Page 34 of Trapped By the Bratva

Which is why I’ll just keep my daydreams about you for myself. For when I’m lying in bed at night and wishing for something more than this arrangement.No one would ever know. But by day, I had to maintain this professionalism.

Not only did I need this job as a way to get away from my sister, but I also cared about Dmitri’s progress. I wanted to see him get better and stronger. His success in recovery felt like the ultimate award, the evidence of hard work done well.

“What areyouthinking about?” I shot back when he didn’t speak for several minutes. Those mute spells gnawed on my nerves. Hehad a habit of simply watching me—or zoning out with an angry, pensive expression—and I wished he’d just open up and talk to me.

“Nothing you need to know about.”

And… I’m shut down.Well, I tried.

“Anything in particular you look forward to doing again?” I asked. We talked about fitness quite often, but that wasn’t so weird. His recovery was centered around rehabilitating his former physique.

“When?”

Oh, my God.I swore sometimes he just liked to be this annoying. “When you’re fully recovered.”

“I don’t care about being fully recovered.” He set the elastic band down and lowered his leg. “I only want to be recovered enough to see through some, uh, unfinished business.”

I nodded for the lack of knowing how else to reply. This was bordering on dangerous territory. In the almost two weeks that I’d been working here, I wouldn’t have known this was a Bratva residence and that Dmitri was one of the top men working in it. I deliberately avoided asking anything about the Mafia life. The less I knew, the better.

“That's all that matters.”

“Unfinished business?” I shrugged. “If it’s in the past, let it stay there. Not if it’s not affecting you now.”

He shot me a droll look. “Oh. Today’s another one where you act all smart and spout bits of wisdom.”

“Motivation,” I corrected. “I offer you alternative ways to look at whatever situation you’re stuck on and?—”

“Who said I’m stuck on anything?”

“It’s a figure of speech.”

“Just like saying leave the past in the past is a figure of bullshit.”

I held my hands up, sighing and stepping back. “Whatever, Dmitri. Whatever. I’m not in the mood to argue.”

“Good.”

As we moved on to walking with emphasis on his posture, we fell back to the awkward silence that I hated so much.

Until I snapped again. He was still just as much of a mystery man, and now that I was so close, day in and day out, I was determined to get to know him. My curiosity wouldn’t fade.

“What do you?—”

“Enough, Hannah.” He spoke with such fatigue and frustration that I clamped my lips shut.

Shot down. Again.

He wasn’t a chatty guy, but it was becoming tense. I was too aware of him, especially when walking alongside him. His huge body was so much taller than mine. I felt small with him, and I liked it.

I’d like it more if this didn’t have to feel so damn lonely, though.

All I wanted was to belong. To be needed and wanted. Ever since my parents died, I was a workaholic. I never had the free time tomake friends. My sister was awful and only used me. And Becca was the closest person I had to a true friend.

I was sick of being lonely and held at a distance. Dmitri and I were here, together,allthe time, but he’d wedged such a thick wall between us.

Why?

Why can’t he lighten up and just let me in?

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