Page 66 of A Bullet Between Us

Quickly, I pulled my phone out of my pocket, typing vnutri to Viktor, Russian for inside, as I rushed to the dressing room. One word was all he needed. Before I made it to the beige curtain that Davina hid behind, I realized I’d failed.

I reached behind my waistline, gripping my concealed gun and pulling back the curtains.

Davina was leaning against the wall, her dark hair covering her face and the pants she should’ve been trying on were still folded on her arms as she squeezed them tightly up to her chest.

“Davina?” I murmured, but she wouldn’t look my way.

My eyes quickly took her in. A small patch of deep red stained her side. My stomach dropped, and as much as I wished to rush to her, my mind ordered me to search.

My gun was ready between my hands as I stepped out of the dressing room. I kept my attention far into the hall, my eyes shifting behind me in case Roberto tried to come up behind me. It was a terrible position to be. I didn’t trust moving too far away from Davina’s room, as it left her unguarded.

Evening my breathing, I walked closer to the end of the hall, turned both ways and found no one in sight.

The back door shot open, and I aimed my gun at the body.

Viktor’s eyes landed on my gun, then to me, and I lowered my firearm. Viktor didn’t say a word, quickly reaching for his firearm. I motioned to the doors I’d not been through yet. He headed for the one on his right first. I stayed alert, watching my back and Davina’s room. Viktor didn’t take long to come out and quickly moved to the last door on the left.

When Viktor returned, he flipped the lock to the back door and waited for information.

“There’s another dressing room with a blown bulb. Double check to see it’s safe, and watch over Roberto and his wife. It was a trap.” Viktor’s features hardened as he listened carefully. “I need to check on Davina and get her out of here.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“Do you think Luc—" I couldn’t say the words out loud. There was no reason to ask when I knew the answer.

Lucca had to know something, and it bothered me. No, not bother, it angered me. How could he?

“I’m sure there’s—” Viktor began, but my eyes cut him off.

I’d left Viktor behind, trying to sway the feeling of distrust out of my mind, but as I met Davina in her dressing room, it only heightened.

“Davina,” I whispered, placing my gun back in its hidden holster.

She didn’t look up to me and her tears were now dry. Gently, my palm touched her jaw, and it wasn’t until she leaned into it that I was able to relax my shoulders. Her big and round brown eyes lifted, spent, and broken before her body leaned forward, her head resting on my torso. With my hand on the back of her hair, I kissed the top of her head. I held her close for a moment to remind myself she was alive. Her warmth and beating heart bounced between our bodies, easing my dread.

I couldn’t dwell on how quick it all happened, and how it should have never happened. It was a hard task to do, and I was the one who didn’t keep her safe.

Shifting my head, I glanced down to her side. The blood stain on the shirt hadn’t grown, and the bleeding had stopped. But it wasn’t enough, I had to know the damage. To know she was really okay. I lifted the thin white material high enough to see from this angle.

Another scar would mark her body, but one that would heal and fade to a thin line with time. Yet, any time she would see it, she would remember today.

And I would remember the day I’d failed her.

Twenty

Ilias

The car ride was filled with tension as neither one of us spoke. We’d waited for one of Lucca’s men to arrive. He’d walked in, explaining he had orders and that we were free to go.

Just like that.

It’d only added more resentment toward Lucca, added more confusion. And the anger I felt only increased the closer Viktor drove back to the house.

“Davina?” I looked for her acknowledgement, or an indication of her mental state.

Her face was stripped of emotion aside from her alarmed eyes as she tried to lie. “I’m fine, Novak.” She called me by my last name, the alarm I’d thought was really fury.

I didn’t press her, not when we couldn’t speak freely. I twisted back into my seat as the gates of Lucca’s home were in view. My mind raced as I thought of Davina, the shop, and the possibility of Lucca having a part in what transpired.