"I'm really sorry. I know you two were close."

"We were. But no one lays a hand on what's mine without paying for it," he says, reaching across and caressing my cheek with the back of his hand. "He will pay with his life for scaring you."

I bite in on my lower lip and Dimitri's head tilts, his gaze trailing over my face before he stands.

"We will talk more about this tonight," he says before helping me up from the couch. "For now, go get changed, and we'll go to dinner as if this the romantic date I owe you."

His mouth presses against mine, briefly, and though there's still so much to say, I go and get changed.

The sky is a brilliant navy blue, the moon peeking up from the horizon, and the coolness of evening meets the heat of the day. The restaurant Dimitri takes me to is gorgeous, and we're sat outside, fragrant flowers illuminated under sparkling lights.

The last twenty four hours has been terrifying, and there's been a knot of tension in my stomach ever since, but as I let the warm, Cyprus air caress me, I start to feel like a human again.

Dimitri's dressed in a white button-down shirt, and he looks almost as good in clothes as he does naked. Almost. The shirt still strains against his muscles, and his smile twinkles to his eyes.

"I was expecting we'd do this back in the city, but this is even nicer," he says, relaxing back in his chair. "I will have to thank Slava for that one thing."

The fact that he's speaking so casually about a man he's planning on killing disarms me, but I'm not repulsed by it. I should be, but I'm not.

It feels so wrong that it doesn't feel wrong.

I cross my legs and Dimitri leans in, his eyes sparkling. Our dishes are cleared away and we're just waiting on our dessert. Everything is so terrible and perfect all at once.

Sure, if you can ignore Dimitri's involvement in the Russian Mafia, and pretend you're both on vacation rather than planning to kill someone, life's wonderful, my brain sarcastically muses.

But when Dimitri reaches into his pocket, and takes out a small, black, velvet box, my thoughts go silent. It feels like the world has stopped, the conversations at the nearby tables fading into the background. Everything has grown quiet and slow.

When he opens the box and reveals the most beautiful ring I've ever seen, my heart stops.

"I know this is sudden, but the second you walked back into my life, I knew that was it for me. I wanted to do this last night, but I can't think of a more perfect place to ask. Sarah, will you be mine?"

Tears flood my cheeks, all of the tension and stress washed away with the tenderness of his words. The beautiful stone catches the light, little diamonds surrounding the blue sapphire. I reach out, my fingertips grazing over it, and never have I wanted something - someone - so bad.

"Dimitri, of course!" I cry out, nearly knocking the table over as I lunge towards him, my arms wrapping around his neck.

He laughs, picking me up and holding me to his chest as his mouth moves against mine. The restaurant bursts into applause, and I don't even care that they're all watching as we make out. I'm going to get married! To Dimitri!

He lifts me up, spinning me around, and I've never seen him look so damn happy in my life. We're reduced to giggling, giddy messes, and when the waiter returns, it's with a bottle of wine and the most delectable pastries.

Dimitri settles me back on the ground, putting the ring on my finger, and for the rest of the meal, all I can think of is getting him back to the villa and really celebrating.

"I called in a favor," Dimitri explains to me as a tired looking banker unlocks the building.

It's already after ten, and even with the jetlag, I'm buzzed. Excitement courses through my veins along with the wine, and I can't stand still.

Dimitri laughs, putting his hand on my hip before kissing me.

"Calm down. We'll be home soon," he says with a smile. But when he stands up and looks over my shoulder, his entire demeanor changes. What he sees literally sobers him, and before I know what's happening, he sets off running.

Just like that our moment of peace, our brief little fantasy of being a normal couple, vanishes.

"Dimitri!" I cry out in surprise. When I spin around I see Dimitri in fast pursuit of Slava. The dark, narrow streets don't give either of them much leeway.

"Where's he going?" asks the banker.

"Wait here!" I shout as I take off my high heels and sprint in their direction.

Dimitri reaches for the back of his pants, grasping his gun.

I'm behind them though, and I can barely catch a glimpse of the two sprinting men. Dimitri's almost as fast as he is strong, after all, but Slava is fueled with terror.

Dimitri's gun is out as his legs pump, but he can't get a clear shot. Every time he's lining it up, Slava darts down another turn. It's frustrating for me just to watch, but I know it's too dangerous to risk a shot. We're in another country, and we don't know the place, what if a stray bullet hits someone?

Slava runs out of the alleyway and into the streets, and though the hour was late the night crowd was out. Dimitri has to lower his gun, hide it in his jacket as he pushes past the people. One woman on a bike nearly crashes into Dimitri, but he dodges out of the way in time, while Slava is hit by her riding companion who goes toppling into the road.

It isn't enough to stop Slava though, and he scrambles up and across the street onto the sidewalk.

The chase carries on, and I have to make my way across the street to horns honking angrily at me. Luckily the two men created enough commotion that it's stalled traffic so I can get by safely.

Slava shoves a man down so that Dimitri has to leap over him, and Dimitri is clearly losing his patience as he hauls his gun back out. Slava dashes down into an alleyway again before he can use it.

It takes me a few moments more before I can get there, but once I do I arrive in time to see Slava encounter two people in the alleyway. It's a cop and some criminal he's arresting, but instead of calling for help, Slava grabs the officer, slams his face to the wall, seeming to knock him out as he pulls the gun from the cop's holster.

Dimitri acts fast though and fires. Screams fill the night as people hear the gunshot, and then Slava cries out in pain.

Slava's gun clatters to the ground and he turns to run again. Dimitri fires once more, but Slava's gait is uneven and the shot misses, instead hitting the cement wall.

Dimitri's closing in on him, running past the cowering crook and the battered officer and back out into the streets after Slava. It's no longer safe to shoot but he's nearly got him as Slava's pace slows while cradling his wounded, bleeding arm.

He's just a few paces away, but then as Slava rushes into the streets a bus barrels past, kicking up dirt and dust.

Dimitri comes to an abrupt halt, narrowly avoiding crashing into the vehicle. But it's not the last; two more busses pouring out of the shopping center all at once come by, and Dimitri is fuming. His gun is tucked into his coat, hand still grasping it, but even as I get beside him, neither of us can see any sign of Slava in the brief glimpses between the busses.

When finally they're gone, we're left standing, facing an empty side of the street. I can barely catch my breath, my hand going to Dimitri's arm.

"Wait," I say, "the blood trail!" It's dark, with only the street lights to guide us, but with some effort I can see the dark blood in the moonlight.

Dimitri's beside me, vigilant as I look at the inky-black droplets of blood on the pavement and then sidewalk. We follow it across the road until...

It just stops.

"Dammit!" Dimitri curses as we trace the blood off the sidewalk, where it just ends in the road, as if he'd climbed aboard a car and disappeared.

I slump, defeated, before looking up at Dimitri.

"He knows we're here now," he says with a sneer. "We need to find out where he's staying."

A lightbulb goes off in my head. Joanna might be just the woman to help.

Chapter 28.

"Hey, Joanna?"

"Sarah? What's up? You didn't come home last night."

Oh, right. This is awkward. How to tell your roommate you ran off to Cyprus on a private jet at the last minute?

"It's a really, really long story and I'll tell you all about it soon, but I need a favor."

"A favor?"

"You know how much you love background check stuff?"

"Uh-huh."

"Well... I need you to do something for me. I need you to find out where someone owns property in Cyprus. Limassol is the town. The problem is that he might have bought it in cash, outright. The owner is Slava Romonov."

I hear her typing, along with all the unasked questions lingering between us.

"Jeez, first hit is that he did time for being an enforcer in the Russian Mafia?"

"Yea... Yea, that's him. How long do you think it'll take?"

"Well, if he paid cash, I'm probably going to have to do a lot more digging, but you know me. I love a challenge!" she says, chipper as ever. "When are you coming home?"

"Probably not for a little while. Just give me a call when you find something out?"

"Aye-aye, roommate. Are you with Dimitri?"

"Yea."

She lets out a low whistle.

"I still can't get the image of him in that towel out of my head."

I glance over at Dimitri who's pacing behind me, his brow furrowed in thought. My thumb runs over my engagement ring and smile. I'll tell her about all this later.

"Me neither," I admit. "I'd really appreciate if you could come back with something fast. It's important."

Dimitri looms over me on the bed, his dark eyes still sparkling with lust as our bodies grind together in the aftermath of our lovemaking. It's early morning, but both of us are jet lagged and running on adrenaline.

"Every time I look at you, you seem too good for this world," he murmurs with a bit of gravel to his voice. His fingers gently stroke along my cheek bone, around the shell of my ear as he tucks my blonde hair behind it.

"Dimitri..." It makes my heart pitter when he talks like this, and I quiet him with a gentle kiss.

"I'm serious," he breathes against my lips. "You're too good for me. I'll never know why you came back to get wrapped up in all this shit."

"Well... I didn't really know that I'd be surrounded by murder and death."

"True," he says as his thumb traces along my lower lip. "But you know now. And you're still here. If it'd been any other girl, she'd have thrown up and run the other way. Run to the cops. Something."

"It's never even occurred to me..."

"I know it hasn't. But maybe it should have. Maybe it still will."

I shake my head, his weight pressing down on me.

"Dimitri, you just proposed, and I just said yes. I'm not going anywhere. I love you."

"How can you love someone like me?"

"It's easy. I know you'll never hurt me. That you'll never do anything to hurt me. Isn't that what everyone wants? Someone to protect them and make them feel wanted? Desired? You do all of that and more. It's not... pretty, but Dimitri, it's not like you killed those guys for no reason. They were bad guys."

"To them, I'm the bad guy."

"Well," I say, my hand going to his bare back, tracing over the angel wings he has there that match mine. "They're wrong."

He kisses me, hunger and passion driving him as his body envelopes mine.

"Once I take care of Slava, we can really start fresh. I'll explain that he betrayed me, that he betrayed my mother. We're not to fuck with each other's families, and Slava and his goons know it. He was playing a dangerous game, and he knows he's lost."

"Once we take care of him," I correct.

He shakes his head.

"No, Sarah. It's been a mistake to let you get so far in. You can't get involved any more than you already are. That's my condition. When we get home, you leave my work to me, and you do your own thing."

"Dimitri, my own thing is spying! C'mon, you know I'm good at this. I can help you!"

"I can't let you get hurt, Sarah. Seeing you taken by those guys... By my own associates? How can you ask me to let you do that again?"

"But Dimitri-"

"No, Sarah. This is my one condition. If you can't handle this, then just walk away now. You have all the money you could ever want for, and I'd give you more. It doesn't mean anything to me if you're hurt or worse."