Our position shorts out my brain. The heat against my groin, his hardness against my soft, sensitive skin. His body beneath mine, his back rising and falling with each ragged breath. I’m acutely aware of every shift of his muscles.
My core tightens.
No.
I crush the ridiculous attraction.
Focus on the mission, on the locket. On the reason you’re here. To kill this man and hurt Roman.
The pelting rain reminds me of a different, more tropical storm. Of rain falling so violently, it felt like the sky was trying to drown the earth. Of the sight of my mother’s body slumped on the ground, blood pooling beneath her. Roman towering over her with his fingers grasping the delicate chain around her neck.
White-hot rage courses through my body, incinerating all other emotion. “Where. Is. My. Locket?”
An unflinching Max holds my gaze. “Not on me.”
I press the knife harder, piercing his skin. Blood wells in the shallow cut. “Liar.”
“It’s somewhere safe.” Despite the crimson drops trickling down his neck, he oozes calm. “Kill me, and you’ll never see it.”
I picture the gas station he stopped at right before he parked here. He could be telling the truth. He could’ve stashed the locket there or in another location...or maybe he’s lying. Maybe he hid my prize somewhere on his body.
When I take too long to decide, Max surges upward. Even with his arms and legs splayed, he manages to fling me backward.
In an impressive show of flexibility from someone his size, he draws his legs up while I’m still airborne. The action slides the knife along his neck, drawing even more blood.
My back hits the ground, and I tuck my chin, rounding my spine to protect my head. Moving with the impact, I flip over backward and land in a crouch, ready for the next assault.
I brace for Max to charge me. Instead, he veers toward his truck. From under the vehicles, I glimpse him snatching up his backpack and darting for the stairs beyond the exit sign.
Sheathing my blade, I trail him at a walk.
A parking garage is no place for murder, anyway. Too many cameras. Too many angles.
Killing Max on the streets or in a back alley is a much better option. Then I’ll claim the locket, dispose of his body, and be back at headquarters sipping tea before Dimitri even knows what happened.
Chapter 4
Max
Nika is nothing like what I anticipated.
The brief video she sent her father didn’t do her justice. In person, she’s poised, lethal, and the hottest woman I’ve ever laid eyes on. She moves like a jaguar, all smooth lines and quiet strength.
Does that level of power and skill lure me in? Of course. Regardless, my mission remains the same. Return to the Pakhan with his daughter in tow. And if I end up killing her in “self-defense” before I can deliver the asset? Well, Roman will understand, right?
Wrong.
He’d probably chop me into a thousand pieces if he knew I was even entertaining the idea of murdering his daughter. Still, that knowledge does little to quell my desire for retribution.
I hit the door at the bottom of the stairs and exit onto the sidewalk. The rain has slackened, and pedestrians start to emerge from nearby buildings like wool-covered flowers.
Seattle natives, accustomed to the constant rain and dressed accordingly.
The sidewalk reflects neon signs in smears of yellow, blue, and green, the shades bleeding together on wet concrete.
I cut left, then right, putting corners between myself and the garage. Nika will follow me. She wouldn’t plot for years and destroy lives to obtain the locket only to give up now.
I need distance and time to think.
