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She’s surprisingly fast for not being tall and the fact that she spends her days in the library.

But she’s no match for me.

I grab her around the waist and lift her against me. “What the hell are you doing?”

“I need to leave. I need to go back home. Let me go!”

“So Dima can kill you? Fuck no. I’m not letting that happen.”

She struggles against my hold, so I let her go, and she almost stumbles to the ground. “You said marrying you would protect me against him. But he still wants me. No, no, no. I need to go back home. I can’t stay here. I can’t.” She bends over, her breathing short and panicked.

It takes me a moment to realize she’s having a panic attack.

The sight of it scares me. I’m worried for Evie, and I’ve never been worried for a woman like this before. I’m going to be honest—I’ve laughed at the sight of people panicking before.

But I’m not laughing now.

“Just … breathe?” I suggest, but that does nothing for her. It does the opposite. She starts panicking even more. The ragged breaths that come in and out of her don’t even sound human.

I need to snap her out of this, but how?

Then an idea occurs.

I lift Evie back in my arms—fortunately she doesn’t fight me this time—and I bring her back into the house. Katya tries asking me what’s going on, but I ignore her as I bring Evie into my bedroom. I shut the door on Katya so she can’t come in.

“Dimitri!” she shouts. “What the hell are you doing?”

I set Evie down on my bed and leave her there as I rip open the door and grab Katya’s arm.

“What the hell?” she mutters as I pull her toward her room. Once she’s inside, I lock her in there.

“Dimitri!”

“I just can’t have you screaming at my door all night.” I go back to Evie, who’s breathing has gotten even worse. “All right. This won’t do.”

Grabbing her around her waist, I put her on her stomach. She’s panicking too much to even ask me what I’m doing.

Then I spank her ass.

Evie gasps and goes silent. Then: “What are you doing?”

“I’m snapping you out of your panic attack.” I spank her again for good measure.

“Ow. That hurts. Stop!”

“Not until you get your mind back on right.” Spank. She flinches, but her breathing is starting to calm down. I give her a couple more light taps just for the fun of it.

The feel of Evie’s ass in my hands is amazing. But I push that thought aside because right now is not about my dick. It’s about Evie’s safety.

Stepping away, I let her go. “There. Feel better?”

She rolls back around on her ass and winces. “Why did you do that?”

“To get you to focus. You were having a panic attack.”

“So, I should be thanking you for …” She blushes. “That was completely rude! You don’t just do that to people without their consent.”

I shrug. “Mobster, remember? I don’t exactly play by the rules. But fine. I’m sorry. Next time, I’ll ask you if I can spank a panic attack right out of you. Ok?”