Page 201 of Marrying My Ex's Brother
Good. I’m glad it still hurts.
“Where is he?” I ask.
Dmitri smiles.
That smile used to make me feel chosen. Now it makes my skin crawl.
“You came.”
“Where’s my father?”
“You came alone.”
“Dmitri.”
“I wasn’t sure you would.” He takes a step closer. “I thought perhaps my brother had trained you too well already.”
I stay where I am, though every instinct screams at me to move back. “If you hurt him?—”
“You always were dramatic about Sergei.”
“Where is he?”
Dmitri tilts his head. “Do you really care?”
I hate my father enough that the feeling has become part of my bones, but I still hear his voice in my memories. I still see him at dinner, talking too loudly about Volkov connections. I still see the brief flash of fear in his eyes when he told me men would kill him.
“I came,” I say, forcing my voice steady. “Now show me he’s alive.”
Dmitri’s smile widens. The truth arrives before he says anything.
My father is not here.
Maybe he never was.
My stomach drops. “You lied.”
He lifts one shoulder. “You wouldn’t have come otherwise.”
The fear changes shape. Anger floods in so fast it almost steadies me.
“You used his phone.”
“He’s very careless with his things.”
“What did you do to him?”
“Nothing that should concern you.”
“You said?—”
“I said what I needed to say.”
I stare at him, suddenly understanding just how stupid I have been.
Not naive. Not trusting.
Stupid.
