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Acting on pure instinct, I reached out and grasped his shoulder, as though I could physically restrain him. His muscles flexed beneath my fingers, all that power coiled tight and ready to explode. I knew it wouldn’t be directed at me if he did unleash his worst urges.
I was so close to Max now that I couldn’t see Niko past the bulk of his body. His chest expanded on deep, rapid breaths, as though he’d just run a mile. Had he exerted himself racing to get to Niko? Or was the enormous effort to hold himself back causing him physical strain?
He’d snapped at Niko to get away from me. He’d shoved us apart and put himself between us.
Whatever insanity was going on in his mind, I sensed that he thought he was protecting me again.
It was dangerous for Max to be here. For his sake, no one should know that we were remotely connected. And he shouldn’t be anywhere near my father.
Oh, god. Was that why he was here? Was he surveilling my dad as part of his crazy vendetta?
“You need to leave, Max.” My voice came out firm and even, the need to protect my father—and to save Max from himself—overriding my confusion at the sudden, shocking turn of events.
“I’m not leaving you alone with him.” The refusal was gravelly with a harsh threat, and he didn’t take his eyes off Niko.
“Seriously, you need to go,” I said with more urgency. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a bouncer leaving his post at the door and coming to check on the altercation. I squeezed his shoulder as hard as I could, commanding his attention. It probably felt like a light massage to him, judging by the mass of muscle in my grip. He practically vibrated beneath my touch, as though straining to resist an anchor’s weight.
The bouncer would get to us within seconds.
I stepped around Max, blocking his path to Niko. A tremor raced through me when I looked into his fearsome expression. His full lips were peeled back from his teeth as he glowered at Niko, and he’d pushed his hair back from his brow. The full extent of the damage to his face was on menacing display.
But it wasn’t his scar, the mark of his pain, that made my knees weak. It was the white-hot flames that flickered over his black eyes. Hatred burned in their inky depths, the full force of his terrible rage directed at Niko.
He thinks he’s defending me, I reminded myself. It didn’t make any sense, but he’d put himself between Niko and me as though the handsome, flirtatious man was some sort of threat.
But Niko wasn’t an oncoming car, and I didn’t need rescuing. His father was one of my father’s most generous donors, and there would be hell to pay if Max punched Mikhail Ivanov’s son. Max would be arrested for assault at the very least. And that was if his misguided vendetta against my dad didn’t come to light. If anyone found out that he’d been stalking Ron Fitzgerald at his big fundraising event, Max would definitely serve jail time.
But I knew that Max didn’t need to be punished; he needed help.
And he’d saved my life. I owed him for that, no matter what else he’d done to me.
“Max,” I said his name more gently.
Those black eyes snapped to mine, singeing me with the heat of his hatred. A shudder ran down my spine, and he blinked. The terrifying flames in his dark gaze extinguished, and his snarl eased slightly. His sharp features remained tight with strain, but I recognized the ferocious disapproval in the tension around his jaw. He’d looked at me like this after he’d pulled me out of the path of that car: pissed at me for risking my life, but not enraged.
“You need to leave.” I kept my tone gentle, coaxing him to listen. “We can talk later, okay?” I meant it. We needed to have another conversation about his insane, vengeful mission against my dad. I’d thought that I could leave him to it, that he’d eventually come to a dead end and drop this madness.
But it seemed he was just as unstable as ever, and he’d get himself caught if he didn’t see reason. He’d clearly suffered enough, and continuing his vendetta would only cause him more pain in the end. I had to convince him to let go of this rage, or it would eat away at what was left of his sanity.
“What’s going on here?” The bouncer had arrived. “Are you okay, Mr. Ivanov?”
Max’s eyes snapped back to Niko, glowering at him over my shoulder. I placed my hand flat against his chest, as though that would be enough to restrain him if he went for Niko again.
“You have to go now, Max.” Every time I said his name, he seemed more inclined to listen. On the night he’d kidnapped me, I’d used it in order to connect us on a more human level. The imprint of that harrowing experience seemed to have stuck, because he didn’t lunge for Niko. His heart hammered beneath my palm, and sweat beaded on his ruined brow.
