His eyes were cold as death. And for some reason, I’d never loved him more, knowing what he would do to protect me.
I watched as the two men worked together, moving through the trees like ghosts. At first, Maksim’s men were confident, shooting, serious. But as time ticked on and they couldn’t find a mark, the shooting slowed, and they seemed more unsure of themselves. One by one, the men started disappearing, and that freaked them out, too.
I heard something on the other side of the cabin. I ran to the other side, grabbing a poker from the hearth. Viktor had taught me to shoot, but I wouldn’t be able to train a gun on someone and pull the trigger. I was too soft for that.
A window broke and I screamed, turning towards the sound, ready to defend myself. But hands wrapped around me from behind, an arm closing around my throat and another pulling my arm behind my back, forcing me to drop the poker.
“Help!” I screamed and screamed until I heard a voice that killed my own.
“Quiet, bitch,” Maksim’s voice rasped in my ear. I shuddered when his breath brushed against the skin of my neck. “I’m going to kill you in front of that asshole boyfriend of yours.”
I kicked and fought and squirmed, but Maksim was so much stronger than I was, it was futile. He dragged me through the cabin and toward the door.
As soon as we were outside, I screamed. “Viktor!”
“I said quiet!” Maksim shouted in my ear.
He pushed me away from his body far enough to slap me across the face. I stumbled and fell to the ground. My hand dug into the dirt when I tried to stop my fall. The click of a gun cocking made me freeze. The cold steel of the barrel pressed against my temple, and I didn’t dare move. I was going to die.
I tried to look for Viktor between the trees, but I was too afraid to move my head. I just wanted to see his face one more time before it was over.
Viktor
For a short while, when Axel and I had stormed out into the fray to end this shit once and for all, I’d been confident we had it in the bag. Maksim was brilliant at what he did, but close contact wasn’t his forte. His strength was in the long game, sniping, working out how to infiltrate, strategic attacks.
This was different. We were in the mountains where I was comfortable, and I had Axel on my side. We could see enough through the trees even though the sun hadn’t risen; his men were city dwellers, uncomfortable in the woods.
Now, though, I wasn’t sure we were going to make it. I’d managed to take out Maksim’s men one by one – he’d really picked the roughest scum out there. Some of them weren’t Russian. Maksim had been losing men hard and fast since the moment we’d stepped out of the cabin.
Axel was a hell of a fighter, too. He’d held up his end of the deal. He’d promised to have my back, and he was doing just that. Except, now he was in the dirt with a boot on his face and a gun at the back of his neck. He looked at me, his face twisted, teeth gritted. He wasn’t ready to die; I could still see the fight in him.
Angela was hostage again, too. Maksim had nabbed her from the cabin. She was crying. Tears rolled down her cheeks, and she whimpered softly. My heart broke at the sound. I needed to save her. She needed me.
I was going to kill that motherfucker if it was the last thing I did.
“Come on, Viktor,” Maksim said. “Look who I have.”
“I’m looking,” I said. I stepped out from between the trees so Maksim could see me. I laid my gun on the ground. “Don’t kill her.”
Maksim laughed, a fucking ugly sound. “You’ve gone soft, comrade. I expected more from you. But our heroes all have feet of clay, right? That’s how the saying goes?”
I snorted. “What the fuck do you know about heroes?”
Maksim laughed and shook his head, his laughter turning into a sigh. “Oh, Viktor. You know, I never thought I would see the day where you begged for a life instead of taking one. It’s not a good look on you. I like you better with a gun in your hand and death in your eyes.
“You want me, you have me,” I said.