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She beamed. “Ms. Popov.”
“Well, I’m sorry for what I’m about to do, Ms. Popov.” Before she could move, I grabbed her and pressed the tip of the fork to her wrinkly neck. “I’m really sorry about this. I just really need to get out of here. I hope you understand.”
She didn’t fight back. Instead, she calmly said, “You’re making a mistake, child.”
“Mistake or not, I need to leave this place.” My babies were waiting, I needed to go back home to them. “I’m sorry,” I whispered once more before dragging her out of the room and down the expansive hallway of the mansion.
Light from a chandelier lit the hall with a golden glow. The walls were gray, and the floors and stairs were marble white.
One of Maxim’s soldiers noticed us and began hurrying toward us, his hand reaching for the gun in his holster.
“Make one stupid move, and the old lady dies.”
The old lady who’d served me food and smiled at me. I was now pointing a fork to her neck, dragging her along with me. I was being ungrateful to her, but I didn’t care, I was desperate enough to even kill if I needed to.
Although reluctant, the soldier stopped himself from reaching for his gun, though his hand still hovered over his pocket.
“How many men are out there?” I asked.
“There a lot of them,” he answered cautiously. “You won’t be able to make it out of here alive if you kill her.”
“I’ll die trying.” I tried to ignore the whooshing of blood in my ear. God, I was so fucking nervous I could feel vomit climb up my throat. “You’ll come with us and order them not to shoot.”
His eyes narrowed. “I don’t give the orders around here.”
“You will, or I’ll kill her and kill you. I’m quick, you’ll be dead before anyone even notices something is going on in here.” I had never been more grateful that my father allowed me to take fighting classes until now.
I’d spent most of my childhood learning how to fight. When I turned fourteen, he decided I needed to learn a skill that could benefit him before I was old enough to use my body. The skill paid off. Once I turned nineteen, I could hack better than most professionals, and he used me for his computer scam business.
But even my fighting skills were useless here. No matter how good I was, I couldn’t beat over ten men in a fight. I needed to think fast and outsmart Maxim’s men. That was the only way.
“The boss will kill me if I let you go,” he retorted. “I’d rather die by his hands than in—” He paused, looking over my shoulder. Sighing, he said, “You know what, I’ll try. I don’t want to get in the middle of this.”
I found his sudden change of heart suspicious, but desperation was clawing at me, along with the leftover drugs in my system. “Move slowly. Don’t give the order until I command you to.”
He nodded curtly.
Reeling back carefully and taking Ms. Popov with me, I kept my eye on him, watching him for any sudden movement. I considered telling him to take out his gun and toss it to me, but these men were trained like wild beasts. He could shoot me before I even realized he was going to.
Taking several more steps back, I collided with something—someone. Maxim. I could recognize that citrus and woodsy scent anywhere. My heart sank to my stomach as I pushed Ms. Popov away and whirled around to attack him.
Not fast enough.
He caught my hand in midair. Curling his arm around my waist, he flipped me to the wall, pressing his body against mine to keep me captive. The look in his eyes terrified me.
I’d expected him to stab me with the knife. Instead, he held it out to Ms. Popov and told her, “I’m sorry about this. I’ll handle it from here.”
Ms. Popov took the knife from him and shot me a glance before walking to the kitchen. His soldier walked away, too, leaving me and Maxim in the hallway.
Maxim’s attention floated back to me, and my breath hitched. What was he going to do to me? Kill me? Hit me?
This man was capable of anything. He abandoned me and killed my mother. I couldn’t trust him not to hurt me.
“I don’t care what you do in this house. Try to kill me and my men if you want, but do not ever hurt Ms. Popov again.” He leaned in so close that his breath warmed my face. “Do you understand me?”
The anger in his eyes was for Ms. Popov, not because I tried to escape. She was his maid, yet he cared about her that much. Interesting. I didn’t expect a man like Maxim to feel any sort of attachment to an old maid.
I swallowed to soothe the dryness in my throat. “If you don’t want me to hurt her, then let me go.”
