Page 104 of Demitri

“DEMITRI!”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

MIA

“DEMITRI!”I scream his name. I know he’s here. He has to hear me.

“Mia!” Aunt Linda grabs my shoulders, and I swear it looks like she might slap me. “Honey, pull yourself together. They are going to get him out.”

“He has to be okay,” I whisper, my eyes tearing up.

“You did your part. You thought ahead. You found a way for him to carry something that could track him and no one would think twice about it.”

“I just wanted to keep him safe. And I couldn’t.”

“This isn’t on you. None of this is on you. Oh, my sweet, darling girl.”

She pulls me into a hug, holding me like a mother holds a child, and I melt into her arms. I haven’t had a mother’s hug or love in so many years.

“Tell me he’s going to be okay,” I beg her. “Lie to me if you have to. Please.”

“He’s strong. Been through more shit than both of us can imagine. If anyone can survive, it’s him.”

“I said lie to me, Linda.”

She chuckles. “That’s Aunt Linda to you, young lady. And he’s going to be fine.”

Neither of us truly believe it, but the alternative? A world without Demitri? Unthinkable.

“I’m sorry,malenkyi. I didn’t know this was the plan,” Sasha quietly tells me, staring at the building we’ve all gathered in front of.

Aiden found me at the bar, passed out against the wall outside my office. The back door was standing wide open. I was groggy but not hurt.

“I really want to trust you, Sasha. I do. But you were the last one that came in that door, and then this happened?”

“Mia,” Aunt Linda admonishes me.

“No,moya lyubov, I deserve her judgement. She’s right. I was the last one in, and I’m the least trustworthy here. All I can do is hope she believes me when I tell her I didn’t do this.”

“Then save him,” I tell him. “Go in there and get him for me.”

“Not a chance in hell.” Mary, the DEA agent, appears at my side. “It’s time to let us do our jobs. Never thought in a million years this is what we’d finally get Andrey Novikov on.”

“Kill him if you have to. I’d be alright with that,” I tell her.

She grins but shakes her head. “Sorry. No can do. We follow the book on this one. We will only shoot to kill if necessary.”

“Can you shoot him in the shin at least? I mean, that would hurt really bad, right?”

“As someone who’s been shot, I don’t know that I’d even want that for my worst enemy.” Grady purses his lips. “Yeah, okay, maybe one in the shin would be alright.”

I know what they’re doing. Distracting me with their morbidly dark humor. Which I am trying to appreciate. But it’s too hard knowing that they have Demitri.

I watch the agents Mary brought with her surround the building, an old two-story building on the outskirts of town. Ithink it used to be some kind of factory but couldn’t honestly tell you. It’s been empty and falling down since I’ve been here.

Mary has kept our crowd far enough away so we can’t impede with her people doing their job. The Rock Hill and Briar Mountain police departments are both here, and there are a couple of ambulances, just in case. They tried to put me in one, but I refused. Everyone threw a fit until I promised to get checked out as soon as we have Demitri.

Aiden made the girls stay at the bar, which didn’t really go over well until James showed up and told them they were staying where they were. Daniel, Joker, Nate, and Grady are here. Aiden offered to stay back with my girls.

---