Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Maksim
“Get up.”
I jerked into a sitting position, my gritty eyes popping wide open and immediately burning as the bright light aimed in my direction assaulted them.
Rurik was standing in my doorway, and he was shining his phone light on me.
It was dark outside still, and a glance at my clock told me it was damn near three in the morning.
Why the fuck was he bothering me at this ungodly hour?
As it was, I was running on two hours of sleep.
After Alfonzo had fucked me stupid in the woods, it’d been past midnight.
And after putting my groceries away—what few hadn’t been ruined by sitting in the car for too long—I’d crashed in bed right around one.
“What?” I rasped. I pushed the blankets back and rubbed at my tired eyes. “What’s going on, Rurik?”
“I’ve got to get you out of here,” he told me. He jerked his chin in the direction of the hall. “Pack a bag with your necessities and some clothes. Then, meet me out by my car.”
A shiver of trepidation ran down my spine. What the fuck was happening? Why was Rurik coming to get me and telling me to pack? And why in the middle of the damn night? This wasn’t like him. Rurik, a diagnosed psychopath, didn’t give a fuck about anyone but himself.
I hurried out of bed and stuffed my feet into my shoes. “Can you tell me what’s going on?” I asked as I grabbed a backpack out of my closet. I shoved a couple pairs of everything I needed in it, wishing my stomach wasn’t cramping with the impending sense of doom.
“Anatoly found out about you and Alfonzo. He knows you fucked the enemy.” Oh, fuck.
I was going to be sick. My head spun, and I had to lean heavily against the wall to get my bearings once more.
Anatoly had found out. He’d found out I’d fucked Alfonzo.
That I’d willingly let Alfonzo into my body.
“I’m getting you out of here before you can face repercussions while I try to clean up this mess. ”
“Why?” I rasped. Rurik didn’t owe me anything, and I wasn’t foolish enough to think he gave a shit. I was a solider, a mere pawn in Anatoly Balakin’s game. I was disposable and easily replaced.
“If a man like Alfonzo fucking Aguado decides to fuck you—the rival, the enemy—then he’s got an emotional stake in you.
And if you’re beaten or killed because of what you two did mere hours ago, Alfonzo will start a war, and Rico Martinez will give him the full backing he needs to rip this family apart.
This will fall out of our hands faster than we can blink.
” He shook his head. “Anatoly has been tight-lipped on this whole plan and won’t even tell me what the reason is behind you’re job.
So, I’m getting you out of here. I won’t see you killed because Anatoly is on some kind of fucking power trip. ”
I didn’t like the dreadful feeling Rurik’s admittance left me with.
He was Anatoly’s right hand man. He was aware of everything Anatoly did, but even he had no clue why Anatoly had given me this job.
I could see why Alfonzo had been tasked with getting rid of me.
I was a low-level soldier who’d been tasked with getting rid of him.
I’d more than likely been caught snooping around, and Rico certainly wouldn’t have liked that.
But for me to take out Alfonzo… even Alfonzo had seen the problem with it if his statements on the situation were anything to go by, particularly his confusion on why I, someone with not near enough training, had been tasked with unaliving someone like him.
“I’m putting you on a private jet through one of my contacts,” Rurik continued as I threw my toiletries into the bag.
“Your flight leaves at eight A.M. I need you to lay low until then, got it? Then get to the fucking airport. I’ll send you the information you need on this phone.
” He held out a burner phone to me when I came out of the bathroom, and I took it with a hand that thankfully didn’t shake and shoved it into my pocket.
“I’ll call you when I have things settled here and it’s safe for you to come home. ”
I nodded stiffly. He turned and began walking off.
I quickly hurried after him, and we piled into his expensive car.
The ride was silent, and he dropped me off at a motel an hour away from the compound.
Turning to look at me, he said, “I have a room booked for you. Just go to the desk, tell them my name, and say you lost your room card. Then, lay fucking low, Maksim. Understand?”
“I understand,” I rasped. I pushed open the door and got out, tugging my bag with me.
He peeled out of the lot, heading back the way we’d come.
I turned for the office, and Rurik’s car had just disappeared from site when a bullet pierced my shoulder.
I stumbled and fell on my ass before rolling behind another car, gasping for pain, my good hand flying up to clasp my shoulder, which was pulsing with pain and bleeding profusely.
Blood flowed down my arm like a river. I gritted my teeth, pressing my hand tighter to the wound as I listened for anyone. Any sign that someone was near—footsteps, breathing, something.
But it was eerily silent. Which meant the shot hadn’t come from very close by. It was done by someone with a long-range rifle.
A sniper.
Fuck.
If I moved, I would no doubt be dead.
Gritting my teeth, I sat still, forcing my breathing to slow. And I stayed just where I was until the sun began to rise over the trees, bleeding into the world with colors of red, pink, and orange. Then, I took my chances and pulled the burner phone out to call a cab.
I wasn’t safe here, and I certainly wouldn’t be safe on that plane. While I didn’t think Rurik had anything to do with the gunshot wound I’d received, I wouldn’t take my chances.
I needed to get to Alfonzo because in my gut, I knew he’d never harm me—not where it mattered. And I knew with every fiber of my being that he’d protect me.
Googling—which was difficult since I hadn’t used a fucking flip phone in ages—the local taxi company, I typed the number in, then hit dial.
I just had to live long enough to get to Alfonzo, and he’d take over everything from there.