at the same time. We had been close for years, but I’d never actually liked the asshole.
He sighed. “Always so tight lipped, Viktor,” he grouched. “But it adds to the mystery. Maybe that’s why you do it? You keep to yourself so we don’t know what you’re thinking.”
“If you don’t tell me what you want—”
“You’ll what?” Maksim interrupted me and laughed. “Alright, alright. You’re not going to make this easy. Then again, you never did. I want you to surrender to me.”
I barked a laugh. “Not fucking happening. But you knew that.”
“Yes, I did,” Maksim said. “It’s a pity. If you take your punishment for deserting us like a man, you can be back on the team and we’ll forget all about it. I already have a target lined up for you and everything. Just like the good old days.”
“None of the old days were good. And I’m not stupid enough to think that you’d bring me back into the fold. You’ll kill me the minute you see me.”
Maksim made an exaggerated humming noise. “You were always smarter than everyone gave you credit for,” he mused. “So let me put it to you this way. if you don’t turn yourself in, your woman dies.”
I squeezed my eyes shut as adrenaline pumped into my system. They had her. It was too late. I’d hoped to God that she’d gotten back to Grizzly Falls safely, but I should have known better. The moment I found that message on her phone, I should have known.
“Maksim,” I growled, sounding like a fucking animal. I felt like one, too. “If you so much as touch one hair on her head, I’ll fucking gut you like the pig you are.”
Maksim laughed. “You’ve always been a scary son of a bitch, Viktor. But you can’t intimidate me. It’s cruel to know a man’s weakness, really. I never thought you had one as pathetic as this. Time’s ticking, my friend. We’re waiting.”
The line clicked dead, and I stood in my cabin in the growing darkness, feeling like I was going to burst out of my skin. They had her. They had Angela. And they were going to hurt her. My mind ran through all the things I knew Maksim was capable of, everything he’d done to women before that I knew about. I didn’t want to think about it. I didn’t want to envision what he could be doing to Angela.
Something primitive awoke in me, an animalistic sense of territory. Angela was my woman. Maksim was fucked. Because I was going to come for her, and when I got my hands on him, he wouldn’t just wish he was dead. He would wish he’d never been born.
Angela
The conversation was in English. I wasn’t sure why – they were both Russian. But when Maksim spoke to Viktor, it wasn’t in their native tongue. It said something about how close their relationship was.
Which made me wonder about what Maksim had said to me about their friendship, about betrayal. About what had happened between them.
The conversation between them didn’t make sense. Not if Maksim was the good guy and Viktor was the villain. Maksim was using me as bait, and he was picking a fight. I could hear it in his tone, not just his words. He was a world class asshole.
The only reason he was talking where I could hear the conversation was because he thought I was asleep. But I slept lightly. My head hung forward, hair hanging in my face. I’d fallen asleep like that, but only until Maksim had started talking. He’d stood a short distance away but moved around. I’d glanced at him periodically to track him.
The others had disappeared. Where were they? Were they sleeping, too? Or running around collecting other damsels in distress for whatever the hell they were planning?
From what I could hear on Maksim’s side, Viktor had ditched them. He’d dropped the team. But what had they been doing? They were talking about targets. About the good old days. It didn’t sound very good.
It was only when Maksim said the last line that my blood ran cold. If you don’t turn yourself in, your woman dies.
I closed my eyes when he turned around and tried to look like I was still sleeping. But I tasted my heart in my throat. My adrenaline had shot through the roof, and I struggled to keep my breathing even.
I was freaking the hell out. I didn’t want to die. I wanted to fight and squirm, I