40. Sophie
40
SOPHIE
T he SUV hums steadily along the empty road. We’ve long left New York behind us, and my anxiety is increasing.
My eyes wander to Maxim, his hands resting firmly on the wheel, his gaze locked on the horizon. He looks like a calm Sunday driver heading to the lake. “Want to tell me what those coordinates were?” I ask. “I mean are we driving into Canada or what?”
He glances my way. “You still look ill. Travel sick?”
“I’m fine.” I reply, moving my eyes to the trees whipping past the window. “Just thinking about stuff.”
“Dangerous habit,” he mutters. “What about?”
I hesitate. The words are right there, clawing their way up my throat: I’m pregnant with your child and I feel like throwing up right now, and you’re a fucking Bratva boss.
Instead, I say, “I’m thinking about what we might find when we get wherever it is. What if we walk into an ambush?”
“It won’t be.”
“You seem very sure.”
“I am.”
“What if you’re wrong?”
He gives me a cold stare. “I never am.”
“Maybe I should have stayed home.”
He shakes his head. “Since Dimitri is no longer in my employment, I need a tech wizard to handle whatever we find there.”
My fingers tap restlessly on the armrest, my secret inside me growing louder with every mile.
I’ve been trying to tell him all day, but the timing never feels right. Not that I think there is a right time to drop that kind of bomb on a man like Maxim.
The words are always there, hovering on the tip of my tongue. Maxim, there’s something I need to tell you. But before I can force them out, his phone buzzes, shattering the moment.
He presses a button on the steering wheel, and Nikolai’s voice fills the car. “I’m here. No signs of movement at the perimeter. One car parked up, registered to Evan.”
Maxim nods, his focus shifting entirely. “We’re about twenty minutes out. Don’t go in without me.”
“Got it.” The line clicks off.
The silence returns, thicker than before. I swallow hard, clenching my hands in my lap. Maybe this isn’t the place or the time. Maybe there isn’t a right place or time for something like this.
The road narrows, the trees closing in around us as we get closer to the coordinates. Maxim’s grip on the wheel tightens, his jaw set. Even when he’s calm, there’s always an energy to him—coiled and ready, like a predator waiting to strike.
“Stay close when we get there,” he says, his voice leaving no room for argument. “He could be armed.”
I bristle at his tone but nod. “I’m not planning on wandering off with him, thanks.”
“Good,” he says simply, and for a moment, I think I see the faintest trace of a smile. But it’s gone before I can be sure.
As the SUV slows to a stop, my heart pounds harder against my ribs. The trees around us seem darker now, the air heavier. Ahead of us is a simple log cabin.
Nikolai emerges from the bushes, nodding our way. Maxim signs with his hands as the two of them approach the place. Nikolai moves around to the back door and Maxim waits out front for a few seconds, trying to peer through the closed shutters. “Ready?” he whispers to me.
I nod back to him and he immediately kicks at the door. It explodes inward, and for a split second, all I can hear is the deafening crash of splintering wood. Then the shouting starts.
“Get down!” Maxim snarls, shoving me behind him as he draws his gun in one smooth motion. The look in his eyes is pure ice, his body tense and ready for a fight.
Evan is in there, working frantically at a laptop. Around him are at least six men, each of them armed to the teeth. They look like they’re holding him hostage.
“What the fuck?” Evan shouts, scrambling behind the men, tucking the laptop under his arm. “How did you find me?”
Nikolai bursts in through the back door and then everything happens at once. Maxim shoves me hard to the floor, bullets ripping through the air where I was standing a moment before. Nikolai fires, killing the man about to shoot Maxim. My ears ring from the sound of gunfire, and I scramble for cover behind an overturned table.
Maxim is already moving like a predator, fast and lethal. He takes down the nearest man with a single, precise shot to the chest before pivoting to fire at another. His focus is absolute, his movements fluid, and for a second, I’m frozen, watching him in awe.
“Sophie!” he shouts, tossing me a gun from inside his jacket. “You know what to do. Start shooting.”
The gun feels heavy in my hands, but I force myself to steady my grip. One of the men rushes toward my position, and I squeeze the trigger. The shot echoes in the cabin, and the man drops, clutching his leg with a scream.
“Nice shot,” Maxim mutters, finishing him off with a bullet to the head.
“Don’t sound so surprised,” I snap, the adrenaline sharpening my tone.
Evan screams, “Will someone please kill those cunts before they kill me?”
“Behind you!” I shout, spotting a man creeping up on Maxim’s blind side.
Maxim spins, his gun raised before I’ve even finished speaking. The man falls, and Maxim glances at me, his expression unreadable. “Well spotted,” he says simply.
The cabin is a warzone, the air thick with smoke and the acrid smell of gunpowder. Evan’s men fall one by one, but the fight is far from over. Evan’s nowhere to be seen.
One of the men throws a flashbang into the center of the room. The blinding light and deafening noise leave me disoriented, my vision swimming.
“More cars pulling up, boss,” Nikolai shouts. “It’s a fucking ambush.”
“You were right,” Maxim yells my way, grabbing my arm and pulling me toward the back door. I stumble but keep moving.
We burst out into the cool night air, the shadows of the trees stretching long and menacing.
The gunfire follows us, bullets ripping through the underbrush as we sprint deeper into the woods. My lungs burn, and my legs ache, but I don’t stop.
Maxim’s hand never leaves mine, his grip firm and unyielding. When a figure appears in front of us, Maxim doesn’t hesitate. He raises his gun, firing twice in quick succession. The man drops without a sound.
Nikolai’s drawing the newcomers toward him, edging backward to his car, firing as he goes.
I spot Evan by the trees. He takes one glance my way, his expression one of pure hatred, and then he disappears. Maxim goes to run after him but I grab his shoulder. “It’ll be a trap,” I say. “Don’t fall for it.
He looks at me and then back at the wood. “You were right about the ambush,” he says. “I better listen. Let’s get out of here.”
“What about Nikolai?”
“He can handle himself. In the car, now.”