Chapter 5 Five

"You're joking, right? You know I can't tell the difference when you're messing with me and being serious," Elena says.

Natalia hesitates and frets over it a little. "Well, that name isn't very popular here in America, and the only Markov family I'm aware of and at least half of New York is aware of, is the mafia family the Markov's. They own just about half of New York City and downtown New Jersey, the other half mostly belonging to the Italians and Americans."

"Wait, hold on slow down. How do you even know all of this?"

"You know I studied American History in college and didn't drop out like someone. This was a part of the class and it really interested me, but I didn't think I would ever deal with it personally. You can't go to dinner with him! Dmitri is the adopted son of Nikolai Markov, after his entire family was massacred in their homes by a rival family, the whole manor was set on fire and his parents and older brother didn't survive. From what I remember reading, he was taken in by the Markov family and assumed to be working as Nikolai's second in command, the rank just below a Don, or a Vor in Russian."

Elena can feel her chest tightening, squeezing her lungs together, as she thinks about how close she was to a real-life mafia member. She even talked back and hit him! She had no idea how close she was to losing her life if she had just made one more wrong move or said one more wrong thing.

She also can't believe she felt so safe in his presence, when in fact it was the complete opposite. How is she supposed to run away from him now? If she turns down the dinner request, will he really leave it at that?

"You need to call him now and tell him you aren't interested in dinner with him, or ever want to see him again. If you don't, I will," Natalia says and holds out her hand for her phone.

"It's okay, I'll just send him a text, that will be easier."

"Fine, then block his number right after. He went to your work also, didn't he? What if he shows up there again?"

She's right. He seemed to have a lot of dominance over Genevieve and now she knows why, he more than likely owns the entire place.

What are the chances he also owns the apartment building she lives in? Elena has never seen her landlord, only the building maintenance man the landlord hired to keep the building up to par but with barely passable living arrangements.

Her mind is jumping to every worse possible conclusion for every question she now has, she doesn't even know if she can reject him or have the courage to. Maybe she should just ghost him?

But that never works either.

"Listen I gotta run to work, I was just stopping by since I was in the area, but I'll be moving back to New Jersey permanently soon, so you better not go to far. Call me if you ever need help dealing with that guy, too." Natalia gives her a hug and rushes off, leaving Elena to wallow in her thoughts.

She stares at her phone in silence for what seems like hours but she is no closer to deciding what to do than she was before Natalia showed up. With nothing better to do she gets up and heads to the supermarket to get Oliver's wet food, before returning home.

Still lost in thought, she isn't paying attention when she arrives at her front door and almost runs into Dmitri standing at the door waiting for her. He reaches out and stops her before she has the chance, the familiar scent of his cologne hitting her and instantly bringing her back to reality.

Without thinking, she pushes him away and jumps back. A look of hurt crosses Dmitri's face, but disappears quickly, making her think she might have imagined it.

"What are you doing here?" she asks.

He puts his hands up, as if surrendering to her. "I had a feeling you were overthinking my request, so I came to hopefully reassure you. I really don't mean you any harm, Elena."

"Is that why you're hiding the fact that you're a member of the Russian mafia?" The question tumbles out of her mouth before she can stop it.

Dmitri freezes in his tracks and his face hardens over. Elena fears she has finally overstepped herself and prepares for the worst.

"I never planned on hiding it from you forever, but it isn't exactly something you lead with on the first encounter. What I do for a living isn't exactly legal, anywhere."

"But you didn't think it's something you should also lead with, when approaching an innocent girl? What makes you think I want to get involved with someone as dangerous as you?"

"Who said I was dangerous?"

Elena scoffs. "One can assume you are, given the activities you involve yourself in and no doubt the enemies you have."

"Exactly, the enemies I have. Are you one of those enemies, Elena?" he asks, taking a step closer. Elena tries to step back but feels the edge of the sidewalk behind her, nowhere else to go but the middle of the busy road. The fact that there are so many people around her and they're in broad daylight helps her chances of nothing bad happening, but it is downtown New Jersey after all.

"I'm not sure, I don't know how quickly I can become your enemy." She takes another step back, edge of the sidewalk. Dmitri approaches her, wrapping and arm around her waist and brings her away from the sidewalk and to the side of his car.

"You could never be my enemy, Elena."

He has closed the space between them until there is no air left, his breath fanning her face lightly and the feel of his heartbeat thumping against her chest is making her lightheaded. She tries to gather her thoughts and respond, but nothing comes to mind but the thought of how close he is to her, and how warm his body is making hers feel.

The sudden urge to wrap her arms around him and hug him tight to her washes over her in overwhelming waves, making her fingers itch and arms tingle from resistance.

"I promise you; I will never be a danger to you, or will I ever put you in harms way. All I ask, is that you give me a chance to prove that, by taking you out to dinner. The options of bedding you are not on the table, either."

This catches her off guard. "What? I find that hard to believe."

Dmitri grabs her chin lightly, running a finger over her lips. "It's obvious to me you are not willing right now. I'm willing to wait until you are."

Elena opens her mouth to say something in protest, but there is nothing she can really say. That is the proper way to bed any woman, and she has nothing to argue.

"Just dinner?" she asks quietly.

A slow smile spreads across his face. "Just dinner, Elena."

"O-okay then."

Dmitri can't seem to contain the grin that spreads across his face and leans closer to her but comes to a halt instantly.

"Elena...can I kiss you?"

She is left speechless and shocked at him asking permission, after the way he forced himself on her multiple times last night.

When she doesn't answer him but doesn't pull away either, Dmitri continues to lean forward slowly, giving her the chance to push him away or turn her head if she wants. Elena stays utterly still, focusing so hard on keeping her breathing regular that she doesn't realize how much she is anticipating the feeling of his lips on hers again.

She is expecting a hungry and forceful kiss like the first time, but he surprises her again when he plants a soft, heated kiss on her lips, his fingers caressing her cheek lightly and making her feel warm and fuzzy all over.

It is over sooner than she would like and that angers her.

I'm falling too fast for this man. With everything I just discovered, I need to be more cautious than normal.

That is easier said than done, it seems.