Page 55 of Mile High Ruin

For one terrifying second, my body does exactly what I have always hated hearing people describe. It freezes. My thoughts become scattered, my hands suddenly useless against a man heavier and stronger than I am.

Then anger cuts through the panic, and I bring my knee up as hard as I can.

It connects between his legs. His entire body folds. A strangled sound tears out of him, and his hand drops away from my mouth.

I suck in a breath and shove myself out of the seat.

He stumbles backward, both hands moving instinctively toward himself. “You fucking bitch.”

I barely have time to straighten before he swings his arm. The slap catches me across the face with enough force to turn my head. Pain flashes white along my cheek. My shoulder knocks into the wall beside the seat, and I taste blood almost immediately where my teeth cut the inside of my mouth.

For a moment, everything becomes distant.

Then Hale grabs my upper arm again. “You think you can⁠—”

His words stop.

The grip around my arm loosens.

I look past him to see Vadim standing at the entrance to the galley.

I don’t know how long he has been there.

He’s wearing a dark shirt, the sleeves pushed back slightly over his forearms, and there’s nothing relaxed about him now.

His face has gone completely still. That frightens me more than anger would.

His eyes move over the scene slowly, taking in Hale’s hand on my arm, my half-open harness, the way I’m pressed against the wall, and finally my face.

His gaze stops on my cheek.

Hale releases me. “Mr. Chernovar.”

Vadim doesn’t answer.

Hale steps away from me quickly, already arranging his expression into something defensive. “She came onto me.”

I stare at him.

He keeps talking. “I told her to stop. She got aggressive, and then she kicked me. You saw how she was acting earlier, she’s⁠—”

I should say something. I should tell Vadim exactly what happened. Instead, I stand there frozen, still trying to make my body understand that Hale is no longer touching me.

Vadim looks at me. “Did he hit you?”

His voice is frighteningly quiet.

I open my mouth, but nothing comes out.

Hale sees my silence as an opportunity. “She attacked me first. I was trying to calm her down.”

Vadim moves.

There’s no warning.

One moment Hale is standing in front of me, and the next Vadim’s fist connects with his face so hard that his head snaps sideways. Hale crashes into the galley wall, making the cabinets rattle. Before he can recover, Vadim catches him by the front of his uniform and drives another fist into his mouth. Blood appears almost immediately.

Hale tries to cover his face, but Vadim does not stop. He punches him again, then slams him against the wall with enough force that something inside one of the cabinets shifts loudly.