Chapter 41

Kyle was worried because of Cannin and his refusal to accept the word no. Kyle knew she wouldn’t purposefully cheat on Max and Dimitri, but she knew she had to do something to stay in character.

Kyle was thankful when dinner was set in front of them. She was going to use it as an excuse to not talk to Cannin.

“Are you going to ignore me the entire time?” Cannin asked her.

“I don’t have anything to say. I’m being forced to be here, and I am just trying to get by.”

Cannin was quiet for a moment. He knew what she was talking about—he was being forced as well. He never really cared about his father’s business and was doing this to appease his father.

He didn’t want Kyle to know. He thought she would use it against him.

“Do you want to go out tomorrow?” Cannin asked her.

“Where will you be taking me?”

Cannin shrugged his shoulders.

“I’ll find something fun for us to do.”

“Okay.”

Cannin looked at Kyle, and he agreed with Viktor that his daughter was beautiful, but he felt kind of bad that she was being forced to be with him.

After dinner, Kyle went up to her room and decided to let Max and Dimitri know that she met with Cannin. This time, Dimitri answered her text.

He told her that they found out Cannin’s dad was into money laundering and illegal gambling.

Kyle

I miss you already.

Dimitri

I miss you too, myshka. Be strong.

She wanted to ask Dimitri if they could run away; if they would just leave everything behind and be together, but she knew she couldn’t do that.

Instead, she told him she loved him and that she would check in tomorrow.

***

Cannin picked Kyle up the next afternoon, and he was excited to get to know her.

“Where are we going?”

Cannin smiled at her. “Have you ever done paintball?”

“No, but it sounds fun.”

Kyle was excited to get out and do something, but she didn’t want this relationship to progress; she felt guilty.

Once they got to the paintball place, she was given some gear, and they decided to play a solo game together instead of joining a group.

“Be prepared to get ass-kicked,” Kyle teased.

“I doubt it,” Cannin said confidently.

Once they entered the arena, Kyle ran for cover without Cannin issuing the order to start. She knew she needed to be ahead to win.

Kyle hid behind some barrels and tried to peek out from behind them to see where Cannin went, but when she poked her head up, he would shoot at her.

She knew it was coming from in front of her and decided she would try to run to the next cover to get a bit closer.

She ran while ducking down, and she couldn’t help but laugh at the awful shooting coming from Cannin.

“Why are you laughing?” Cannin yelled.

“I’m laughing at your shooting skills,” Kyle yelled back.

“I’m not really trying.”

Kyle took the distraction to pop up and randomly shoot.

“Not fair. I wasn’t ready.”

“All is fair in war, Cannin,” Kyle yelled.

Kyle and Cannin spent hours shooting paintballs at each other. Even though they’d been hit multiple times, they wanted to keep going.

Kyle admitted to herself that it was one of the best dates she had been on. Kyle got herself to frown at the thought, and Cannin noticed it.

“What’s wrong?” he asked her.

“I was just thinking.”

“Whatever you were thinking made you sad.”

Kyle sighed. “To be honest, I left someone behind that I loved to make sure they were safe, and I feel bad for having fun.”

“I’m assuming that’s why you don’t want to be here.”

Kyle just nodded her head. She now felt bad for Cannin. So far, he was kind to her, and she hadn’t given him a chance. She could at least be friends with him, she thought, but Kyle would soon regret that though, not everyone was kind underneath their persona.

***

“Stop fucking moping and get your ass to work.”

Dimitri was handling Kyle’s departure poorly. Max tried everything to motivate him, and when that didn’t work, he told Anatoli that his only job was to get Dimitri out of the house.

“Max is taking care of everything.”

Anatolia sighed. “Then let’s go out and have a drink.”

Dimitri gave in and went out with Anatoli. He didn’t want to put up with people, but he knew if he didn’t do this, Max would kick his ass.

“She’s smart, Dimitri—she’ll come back.”

“What if she doesn’t want to?” Dimitri was afraid that Kyle would be happier with her father, and he needed Anatoli to assure him.

“Look, this isn’t ideal, but she loves you both. She’ll come back. Don’t fret.”

Dimitri could only hope that Anatoli was right and that ~myshka~ would be back.

“What are you guys doing to help her?” Anatoli asked.

“She’s being forced to see Cannin.”

“Cannin Price?”

“Yeah.” Dimitri took a sip of his beer, hoping to swallow the lump in his throat.

“Does she know anything about him?”

“We didn’t tell her. We told her we needed to do research.”

Anatoli knew from that information that things had just gotten harder for Max and Dimitri. He knew they needed to be prepared for anything.