Mairi frowned.
"But—"
"I know what you're offering me."
She looked directly at Dmitri.
"Protection. Resources. Freedom to work. A position where my abilities would actually be useful. More money than I could ask for."
Her gaze hardened.
"And eventually, a reason for me to owe you."
"You wouldn't."
Her gaze landed on Dmitri's face, as firm and stoic as ever, his eyes fixated, yet strong.
"Maybe not today," she said, her voice faltering. "But some day, you will realise that you can't just have a stranger you don't know anything about in your safe space. You will ask me questions I cannot answer."
"I will not," Dmitri's voice tinged slightly.
"This isn't a simple matter," Mairi urged. "And you're massively underestimating it. You've seen things, sure, but you don't know my family. You don't know how mad they can become when things don't go their way."
"I don't know?!" Shayna's voice was laced with sarcasm. "Your father just told me that he would get me raped to death by a bunch of drugged people as an easy way to let me go."
And I didn't even flinch.
"That's not what I meant..."
"Oh, yes you did," she said, folding her arms around her chest. "But I don't need your help. I have dealt with this shit on my own before, and I can do it again."
"No, you haven't." This time it was Dmitri who spoke, his voice rougher and darker. "Damian and Lucas are sadistic motherfuckers, who will do anything to protect your ego. Much, much worse than the one you saw today. If that's not enough, the Russians are already taking over Scotland. They will come for you."
"And you can protect me?" Shayna muttered sarcastically.
"No, you're gonna protect yourself." Dmitri's eyes sparkled. "If you accept the arrangement."
"And you would have me," Mairi added.
Dmitri's eyes glittered with a strange amusement as he stared at his fiancée.
"But I would still owe you," Shayna's eyes darkened. "You might not ask today, or even tomorrow. But one day, you will ask me a favor which I won't be able to refuse because of your debt."
"We can draw up a contract," Dmitri replied. "If that is what the problem is."
"Why are you so keen on taking me to Greece, anyway? It can't be just because of Mairi, surely."
"You're one of the best in your field in the entire fucking world. Why wouldn't I want you?"
How the fuck am I supposed to continue this argument when he keeps complimenting me?
Well, another reason to not go with you, I guess.
"Listen," Mairi's voice had softened as her face inched closer to me. "I know the issue is something else. You don't need to tell me the whole thing, just an overview so that I understand what's going on."
"I have my whole life here," Shayna's voice came more high-pitched than she had intended. "Friends, enemies, connections. I cannot throw all of that away."
"Is that it?" And Shayna knew in Dmitri's mocking tone that he already knew it wasn't.
Her eyes snapped back as a vivid picture painted itself in the back of her head.
A picture that she had vowed never to think of again.
Was that the actual reason I could not bring myself to go?
"I have some important, unfinished business here," she said, her jaw setting.
"I can take care of that," Dmitri smiled, flashing a small, toothy grin which just somehow made him look even more like a college heartthrob. "Much quicker than you would."
He definitely knew much more than he was letting on.
"I know you can," Shayna smiled. "But this is my personal battle. And I need to be the one to fight it."
The image flashed once more in the back of her mind.
Dmitri stared at her for a long moment, his hands clenching in his lap.
"Okay," he said simply.
"Okay?" Even Shayna was dumbfounded. "You're not gonna do anything to me?"
"Why would I?" Dmitri was now opening another cold beer. "I made you an offer and you refused."
That's it?
"See, he's not that bad." Mairi nudged him playfully, to which Dmitri just stared at her, amused.
"I thought you liked bad men," Dmitri smirked at Mairi, who went beetroot red at the mention.
Shayna looked at the ground, smiling nonetheless.
This felt so light and good. Almost as if life was normal for a moment.
"I'm not going to ask you about it again," Dmitri said, turning back to Shayna again. "Since, whatever this is, is clearly very important to you."
He paused a moment before adding.
"But my offer remains open."
Shayna said nothing.
"Tomorrow, next year, or ten years from now," he said calmly. "If you ever decide that you want our assistance, you will have it."
"That's...ummm...really nice of you," Shayna muttered, her face red but strangely grateful.p
"I've been there," Dmitri acknowledged. "And I know what it is like."
Shayna's mind burned with a new random assortment of thoughts.
Could Dmitri, the heir of the Greek mafia, actually have been in her position?
Him, out of all people?
Her eyes narrowed down as a certain unique email ID and password she had recovered played back in her mind.
Could it be that everyone in organized crime had a rough phase at some point?
She grimaced inwardly at the thought.
The phrase felt like a term for a bunch of teenage girls in relationships, not them.
"She has a knack of just going off in her world," Dmitri commented, grinning at Mairi.
"It's a lot more beautiful than this one, I'll tell you that," Shayna smiled.
"What, you're a rainbow-colored unicorn married to Pegasus?" Dmitri joked.
"Greek people are weird," Shayna mouthed to Mairi, who chuckled.
"You don't have to tell me that," she said, her eyes shooting upwards.
"You're going to be one of us in less than four days."
"That's where the wine comes in, I guess," Mairi nodded playfully.
The doorbell rang loudly somewhere on the left.
"I'm going to be fucking outnumbered, ain't I?" Dmitri smiled, getting up.
"Consider it my revenge for four days later," Mairi replied, unscrewing the beer bottle.
"Shayna," she suddenly said, turning to her, and she grimaced.
I knew this wasn't over.
"If you ever need me, I'm here," Mairi smiled, though her face remained unbothered.
Shayna smiled. Moments like this were very rare in her life. Even with Rebel, comforting words were usually sarcastic to make the problem lesser than they actually were.
"Ewww, you're being so cheesy," Shayna smiled, picking herself a beer can too.
"Hey, you guys started without us?" Munay entered, Rebel close behind.
She took one full look at her, her eyes scanning all the scarring and the ice pack in her hand.
In their definition, it was not that bad.
"Beer?" Munay smiled, plopping her ass on the couch. "I thought your sugar daddy was richer than that, Mairi."
"I was in the mood for beer today," Mairi chuckled.
"She's not drinking any wine for at least a month. Remember what happened?"
"Don't be such a wimp, come on," Munay jerked her head back.
"You sure she's not on drugs too?" Dmitri joined in, sitting beside Mairi.
"No, they check on the airport," Rebel nodded, playfully.
"What happened though?" Shayna asked curiously.
"You remember that statue in front of that bar we went to in that shady area?" Rebel laughed, finally loosening up.
Of course, I do. My mind remembers all that crap.
"Let's just say that it got a very nice lap dance with a lot of audience clapping," Rebel smirked.
Shayna looked at Munay, her jaw open in disbelief.
"So, when is Lucas coming?" Rebel turned to all of us.
Shayna's smile slowly disappeared.
The moment was over.