7. Maxim
SEVEN
MAXIM
T he feeling of something hitting me on the head yanks me out of sleep. I jerk back, falling off the chair with a loud thud. What the fuck was that? I push myself up, hands on the chair’s armrest, and look toward the bed. I stifle a laugh when I see Sophia out of bed and holding a pillow, ready to strike.
I lay back in the chair, relaxing, trying to wrap my mind around the fact that she’s trying to beat me up with a pillow. I chuckle softly. Death by pillow. What a ridiculous way to go.
“Why’d you do that?” I ask, unable to hide the amusement in my voice as I rise from the floor.
“Didn’t I tell you to leave me alone?” She narrows her eyes at me, her grip tightening around the pillow. “Is it really so hard to understand?”
I step forward, but I freeze when she makes another move to throw the pillow. Holding up my hands, I surrender. “No need to attack me again.”
As much as I’m relieved to see her fiery spirit return, I know better than to press my luck. I’m walking a tightrope here.
She eyes me, suspicious, as I move toward the door. “I’m leaving,” I say. “You can put down your…weapon.”
“Get out, Maxim.” Her teeth are clenched, and with one violent motion, she hurls the pillow at me with enough force that it hits me square in the face. I laugh, but then she falls back on the bed, and I hear a loud thud as her head connects with the headboard.
“Sophia?” I call, rushing to her side. “Are you okay?” I grab her arms, but she pushes me away, screaming at me to leave, calling me every name under the sun, begging me to go.
Respect her boundaries, Maxim.
“Okay,” I say, taking a couple of steps back, my heart hammering in my chest. She sits up, her red hair in a messy bun, but her face turns pale as she looks down at her leg.
I follow her gaze, and my stomach drops. Her leggings are stained with red. Fuck. Her stitches must have opened. I pull out my phone, dialing the nurse. “Sophia, put pressure on your leg. The nurse is on her way.”
I take a step toward her, instinctively wanting to protect her, but she glares at me, and I stop in my tracks.
“I said I’m fine. Now leave.”
“How can you say you’re fine when you’re fucking bleeding?” I growl, frustrated, but she opens her mouth to argue just as the nurse walks in.
“I said leave,” she repeats through gritted teeth.
“No.” I stand firm. “I’m not leaving until the bleeding stops.”
“I said fucking leave!” She points at the door, her voice rising in anger.
The nurse’s wide-eyed glance flicks back and forth between Sophia and me, her mouth opening but no words coming out. I can almost see her shaking, scared to speak. I try to contain the fury boiling inside, but it spills over, forcing me to step out of the room.
“Fuck!” I slam my fist into the wall, the pain barely registering as my mind replays every part of this fucked- up situation. Her eyes—dull, broken—flash in my mind, and I punch the wall again, the anger threatening to tear me apart. I want to force her to remember what we had and to let me help her through this, but all I’m doing is pushing her further away.
Give her time.
I rest my forehead against the wall, trying to steady my breathing. Pushing her won’t work. It will only drive her deeper into herself.
A gasp snaps me from my thoughts. I straighten up, turning to see the nurse eyeing my bloodied hand, her hesitation obvious. “Mr. Volkov, would you like me to bandage your hand?” she asks, voice trembling.
I glance down at my knuckles, surprised to see the bruises and blood. My body feels numb—like everything else inside me. “No,” I mutter, my irritation flaring as I think about the real problem. “Did the bleeding stop?” I ask the words too loud in the quiet hallway.
“Yes,” she responds softly, her voice barely a whisper. She looks at me with fear in her eyes, and I roll my own, not in the mood for more of this.
“Did her stitches open?”
She opens her mouth, closes it, and stands frozen, like she’s too terrified to answer. “I fucking asked you a question,” I snap, my frustration boiling over.
The nurse looks like she’s about to cry. She turns and hurries away, her sobs trailing behind her. I can’t even deal with this.
I turn back to my phone and fire off a message to Luca.
Find a new nurse. This one’s useless.
His reply comes almost instantly.
Does she really need a nurse when you’re constantly hovering like a mother hen? Don’t blame the poor nurse when you know no one will ever be good enough in your eyes to take care of her.
I stare at the screen, biting back my frustration. He’s right—no one is good enough to care for Sophia. That’s why I didn’t want him to pick the nurse in the first place. I put my phone on silent and shove it in my pocket. I don’t need distractions now. I need to focus on her. I walk back into her room, unsure of what to say. The last thing I want to do is make this worse, but I don’t know how to fix it.
Sophia’s voice breaks the silence. “Please let me go home.” She holds back tears, and I feel like a knife just twisted in my chest. I want to say no. I want to keep her safe, but deep down, I know this isn’t helping her heal. She needs to do this her way.
“Is that what you want?” I manage the words like stones in my throat. I’m terrified she’ll say yes, because I don’t know how to let her go again.
“Yes,” she whispers. My heart shatters. I should’ve known this was coming.
“The moment I step out of those doors, I’m no longer your problem. You need to leave me alone and let me live my life. I was not joking when I said we were over.”
The finality, in her words, is a punch to the gut. I drop to my knees in front of her, desperate, pleading. “Don’t do this.”
She looks down at me for a moment then looks away, the tears slipping down her face. “I will always love you, Maxim. But you’re no good for me.”
The air leaves my lungs. “No, please. You can’t end this,” I whisper, grabbing her hands, but she jerks them away, the space between us growing. “I can protect you better. Please don’t do this. I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry.”
She wipes her eyes and stares at me, disbelief in her voice. “Protect me?” she says. “Because you’ve done such an amazing job protecting me so far?”
The words hit me harder than anything. She’s right. I’ve failed her. And I’ve lost the right to ask her to stay. How do I go on without her? How can I live in a world where she isn’t beside me?
“I’m leaving now, Maxim.” The sound of her footsteps fades, each one a hammer to my chest. “I will always love you, Maxim. But I love myself more.”
Her words echo in the silence, and I sit there, frozen, unable to move or speak. The room feels too small, my body too heavy. It’s like the world is closing in on me, suffocating me. She’s gone.
No. She’s coming back.
Any minute now, she’ll realize she’s wrong, that she can’t walk away from me. She’s taking her time, making me suffer. She will come back—she has to.
But then, reality hits, cold and hard, like a truck slamming into me. She’s not coming back. I fucked up. I ruined the one thing that mattered. I destroyed us before we could even have a chance. Tears spill down my face as I collapse, my sobs shaking my whole body. Time passes in a blur, my mind racing with thoughts I can’t escape. The door opens, and I look up, expecting to see my brother. Instead, Luca’s face greets me, his expression a mixture of concern and pity.
“Is she gone?” I ask, my voice unrecognizable.
“Yes,” he replies. “I made sure she got home safely.”
I nod, the words sinking into me like stones. She’s gone. She wanted space, and now she has it, far away from me. The torment in my mind doesn’t stop. It plays on a loop, each thought a dagger twisting deeper. I’m drowning in it. Suddenly, Luca grabs me and lifts me to my feet, his fist connecting with my face. Blood fills my mouth, but it’s a release. The pain pulls me out of my mind, stopping the endless cycle of thoughts. I don’t know if I should be angry or grateful.
“Pathetic,” Luca spits, his disgust obvious. “You’re giving up without even trying.”
I snap. Anger surges through me, a reaction to his words. “What the fuck do you want me to do? I’m respecting her wishes. She doesn’t want me.”
“Stop being a fucking beaten dog and fight for her.” Luca shoves me, his face hard.
I shove him back harder, forcing him to stumble. “How the hell am I supposed to fight for her when she doesn’t want me around?”
Luca rolls his eyes and shakes his head. “This is stupid. We’re not going to get anywhere by beating each other up.”
“Why do you even care?” I growl.
“I’ve seen the way she looks at you,” Luca says, his voice softening slightly. “The love she feels for you doesn’t disappear that easily. All she needs is time to heal. Right now, you’re a reminder of everything that went wrong. Give her space, but don’t give up on her. Don’t leave her side, even if she’s asking for it.”
I stare at him, stunned. “When did you become such an old, wise owl?”
He smirks. “I’ve had my fair share of fuck-ups with Cecilia. Things were hell in the beginning. But trust me, if you love her, don’t let go.”
I look at Luca, this strange new ally, and I can’t help but wonder how life twisted us into this unexpected alliance. We’re not friends, but right now, we’re on the same side.
“Who took Sophia home?” I ask, my voice low as we head out of the room. The silence between Luca and me weighs heavily, but I can’t shake the feeling that I need answers.
“I did.” Luca’s words catch me off guard. I stop in my tracks and stare at him, trying to make sense of what he just said.
How the hell did he manage that? Sophia can’t stand the sight of him. How did he convince her to get in a car alone with him?
“I spoke to her last night,” Luca explains, his hands shoved deep in his pockets, as though reading my mind. “I wanted to check on you both before bed, but you were already asleep. When I turned to leave, I heard something in her room. I thought she was asleep, but when I peeked in, she was awake.” He chuckles, but I can see the edge of discomfort in his eyes.
“I can’t believe I slept through that,” I mutter, shaking my head. I’m usually a light sleeper. That’s how exhausted I must have been.
“When she saw me, she nearly attacked me,” Luca continues, the humor in his voice at odds with the tension hanging between us. “She couldn’t get out of bed, though. Took a few minutes to calm her down, but eventually, I got through to her. Told her everything—the past, how she ended up here. She told me to go fuck myself, said if I thought I’d ever be forgiven, I was delusional.” Luca shrugs, as if none of it surprises him. “But before I left, she asked me to take her home. I told her to talk to you first.”
I’m sure that last part didn’t go over well. I nod, not wanting to dwell on it. “Thanks,” I say, my voice tight.
We walk into the kitchen in silence, Andrei already there, shoveling cereal into his mouth. “Hi, brother,” he says, his voice muffled by food. I grunt in response, pouring myself some coffee, but I’m too distracted to really engage. My thoughts keep circling back to Sophia, to the chaos surrounding her and the threat we’re facing.
I sit at the kitchen island and pull out my phone. The mountain of emails I’ve ignored these past couple of weeks stares back at me, but I can’t focus on them now. Not with a target on our backs. Whoever we pissed off when we rescued her, they’re not done with us. I know that for certain. From what Luca told me, Sophia didn’t leave without making a scene. They’re not going to let this go. I’m not going to let them get to her again. My mind’s already running the plan—four of my best men are on their way to track Sophia. They’re experts in combat, but more importantly, they’re trained in stealth. She won’t know a thing about it. I won’t be caught in the dark again.
Never again.
Suddenly, my phone beeps with a message from my assistant, Ashley. I open it without thinking, and my stomach drops when I see what it says.
There’s a new chief of police. He’s waiting for you at the dealership. Please hurry. I can’t stall him anymore.
My fist tightens around the coffee mug in my hand. In my mind, I hear the sound of glass cracking before I realize it’s real. Coffee splashes across the counter and onto my pants. I don’t care.
Andrei rushes to grab paper towels, his eyes wide with panic. “Yo, Maxim, what the fuck?”
I don’t respond. I don’t care about the mess. The chief’s visit is the last thing I need. The timing couldn’t be worse.
“There’s a situation we need to handle. Let’s go,” I bark, my frustration bubbling to the surface. I can already feel the weight of the new problem pressing down on me. I’ll explain to Andrei on the way to the dealership.
But right now, I need to trust that the men I’ve assigned to Sophia are doing their jobs. As much as it hurts, I have to focus on the bigger picture. This new chief is going to be a problem. He has no idea who he’s dealing with.
People think I’ve gone soft. I scoff. They’re wrong. I haven’t gone soft. I just haven’t cared about much lately. Sophia has been in my thoughts, pulling me away from my business and the bratva. But that’s going to change. I need to get things back on track for her—and for the future I’ve been planning with her in mind.
And that future? It’s one I’ll do anything to make real.