Mikael lay on the floor, cursing, and I ran. I didn’t know which way to go, but the building wasn’t that big. I headed for the window closest to me, the one with most of the glass missing, and climbed through. I cut my leg but couldn’t stop to worry about it.
The building was surrounded by dark trees. I started running but tripped over a body on the ground. I yelped and backed away from it. I stared at the dead man and repeated, “No, no, no.”
Shouts from inside snapped me back into action, and a gun fired. I ran for the trees, hurrying up against the hill side. Bullets flew past me, but they were scattered as if they weren’t sure which direction to shoot.
Out of nowhere, strong, large hands grabbed my arms, and I screamed. A thick hand clapped over my mouth, muffling the sound, and I was yanked into the trees. I fought and kicked. I refused to be taken again. I bit the hand around my mouth.
“Fuck!” a familiar voice yelped. “Angela!”
I stopped fighting. “Viktor?”
“It’s me, Malen kiy. You’re safe.”
“Oh, my God,” I said, a sob leaving my mouth unexpectedly. “You’re here.”
“I’m here,” he said and pulled me tightly against him.
Never in my life had I been so relieved to see someone. His large body wrapped around me, protecting me from everything going on around us.
“They’re coming,” I said, trembling.
“I know,” he said. “Come.”
I didn’t fight him. I didn’t know who he was or what he’d done. But I knew that I didn’t want to be anywhere near Maksim. And now that Viktor was here to take me away, I would follow wherever he led.
We trekked through the trees. Viktor held onto me, clasping my hand so tightly, like he was scared I was going to disappear. We hurried in the darkness with no light to guide us, but Viktor moved through the forest as if he knew exactly where everything was.
I trusted him with my life. I knew that he wouldn’t lead us into danger.
By the time we reached a cabin, I was dead on my feet. It wasn’t Viktor’s place, though. Viktor knocked on the door, and a moment later, Axel opened.
“Viktor,” he said with a frown. He looked at me. “You found her.”
Viktor nodded. “They’ll come after me. I can’t go back to the cabin.”
“Stay here for the night,” Axel said without hesitation.
Viktor shook his head. “It will bring danger to your doorstep.”
Axel chuckled. “I’ve been bored lately. Wouldn’t mind a little action.”
Something passed between the two men in the silence that I didn’t understand. Then Axel stepped back, Viktor nodded, and we walked into the cabin.
The cabin was larger than Viktor’s and had an extra room. He made a crude bed for us. If I’d had to sleep on the floor, I wouldn’t have cared. I was exhausted.
Viktor tucked me into bed and sat down next to me on the blankets. My head rested on the pillow, and I felt a terribly deep sleep dragging me under.
“You’re not sleeping here with me?” I asked. I was terrified he was going to leave.
Viktor shook his head. “I need to talk to Axel first. Rest, Angel. I’ll come later.”
“You’re not leaving me, are you?”
“Never,” he said. His eyes were bright, his response fierce, and I relaxed. He lifted my arm and studied my wrist. “Did they hurt you?”
“No more than that and knocking me out when I tried to escape in the truck.” I was mumbling. I just couldn’t keep my eyes open.
Viktor sounded furious when he spoke again. “He will pay for that. I am so sorry. I am so sorry I have put you in danger.”
I blinked my eyes open. “It’s your past, isn’t it?”
Viktor nodded. “It’s catching up with me. I never wanted you to be a part of it. I need you to understand that I left all that behind. I don’t know what Maksim told you, but—”
“It’s okay, Viktor.” He was worried. I understood that. But he didn’t have to be. “I saw what sort of man he is. And I know what sort of man you are. I don’t know what you did before… but I do know what I see when I look at you now. I’m so glad you came for me.”
Relief washed over his features, and it was difficult to think a man so confident and sure of himself could be so unsure about my feelings for him. But it mattered to him, the same way it mattered to me what he thought.
“Rest, Malen kiy,” he finally said, brushing the back of his hand down my cheek. “I’ll take care of you.”
I closed my eyes again as he dropped a kiss in my hair. “Viktor,” I said when he started moving away.
“Hmm?”
“I think I’m in love with you.”
He was silent for so long, I opened my eyes again to look at him. His face was filled with affection, his eyes filled with the same intensity as when we were making love when we were completely vulnerable with each other.
“I’m in love with you too, Angela,” he said. “I feel much more than I’m able to say.”
I nodded and smiled a sleepy smile, feeling safe and happy. “Okay.”
“I’ll take care of you, Angel,” Viktor said.
I closed my eyes again, barely able to stay awake, now. “I know,” I whispered.
A deep sleep dragged me under, and I escaped everything that had happened in the past twelve hours.
Viktor
I wished I could take her away somewhere far, far away from here. But there was no time. Maksim would come looking for me. He was probably already mobilizing his men. But they would only move at dawn. It was too dangerous to traipse through these trees in the dead of night if you didn’t know the terrain.
Maksim was an asshole, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew this was the sort of ground I could navigate. He knew this was my turf, and if he came after me now, he would be on my home ground. I had the advantage. So even though I knew he was impatient as fuck to come after me, he would wait.
When I stepped out of the room where Angela was already asleep, I pulled the door shut silently behind me. Axel sat in the front room, perched on the edge of his leather armchair, staring into the fire. He looked up at me when I stepped toward him.
“How is she?” Axel asked.
“Rattled,” I said, sitting in the other armchair, perched on the edge the same way he was. The flames danced around the logs he’d just put on. “Shaken up, but she’ll live. She’s tough.”
“Did they hurt her?”
I shook my head. “Nothing too serious. Chafed wrists. A bump on the head.”
“It could have been a hell of a lot worse.”’
I growled at the back of my throat. I didn’t even want to think what those fuckers could have done to her. Maksim was a dark man with an even darker disposition and I had witnessed him doing terrible things to women. He hadn’t touched Angela, though. Not really. I was still going to relish killing him.
“What’s the plan?” Axel asked.
“I’m going to hunt him down and kill him,” I said simply.
Axel nodded. “Tie up loose ends.”
“It’s the only way.”