He’d follow me down, I was sure of that. Whatever he was after, he needed to be close enough to get the intel he wanted, so even though my rage vibrated off me in palpable waves, I kept still against the stone wall.
Here, kitty, kitty…
The silence was ominous as I listened for footsteps. When several minutes went by with nothing, I briefly considered that maybe I’d been wrong.
But then one of shadows on the wall moved. Just the slightest bit, but enough to catch my attention. I didn’t breathe as I watched it move another inch…and then another. Testing the waters, seeing if it was safe to dive in.
My gloved hands curled by my sides, itching to grab him, but I waited for him to move a little closer. He wouldn’t be escapingme, and I wasn’t about to jump the gun and let him slip from my grasp.
He was so damn quiet, his shoes not making a sound. His breath didn’t even make puffs of air. I’d pulled my scarf up over my mouth, and no doubt he’d done the same, but the shadow still moved in my direction, and then…the toes of his boots inched past the opening in the wall.
In the blink of an eye I moved, snatching him up so fast that he didn’t have a chance to utter a sound before I shoved him hard up against the wall and pressed my gun into the side of his throat.
Benoit’s eyes flared with surprise for only a second before he schooled his expression into something more neutral. Something that pissed me off even more.
But what had I expected to see? Hurt? Concern? An apology?
Get your fucking head out of the clouds, Dimitri. He betrayed you.
And that was all the reminder I needed to demand, “Who thefuckare you?”
23
BENOIT
IWAS IN deep shit.
I should’ve known better than to follow Dimitri tonight. He’d never let slip his intended location before, but I’d been getting too comfortable, thinking that after last night he’d never suspect me. I was too in my element, too charming for him to possibly think I was anyone other than the dancer I claimed to be.
How wrong was I?
Dimitri pressed his gun against my neck deeper, making it difficult to breathe. But if I didn’t say something and soon, I might not get the chance again.
“Now, now,mon monstre.No need to be so rough.” I winked, still playing my part just in case. “Although we both know I like it that way.”
“Don’t fuck around with me?—”
“Why?” I asked, batting my lashes. “If I recall, you rather liked when I did that.”
Dimitri gritted his teeth, his dark eyes close to black now. “Who. The. Fuck. Are. You?”
Merde.It was clear my ruse was up, and all I could hope for was to keep him talking long enough that Alessio found me and Dimitri didn’t, oh, I don’t know, pull the trigger.
“What do you mean? I’m Benoit. You know that?—”
“I know you’re lying to me.”
“Non,” I said, then shrugged the best I could. “Well, not about that, anyway.”
Dimitri’s nostrils flared as he shoved a leg between mine and leaned into me, crushing me to the wall. It was a move I would’ve enjoyed had the barrel of a gun not been kissing my jaw.
“You think I’m playing here? That this isn’t loaded?”
No, I definitely didn’t think that. Dimitri had set this trap well for me. For weeks now we’d been playing a dangerous game of chess, from the second I stepped on the stage of his club back in Dubai. So there was no way I believed he’d set this up without having an end game in mind. And the fact he was an arms dealer led me to believe that game ended with him taking this queen off the chessboard.
“I’m pretty, not stupid. You’d never put a gun to anyone’s head without having a bullet in it. But really,mon monstre, do you want to mess up such perfection?”
“So that mouth really is yours, not part of an act?”
