Chapter 26

Once they got inside the house, she thanked Craig for bringing her home. She couldn’t stop worrying about Dmitry.

She was afraid she would never see him alive again and wished she had told him that she was in love with him.

Whether he felt the same way or said it back, she didn’t care; she should have let him know regardless.

“Mr. Smirnov is a brilliant man; he will be all right,” Craig said when he saw how worried she looked.

She turned to look at him and spoke in a harsh tone.

“Oh. It wasn’t that long ago that you brought him home with a bullet in his shoulder; it could have been in his heart.

“You men are supposed to protect him at all costs. I suggest you go wherever he is and help protect him.”

“Sorry, Miss, my orders are to stay here and protect you.”

She went over to him and poked her finger in his chest.

“I don’t give a damn what he told you to do. I have plenty of security around this fucking place.

“I can’t even go to the kitchen without tripping over one of his men. I’m ordering you to go and help keep him safe and alive. Now go,” she said, shouting at him.

He took a step back; a cold chill ran down his spine.

He ran his fingers through his hair. He knew right then that he was going to follow her orders, even if it meant Dmitry would probably want to kill him.

As he left and got into his car, he knew that he had just met the female version of Dmitry Smirnov.

He smiled to himself, thinking she would make a great boss if anything were to happen to his present boss.

***

Craig made it to the location where Dmitry and the other men were just as gunshots were fired.

He had parked his car further down the road so that whoever might be watching wouldn’t see him.

Pulling out his gun, he snuck quietly through the night toward the warehouse.

Sneaking behind one of the enemies, he placed his arm around his neck and snapped it—killing him instantly.

He went inside, nodding to Dmitry’s men, letting them know he was there to help.

There was a lot of yelling and shots fired, and as he rounded the corner, he saw his boss on his knees with his hands behind his head and a man pointing a gun at him.

Dmitry saw Craig edging his way closer but did not let on that he was there.

“You know you won’t get out of this alive,” he said to the man pointing his gun at him.

The man laughed at him.

“That’s where you are wrong, my old friend. Once you are dead, your empire will collapse; I’ll take everything that once belonged to you.

“That includes that sweet little girl you knocked up. Don’t worry. I will take care of her and the child. If it’s a girl, I will sell her to the highest bidder, and if it’s a boy, I will just kill him.”

Dmitry smirked.

“That’s going to be a little hard for you to do with a bullet in the back of your head.”

As soon as he said that, Craig pulled the trigger on his gun, and the bullet went into the back of the man’s head as he fell to the ground.

“Are you okay, boss?”

Dmitry got off his knees, picked up his gun, and stared at Craig.

“You want to tell me what the fuck you are doing here when I told you to stay with Danica?”

“I didn’t want to leave her, but she ordered me to come and help protect you.”

“Since when do you take orders from her?” he snapped at him.

“Frankly, she scared the living shit out of me when she threatened me. But before I left, I told the other guards to keep an eye on her.”

“Well, you saved my life, so thank you. Now, let’s get back to the others and clean up this mess.”

As they walked back to where the others were, he couldn’t help but smile at himself, picturing her scaring a big man like Craig.

She was becoming tougher, but he didn’t want her to change too much. He liked how she was now—soft, sweet, and innocent.

By the time they had cleaned up and disposed of the bodies, it was really late.

He was anxious to get home, crawl into bed, and maybe get some nighttime action.

***

Back at the house:

She went up to the bedroom and got undressed, taking off her jewelry; she placed them inside the safe.

Looking at the guns inside, she picked one up and held it.

She decided it was time she learned to use one, so she would ask him to teach her.

Locking the safe, she put on her nightgown and got into bed.

She couldn’t sleep; all she could think of was Dmitry and whether he was safe.

She lay in bed, rubbing her stomach.

~Don’t worry, little one; your daddy is very smart and brave, and he will return to us in one piece.~

Not being able to fall asleep, she got up and went out onto the balcony.

The later it got, the more worried she became.

She was in a foul mood when she heard their bedroom door opening.

He walked into their bedroom and started removing his clothes.

He noticed she wasn’t in bed, and seeing the door to the balcony was open, he knew she had to be out there.

Wearing only his pants, he went out onto the balcony.

“It is very late; why are you not in bed?”

She turned to face him in anger.

“Why am I not in bed? How do you expect me to sleep when you’re out God knows where and doing God knows what?”

“Danica, you know I had to take care of business.”

“Oh, please. You have an army of men that can do these things for you. There’s no reason to put yourself in more danger. Have you forgotten that you’ve got a child on the way who will need their father?”

He ran his fingers through his hair, and a dull throb started at the base of his neck.

“I am tired and not in the mood to fight with you. You also know that I will not discuss my business with you. Now, let’s fucking go to bed.”

When he turned his back on her and went to walk away, she gave him a little push.

“You bastard, don’t you care anything for me or our unborn child? I was worried sick about you.”

He was not in the mood to be pushed by anyone—not even her.

He grabbed her arms and put her up against the wall; he was breathing heavily as his anger rose.

“You know I care about you and the baby. Don’t you ever accuse me of not caring. I told you from the beginning this is my life, which is now yours, so you better get used to it, or you can leave once the baby is here.

“I will not have anyone talk to me this way, especially a woman.”

“I will not leave my child with a bunch of monsters; if I go, the baby comes with me.”

“You will never take my child away from me. I saved you from a life of prostitution, and yet you act so ungratefully.”

She stared into his eyes; she was not about to back down.

“Yes, you saved me from Rudy, and in its place, you made me your private prostitute. I’m nothing more than your whore who is carrying your child. Get your hands off me and sleep in one of the other bedrooms.”

His eyes narrowed and turned dark.

“This is my home, and I am the boss, and I will be sleeping in here with you beside me. Now get your ass into bed,” he said, releasing her.

He walked away from her, returned to the bed, removed his pants, and got in.

This was their first real fight, and it was a doozy.

He felt terrible for what he had said to her; he didn’t mean it, but she had pushed his buttons.

He lay back and closed his eyes.

He knew she was just worried about him, and her pregnancy hormones made things worse.

He opened his eyes when he heard her sniffling; she was lying far away from him with her back to him.

Sitting up in bed, he rubbed the back of his head; a headache was coming.

“You are not my whore, nor are you my prostitute. I did not mean anything I said, and I do not want you to leave. I know it seems like lately there’s been a lot of violence and that I have been gone a lot the last few days. You’re right. I have an army of men who can follow up on my orders. You have to understand that there will be times when I have to show my face and get involved. I have to show my men and enemies that I am not afraid to get my hands dirty and that I mean business. It is the only way to keep them fearing me.”

She turned around and sat up, wiping her tears away.

“Do you know why I am so upset?”

“Because I am your baby’s father, and you were worried about me.”

“The reason that I worry about you is because I am in love with you.”

She finally told him this, and she was hoping he would say it back.

He lowered his head, shaking it.

“I told you not to fall in love with me.”

He looked at her, and his heart melted when he saw that her eyes were still full of tears.

“I cannot say it back.”

She laid back down, looking up at the ceiling.

“I know you can’t or won’t. I just wanted you to know that I love you, which is why I worry about you. I don’t want ever to lose you.”

He shifted his body so that he was leaning over her.

“I am so sorry for getting angry with you. I am just tired and a little stressed out. I want you to know that I have deep feelings for you and will never hurt you.”

She reached her hands up to run her fingers through his hair.

“I know you do, and I’m sorry for freaking out on you. I should never have pushed you. Kiss me.”

He smiled; he was so relieved that their fight was over.

“It will be my pleasure,” he said, lowering his mouth onto hers.

What was supposed to be a sweet kiss turned into something much more.

Before they knew it, they had been engaged in a lovely and passionate lovemaking session.

The following day, he kept staring at her over breakfast, and she noticed.

“Why are you staring at me?”

“I was just thinking about something.”

“And what would that be?” she asked, hoping he wasn’t still mad at her for last night.

“How would you like to spend a few weeks in Scotland?”

“Scotland, are you kidding me? I would love to go there. I’ve always wanted to go there. Wait, are you not planning on sending me there alone? I was a nightmare last night, but I thought we had made up.”

He reached over and took hold of her hand.

“No, you silly woman, I will be going with you. It would be good for us to get away for a while. Nobody knows me there, and we can move around on our own. Have some fun, go to the pubs, do some shopping. It’s my way of making up for stressing you out last night and the way I spoke to you. I want to tell you again how sorry I am. I was way out of line.”

She got off her seat and sat on his lap, putting her arms around his neck.

“It is I who should apologize to you. I acted up; instead of yelling at you and pushing you, I should have jumped into your arms and thanked God for sending you back to me alive and safe.”

He kissed her cheek, his hand caressing her leg.

“I have one thing to say to you, and it’s about Craig. You must not give my men orders; they must only follow mine.”

She lowered her head and chewed on her bottom lip.

“I know, and I’m sorry, but I worried about you. I’m afraid I was a bit harsh with him and will apologize.”

He chuckled.

“You know you scared the shit out of him. That’s a good thing, though; you’ve earned his respect. Now, get off my lap before you give me a hard-on—so that I can go into my office and start making plans for our trip. We will leave sometime this afternoon, so get the maids to pack some clothes for us.”

She was so excited she placed her mouth over his and gave him a kiss that got his member twitching before jumping off him and hurrying out of the room.