Dating A Hitman (The Dating Series Book 4)

by Love, B. T.

  Now that was a name I knew very well. I watched Dimitri’s smug face as he began speaking Russian so I wouldn’t be able to understand what he was discussing. After a few minutes he hung up and put the phone back in his jacket pocket.

  “Well I have a little bit of good news,” he said as he clapped his hands together in front of him. “Your father has a business associate by the name of Vladimir Koval who has agreed to lend your father one hundred thousand.”

  The news was surprising. It was good, but yet bad at the same time. “I know who he is. But why is he not paying all of it?” I asked.

  Dimitri laughed. “You must not know your father very well. He owes a lot of people money, Vladimir included. But you still mustn’t worry, because the other two hundred and fifty thousand he owes, well that’s just chump change. Your father will find a way I’m sure. I have faith in him if you do.”

  But I didn’t have faith in my father. If he owed so many people already, how was he going to get so much together so quickly if no one else was willing to help him out?

  “Is there anything I can do?” I pleaded desperately. “I, I’ll do anything; just don’t kill me, please!”

  He relaxed against the seat and stared blankly at me. “You know, Vladimir isn’t the type of man to care whether or not someone’s family is tied up in something like this. In fact, Vladimir told me he wouldn’t care so much if I killed you if you weren’t such a striking beauty. He offered a little money in case it would spare you . . .” He rubbed his chin as he entertained a thought in his head. “I think our friend has a little crush on you, Scarlett. Maybe, if you father doesn’t come through, I might just pass you on to Vladimir. If he pays me the other two hundred and fifty thousand I am owed, of course.”

  My will to go on was slowly fading away. “You, you want to sell me?” I asked, the question coming out barely above a whisper.

  “Yes, but it will be okay. Vladimir is a good man and I hear he is only rough in the bedroom on Sundays.” He laughed and leaned forward, slapping me hard on the shoulder. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding. He’s rough all days.”

  My head dropped and I stared down at my chest. How could my world go from being perfect one day, to devastating the next? But as much as I was torn apart by what was happening, I wasn’t going to give up. I looked back up and glared at him, putting on my best game face. “You’re a coward,” I told him.

  His smile faded. “I thought you would be a little smarter than that, Scarlett. Didn’t your father ever teach you to respect a man, especially one who is in such a high position as I am?”

  “My father never taught me anything,” I growled.

  “Well I will dismiss it this time, just because you have, what do they call it, daddy issues.”

  My body shook as I gathered all the saliva I could in my mouth and then spit it out in his direction. “I won’t be sold.”

  He kept calm as he brought his hand up and brushed away the beads of spit that had hit the front of his suit. “Stupid woman.” He stood up and towered tall above me. “I was trying to keep the integrity of your beautiful face, but it looks like things are starting to change.” He pulled his arm back and then swung it forward, landing a solid slap across my cheek; I cried out from the sharp sting.

  I gathered myself and looked back up at him. “You Russian piece of shit,” I said before spitting at him once again.

  He lunged forward and grabbed onto my face with his hand, squeezing his fingers harshly into my cheeks. “Oh, little girl, you don’t know who you’re dealing with.” He slapped me again, this time even harder than the first time; I could feel the trickle of blood start to make a trail from my nostril.

  “I won’t be sold,” I whispered once again.

  The door opened behind him. He gathered himself and stood tall, looking down at me. “David, we’re having an issue with this little Nicoletti bitch,” he said as he fisted my hair and pushed my head back up from slumping down at my chest. “I think you’ll need to put the fear of god into her for me.”

  There was silence in the room. Dimitri looked back over his shoulder and chuckled as he slowly moved next to me, cranking my head all the way back with the pulling of my hair.

  “Let her go.”

  My eye’s shot open at the sound of Troy’s voice. I tried hard to cut my eyes down to see him but all I could see was the ceiling.

  “You know me, Dimitri. I’m not gonna ask you again.”

  When he unraveled his fingers I brought my head down and focused on Troy. He was standing firmly by the front door, dressed solidly in black from head to toe, and his hand was gripping tightly onto a blood-covered machete; my machete.

  A chuckle rumbled from Dimitri’s chest. “I see you’ve found David.”

  Troy stayed as still as a statue, his eyes focused intently on Dimitri.

  “It’s a shame,” Dimitri went on. “I really liked him.”

  “We’re done here,” Troy said, taking a step forward.

  “Ah ah ah,” he replied as he pulled a knife from his pants pocket and flicked it open, placing the blade against my neck. “You know me, Mr. Valenti. I don’t give up that easily.”

  My tears clouded my eyes as I sobbed in the quiet room. Troy took another step forward, and then another. It was amazing how eerily quiet he was; you couldn’t even hear the heaviness of his boots against the wooden floor. He knew exactly what he was doing.

  Dimitri dug the knife deeper into the side of my neck. “Don’t test the waters, Troy.”

  He took another step. “I have two hundred thousand.”

  “Really?” he said with amusement. He leaned down to the side to see me. “See?” he said, patting me harshly on my cheek with his free hand. “I told you your dad would come through for you.”

  “Mitch didn’t come through for her; I did.”

  “Really,” Dimitri said, standing back up. “Hmm. Well, all that matters is that I get what’s owed to me; I don’t care whose pocket it came from. If we add that to what Vladimir is willing to contribute, then we’re only fifty thousand away.”

  Troy’s eyes bored into him. “Take the knife away from her neck.”

  “I’ll take it away when I have the cash in my hand. All of the cash in my hand.”

  “I’ll get you what I have when you remove the knife.”

  “Oh, come on Troy,” he chuckled. “You can trust me. You used to work for me, remember?”

  “That was a long time ago,” he replied calmly.

  “Well, David’s position just opened up, as you already know, and I would love to offer it to you.”

  “No thanks.”

  “What, you wouldn’t work for me again?” he asked, his voice unusually cheerful.

  “Not on my life.”

  Dimitri glanced down at me. “But what about on her life?

  Troy’s eyes burned into him. “Take the knife away from her neck.”

  Dimitri chuckled. “Oh, Troy. Well I guess it looks as though we’re at a standstill. Because I think I’ve changed my mind about all this. I don’t want the money anymore, I want you. I can really use your services.”

  “That’s not gonna happen.”

  “Oh, come on.” He took the knife away from my neck and held his arm out to his side as he shrugged. “We’re like family.”

  Troy took advantage of the short opportunity he had. In a flash he brought his arm up and flicked his wrist, quickly sending a throwing knife into Dimitri’s gut; I didn’t even realize that it had been concealed in his other hand the whole time. I cowered in the chair next to him as he doubled over, screaming in agony.

  In less time that I had to blink, Troy’s arm was wrapped around Dimitri’s head and he pulled it back, placing the bloody machete up against the front of his neck. “I don’t think there’s a way this can end any differently,” Troy said calmly next to his ear. “Now drop the knife.”

  Dimitri smiled through his unbearable pain as the knife Troy lodged in his stomach continued to delve deeper int
o his flesh with each of his movements. “I’m just an old man, Troy. Surely we can come to an agreement.”

  “Any opportunity we had to agree on something passed when you put your hand on Scarlett. Drop your knife.”

  “If you say so.” He swung his arm down and back in an attempt to connect with Troy’s body. Troy moved as he held him, trying to dodge the attack. When Dimitri swung a second time he connected with his side.

  Troy growled from the pain. “Close your eyes, Scarlett,” he ordered me.

  I knew what he was about to do; I knew he was going to slit Dimitri’s throat. But for whatever the reason, I couldn’t bring myself to look away. “No,” I shouted.

  “Close your eyes!”

  “Just do it, Troy!”

  He pulled his arm back swiftly, slicing through the delicate flesh of his neck in one smooth motion, the action sending speckles of his blood spraying across my face as the machete cut through his veins. Dimitri gurgled something incomprehensible as his blood poured out of his mouth and spilled down from the deep gouge Troy had made. The life in his eyes faded away and Troy dropped his body to the floor, completing his job.

  I was shaking uncontrollably as he sat the bloody machete on the table and then crouched down in front of me. “Are you okay?” he asked gently. His eyes were filled with concern as he stared up at me. It was the first time he had really locked his eyes with mine since he had stepped foot in the room; his main focus had been on taking care of Dimitri, making sure that dangerous man wouldn’t hurt me anymore than he already had.

  “I, I don’t know.”

  He leaned over and took Dimitri’s knife from off the ground and used it to slice through the zip ties on my ankles. “I told you not to watch,” he spoke calmly down at my bare dirty feet.

  “I know.”

  He stood up and went around to my back, cutting through the ties to release my hands. “Why didn’t you want to look away?”

  “Because he hurt me.” I pulled my arms around to the front of me and massaged my wrists. “He told me he was going to kill me if my dad didn’t bring him the money. And then he said he was going to sell me to Vladimir, and that Vladimir was rough in the bedroom.”

  Troy stood in front of me, his eyes slightly narrowed from what I had revealed to him. “He said that?”

  I nodded as a tear rolled down my cheek. “Yes.”

  He sighed and tossed Dimitri’s blood-covered knife on the table. “I’m sorry.”

  My eyes went to the bloody blade. “Are you okay?” I asked. “He stabbed you.”

  “I’m fine.” He offered me his crimson-stained hand. “Come here, baby.” I took his hand and stood up from the chair. He pulled me against him, wrapping his arms tightly around me. “I didn’t mean what I said about whether or not we were even together, I want you to know that.”

  I sobbed against his shoulder. “Don’t lie to me, Troy. Just because this happened to me it doesn’t mean you have to feel sorry for me or something.”

  “No, baby,” he shushed me while running a hand down the back of my hair. “When Vladimir showed up at my house yesterday morning he warned me that a man named Nicoli Sabatini had been heard discussing some kind of retribution against your dad for the money he owed him. He said Nicoli was having the house watched and that we needed to keep an eye out. My main focus was on keeping you safe at that point, and the only way I knew how to do that was to convince you to leave.”

  I took my head away from his shoulder and looked up at him. “Then why didn’t you just tell me, Troy?” I asked with frustration. “I’m not a little kid; I could have handled it.”

  “I know, Scarlett. But I didn’t want to explain everything to you. And your dad, he doesn’t want you knowing that he owes so many of these people money.”

  I pushed away and turned my back on him, putting my blood-splattered face into the palms of my dirty hands. “I can’t even think right now. So much has happened, so much . . .”

  Troy’s body pressed against my back and his hands came to rest of the sides of my arms. “I know; I know it’s a lot to process.”

  “Get off of me,” I shrugged him away. “I can’t even look at you right now; I can’t look at anyone right now. Everyone I know lies to me.” I went over to the window and looked off at the distant glow of the sun beginning its rise. “Even my brother lied to me. He told me they were going to help me with college, with becoming a biologist. But how could that even be possible if my dad owes everyone money? And apparently he owes people hundreds of thousands of dollars. And these are dangerous people, Troy.” I shook my head and turned back around to see him. “I mean, the guy you were worried about coming for my family wasn’t even the one that took me.”

  “I know,” he agreed.

  I hugged my arms across my chest. “I, I want to go home,” I said quietly.

  His eyes were focused so intently on me, more so than I had ever seen before; I wished I knew what he was thinking. With a nod he dropped his gaze to the table and picked up the bloody machete, sliding it into its sheath that was fixed onto the side of his black pants. “Okay, Scarlett. I’ll take you home.”

  “I mean home home.”

  He leaned over and rolled Dimitri’s body to the side, yanking his knife out of his stomach. “Yeah, I know what you meant.”

  “Good. Because the sooner I get away from this life the better. I don’t want anything to do with anyone here anymore.”

  “Even me?” he asked as he wiped the knife against his pant leg and stuck it back in his pocket.

  I couldn’t answer him, because the truth was that I didn’t want to leave him, and the reality was that I was mesmerized by how precise he was in the way he did his job. From the moment he walked into the cabin he had his game face on, and I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him. He was so calm and collected, like a lion waiting in the brush to attack its prey. And when he finally ended Dimitri’s life he snapped his arm back so fast and smoothly as he dragged the blade across him . . . It was the most fascinating thing I had ever seen. And that scared me. It scared me that I was so entranced by this man, this man who would lay me down in his bed night after night and lay his life down to protect me day after day. So instead of answering I walked over and stood in front of him. He stooped down, picking me up into his arms and I hugged against him, letting him continue his job of protecting me.

  He held me tightly and stepped over Dimitri’s lifeless body. I looked down at my attacker as Troy carried me out, remembering the last expression that I had seen on his face which was now long gone. I was glad he was dead.

  Outside in the warm summer air, Troy carried me down the steps into the twilight that existed before dawn. David’s body was sprawled out on the ground, his eyes open and facing the diminishing stars above. Troy’s signature slice was across the front of his neck.

  “He was tough,” he said as we passed him.

  “But you got him,” I answered quietly.

  “I always do.”

  I sucked against him, closing my eyes and breathing in his fragrant body. “What are you going to do about all of this?”

  “I’ll come back and clean up after I get you back to your dad’s.”

  “And the bodies?”

  “That’s my problem, Scarlett. You don’t have to worry yourself with it.”

  “I’m worried about your wound.”

  “Don’t be; it’s not very deep. I’ll be fine.”

  He carried me in silence through the woods quite a distance until we reached his car. I held on as he took an arm away to open the door, and let go of him as he placed me down on the seat.

  When he went around to his side and got in, he started the loud rumbling engine and stared down at his steering wheel. “I don’t want you to go.”

  I pulled me knees to my chest and looked down at my dirty feet. “It was going to happen eventually, Troy. You know that.”

  He looked up at the clearing ahead of us and shifted the car into drive. “I can pay for
you to go to college here.”

  “I don’t need your help; it’s time I start taking care of myself. And besides, I don’t want to live here.”

  “I make a lot of money, Scarlett. I can do that for you; I want to.”

  I dropped my knees and pulled my seatbelt across my chest, buckling it into place. “Just take me home, Troy.”

  A heavy sigh escaped him. “Fine.” He obeyed my request but not without a mild temper flare. He hit the gas, peeling out against the rugged terrain.

  I held on tightly to the door handle. “What the hell are you doing!”

  “Taking you home,” he said matter-of-factly.

  “Troy, knock it off!” He ignored me as he drove onto the dirt road that Dimitri’s limo had earlier driven me down. “I said stop it!”

  “I’m just respecting your wishes,” he said as he sped faster along.

  “You just saved my life back there and now you want me to die this way?”

  He slammed on the brakes as he turned the wheel, pitching the car sideways, skidding across the dirt and stopping off to the side of the road. “God, you drive me crazy!” he said, looking over at me with wild eyes.

  “I drive you crazy?”

  “Yes, as a matter of fact, you do.”

  “And why is that? I’ve never done anything to you!”

  “Never done anything to me?” he asked in disbelief. “You came into my life and—”

  “I came into my dad and brother’s life,” I corrected him.

  “Yeah but everyone including myself told you to stay away from me and you just couldn’t listen.”

  “Don’t act like the victim in all of this, Troy. Look at my face; it’s obvious that I’m the victim in this situation.”

  “Yeah, and you look like hell right now.”

  “I look like hell right now?” I repeated angrily. “How could you say that to me?”

  “Because it’s the truth. Your hair’s a mess, there’s blood all over your face . . .”

  “Are you kidding me?” I huffed. “You know what? I’m outta here.” I unbuckled my seatbelt and was about to open the door when his hand came to my face.