gunman.

Dimitri studied her for several long seconds.The silence stretched.His gaze moved across her face as though searching for something.A crack, confession, anything.Then, unexpectedly, he let it go.

Perhaps because he already knew the answer, or at the very least, Dimitri understood that neither of them was ready to discuss it.

Outside the room, footsteps thundered down the hallway, voices barked orders, and doors were slammed.The attack was ending.

Gradually the sounds of chaos began to fade.

No more gunfire or explosions echoed through the estate, shouting ceased, but Sofia thought she glimpsed Volkov men securing the grounds outside the nearby window.

The sudden quiet felt almost eerie after so much violence.Dimitri’s attention shifted toward the bedroom door.

“Our men handled the rest,” he said, voice once more cold and controlled.

The vulnerability she’d witnessed moments earlier vanished so quickly she almost wondered if she’d imagined it.

“They wouldn’t stop until every attacker was dead,” he finished.

Sofia believed him without question.The Volkovs inspired many things, and mercy wasn’t one of them.She glanced toward the dead assassin on the floor.

“What really happened?I thought the security at the estate was air-tight,” Sofia said.

Dimitri tightened his jaw.“I intend to find out.”

Sofia realized it was back to business now.The moment between them evaporated beneath both.He released her shoulders and stepped away.The absence of contact felt strangely noticeable.Sofia immediately hated herself for noticing.

Dimitri bent beside the bed and retrieved another handgun from a hidden compartment built into the nightstand.His movements were efficient despite the bruises already darkening along his throat.

Blood still stained his collar.The sight bothered her more than it should have.He checked the weapon, loaded it, then looked at her.