Chapter 21
My heart is pounding so loudly that I can hardly hear any other sound over the rapid thump, thump, thump as I try to maintain an air of nonchalance strolling down the East River.
“How are you holding up?” Maksim’s voice croons in my ear. It takes all my effort not to reach up and fiddle with the earpiece to hear him better. I’ve been told that’s a dead giveaway.
“So far, so good,” I murmur, trying not to move my lips too much. If someone’s going to kidnap me, we have to make it seem like I’m alone. Not that it exactly stopped them last time.
Straightening my shoulders, I pause at a pier to admire the burnt orange reflection of the setting sun on the water. “Stunning,” I whisper to myself.
“Yes, you are,” Maksim replies. I grin, feeling my cheeks warm up. Who would’ve thought the mighty Maksim Smolov could be so playful?
The past two days have felt like a honeymoon, even as we planned for this dangerous trap.
I’m still grinning when someone suddenly bumps into me from behind. My grin changes to a scowl as I spin around to face the person. Something presses against my stomach, and I glance down.
It’s a knife.
“Follow me quietly if you don’t want me to gut you,” he threatens. A lump grows in my throat. I freeze.
Shit, this is what we planned for, but now that it’s happening, I can’t seem to think through the fear.
“I’m right behind you, Malyshka. You’re going to be fine.” Maksim’s soothing voice breaks through the fear, melting the lump. With his support, I finally gather the courage to look up at my attacker. He has the same build and scratchy voice as the man who kidnapped me before—the one who jumped into the river.
“You again? I thought you drowned running away from me,” I taunt, following him as ordered. He growls in response and digs the knife deeper into my belly until the sharp blade slices through my shirt and nicks my skin.
“Do not fucking provoke him,” Maksim warns.
“Alright, alright. Don’t get your panties in a twist,” I say for Maksim’s sake, but raise my hands up so the man thinks I’m talking to him.
Without another word, he leads me to a nondescript sedan parked a few blocks away. “Stop there,” he demands. I do, and he violently ties my hands before shoving me into the back of the car.
“You didn’t need to tie me up,” I curse, trying to sit up and regain some sense of control. “I don’t plan on attacking you again.”
“Malyshka,” Maksim warns with an edge in his voice. “We’re trailing you guys, but could you please stop provoking him? If he hurts you, I’ll be forced to show myself, and then he won’t lead us to his hideout.”
I sigh at the reminder. I know he’s right. But damn it, seeing this asshole again is just making me so angry.
Fortunately, my kidnapper doesn’t seem to be paying any attention. He just gets into the driver”s seat and starts the car. As soon as we start moving, I sway to the side with a dramatic, “Oomph.”
I use the momentum to strain my hands to the inside of my jeans, where Maksim’s knife is tucked. There are two others hidden on my body, one in my bra and another in my ankle. The one in my ankle is for the kidnapper to discover when he searches me for weapons. The hope is he’ll stop there.
For now, though, I focus on using the knife to start cutting my ropes as quietly as possible. Since I started this thing being chatty, I cast about for a line of conversation that won’t provoke him. Anything to keep his suspicions low.
“Do you know what Maleeshka means?” I ask him.
But he just shoots me a vicious glare through the rearview mirror.
I continue anyway. “Right, sorry. You’re not Russian; of course, you have no idea what it means. You see, this man I’m seeing keeps calling me that, and it’s triggered my curiosity and—”
“Shut. Up.”
“Anyways, I finally googled it last night, and apparently it means ‘baby girl.’”
“Stop talking, you stupid cunt.” He swerves the car to the left, and I slam into the door, pain exploding through my side.
“Fuck,” I hiss as the knife slips in my hand and slices my flesh. I wince, gritting my teeth against the pain.
I painfully force myself back up. “Alright. Message received.” I say, tightening my grip on the knife.
“Malyshka can be perceived as ‘baby girl,’ but it also has another meaning,” Maksim says softly through my earbud. “Little girl.”
Little girl. I smile, my heart swelling in my chest. I don’t know why, but I like his interpretation better.
My kidnapper catches my smile in the rearview mirror and mutters psycho under his breath. While he does that, I finally manage to cut through my restraints.
I do all I can to hold back my triumphant grin.
Keeping my newly freed hands hidden behind my back, I try to sneak a peek out the front window. I already have no idea where we are. A few minutes later, he takes another sharp turn onto a dark street.
My belly twists when I spot the shattered streetlights. For the first time, I wonder if we might be the ones walking into a trap.
No. This is Maksim’s territory. No one can outsmart him here.
The man finally slows the car in front of an old, rundown house. He drives around to the back, behind some unkept bushes. When he turns off the engine and gets out, I take the opportunity to talk to Maksim.
“Are you still with me?” I whisper.
“Always.”
The door beside me opens, and I brace myself for the inevitable. But before I can be dragged out, a soft popping sound cuts through the air. The man falls to his knees, a muffled cry of pain dribbling from his lips.
And just like that, Maksim materializes in the darkness behind him, looking like an angel of death. His hard gaze meets mine, softening just a little as I blink up at him. “You okay?”
“Yes, sir,” I respond, relief flooding through me.
“Stay in there.” With my safety assured, he shifts his attention back to my kidnapper and grabs him by the scruff. “Let’s go inside.”
The fucker opens his mouth to bite back but quickly reconsiders when Maksim’s gun kisses his temple.
Together, they limp to the crumbling back door and disappear inside. Five of Maksim’s men follow closely behind them, while the rest form a protective ring around the car, shielding me from any potential threats.
Silence falls for a few minutes. Then, a blood-curdling scream tears through the darkness. It’s quickly joined by others. The whines of pain and agony seem to merge together, along with the unmistakable thud of bodies smashing into hard surfaces and the sickening crunch of bones.
I can’t help but flinch at each new cry.
My body chills as the nightmarish sounds continue for what feels like an eternity before they finally fade and an even worse sound takes over. Grown men weeping. Heart-wrenching sobs that almost make me feel sorry for them. Almost.
Then, everything becomes eerily silent again.
My head drops solemnly and a sense of dread washes over me as I come to terms with what’s most likely happened. At least they’ve been put out of their misery…
Suddenly, the back door swings open and Maksim walks out, flanked by his men. In that moment, the moon seems to break free from the clouds, casting a pale light on him. His eyes are so cold and hard, and blood stains his chin, neck, and fists.
His once grey suit is now a dark black.
An angel of death? No. More like a demon of vengeance.
Those eyes meet mine and transform, the fierce intensity giving way to a tender warmth that makes my heart turn over in my chest.
He went in there and tortured those men because of me. He killed them for me.
I must be losing my mind because why the hell else would I find that oddly romantic?
Finally leaving the safety of the car, I make my way toward him. “Is it over?”
Ripping off the torn piece of my shirt, I use it to wipe the blood off his nose and chin. I go to do the same for his neck, but he grabs my wrist.
“Who did this?” he growls, glaring at a point on my wrist. I glance down and sigh when I see the small wound from when the knife nicked me while I was trying to untie myself.
“It’s nothing. I got cut while trying to untie myself,” I explain rapidly, but his glare doesn’t waver. So I stand on my tiptoes and brush my lips against his, trying to calm him. “It’s fine, really. Just a love mark.”
But then I remember that we’re surrounded by his men, and I try to back away, but he doesn’t let me. Instead, he wraps one hand around my waist and drags me into his body for a kiss so intense it makes my head spin.
When he finally breaks that kiss, I sigh softly and sink into his warm embrace.
“We found out where your ex is,” he says, running a hand through my hair. I tense up, then force myself to relax. Trey can’t hurt me now. He can’t hurt me ever again, as long as I have Maksim by my side.
“Seems like we’re going to California, then.”
“Seems like we are. Have you ever flown private before?”
My eyes flutter close. “Yes. On the way here with Bree.”.
“Well, have you ever fucked on a private jet before?”
My eyes fly open, cheeks flushing red. “Maksim! Obviously not…”
He chuckles darkly, then whispers into my ear, his voice low and seductive. “Well, then you better hold on to your fucking panties, Malyshka, because you’re about to join the mile-high club.”