AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He lunges for me. I throw my arms up to shield myself—from a blow that never comes.
Seconds that feel like minutes later, I crack my eyes open, just in time to see Mikhail thrown to the floor by a massive blur of black motion.
He’s crash-lands flat on his back. When his eyes refocus, he’s staring up at Ivan in unholy terror, who looms over him like the specter of death.
I stagger back against the wall. Relief and dread pulsing through me in equal measure.
Ivan is here.He’s going to save me. He’s going to end this.
Ivan is here.What will Mikhail tell him?
I press myself against the wall and try to catch my breath as Ivan swoops down and picks Mikhail up off of the floor. Apparently, he isn’t finished with him yet.
Mikhail is a stick figure compared to the rippling muscles of Ivan’s arms and legs. He wraps a hand around Ivan’s wrist, but he can’t pry it loose. Can’t escape. It’s nice to see the tables turned. To watch him squirm while he’s manhandled by someone else.
The music is so loud that I can’t hear much of anything. I have no clue what they’re saying to each other. But I don’t have to hear to know it’s heated.
Mikhail’s eyes are narrowed. His gaze cuts to me a couple times before Ivan twists him away.
“Don’t look at her!” he barks over the thumping bass. “Look at me.”
Before I can discern anything else, Yasha steps between me and the two men. Guilt is written all over his face.
“There was a threat detected outside,” he yells over the music. “I went to investigate. It was another fucking distraction. I’m…I’m sorry.”
My hand is still shaking when I lay it over his. “It’s not your fault. I’m fine.”
His frown twists. I can tell Yasha won’t forgive himself for this slip up anytime soon.
Then Ivan barks his name. “Yasha!”
Without hesitation, Yasha turns to his friend and leader. Towards his duty.
Ivan shoves Mikhail towards Yasha, who intercepts him. He grabs my ex-fiancé by the back of the shirt and drags him towards two waiting guards. The three of them escort him out.
When they’re gone, Ivan steps in front of me. Only now is the shock starting to wear off. I want to bury myself in his chest and cry. “Ivan, I—”
The words are ripped out of me when he grabs my arm and jerks me into the nearest alcove.
The space is dark. Even though the door stays wide open, the noise from the club softens inside the thick walls. The air is cool and damp. It feels like we’re in another world. I’m hit with another wave of gratitude that Mikhail did not get me alone in here.
I don’t even want to think about what could have happened if he’d succeeded. About what he would have done to me…
The entire time we were engaged, I knew Mikhail was an asshole. But he neverscaredme quite like this.
Not until tonight.
“Ivan,” I start again, my voice shaking. “Thank you for—”
“What in the hell were you thinking?”
The faint glow of the colored lights highlights his cheekbones and jawline on one side; the other side bleeds into shadows.
He shakes me hard. “You could have been killed. You shouldn’t have been alone with a motherfucker like him.”
Him.He says it with familiarity. Does he…does heknowMikhail?
This could be a test. Maybe Ivan already knows about my broken-off engagement. Maybe he’s giving me the opportunity to come clean.
