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I bristled. “I’m not a challenge. I’m a person. And I want you to leave.”
A terrible, familiar snarl rent the night air, and my heart leapt.
“Max!” His name left my lips on a soft cry as his huge body collided with Niko’s.
The force of his attack propelled the Russian back, and he slammed against my front door. Something clicked, and silver flashed beneath the streetlight, sweeping up toward Niko’s neck.
“Max!” I shrieked a protest. He was holding a knife against the billionaire’s throat. A block of ice dropped in my stomach. “Don’t!”
My feet raced toward them, closing the distance between us in a heartbeat. My hand was on Max’s wrist, squeezing. With his vastly superior strength, he could’ve easily thrown me off. He could’ve ended Niko’s life in an instant.
But he tensed beneath my touch, his entire body locking up tight. He growled in the Russian’s face, his beautiful features twisted into a nightmarish mask.
“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kill you for coming near her,” he seethed.
Niko was utterly still beneath Max’s blade, but his eyes radiated white-hot fury, not fear. “Maybe you should. Because if you don’t, I will hunt you like the animal you are, and I will put you down.”
“Stop!” I demanded, my voice high and thin. “Max, please. Let him go.”
The full horror of what was happening couldn’t quite penetrate my consciousness; all I knew was that I had to save Niko. I had to save Max from himself.
Sirens wailed in the distance, grating through my mind. My heart slammed against my ribcage. Someone had called the cops. There must be witnesses to this violent scene, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Max’s snarling face.
I squeezed his wrist. “We have to go. You can’t be here when the cops arrive.”
A savage growl slipped between his bared teeth, and he pressed his menace closer to Niko. “If I find out that you so much as try to breathe the same air as her again, I will gut you.”
“Max.” His name wavered in my throat. He couldn’t mean that. I knew he was dangerous, but he wouldn’t actually kill Niko.
Would he?
Black eyes snapped to mine, flames of hatred flickering in their depths. His gaze roved over my face, and his glower melted.
Niko took advantage of his distraction and shoved him away. Max stumbled back, and I clutched at his arm to catch him. He steadied himself, muscles flexing as his attention returned to the billionaire.
The sirens wailed, coming closer.
“Please, we have to go,” I begged, tugging on Max’s corded arm.
Despite my horror at the events that’d just unfolded, I didn’t hesitate to follow when he slipped his hand in mine and started to run.
CHAPTER 3
Allie
We ran three blocks before catching a cab to a dangerous neighborhood. We both remained tense as we rode through the city, but blue lights didn’t appear behind us; Niko must’ve decided not to report us to the cops.
My stomach sank. If Niko was truly a harmless, innocent man, it would’ve been logical for him to report a threat to his life.
But he’d promised to kill Max. He’d said he would hunt him down. The steel in his blue eyes when he’d flung the promise at Max hadn’t betrayed so much as a glimmer of fear. Niko was accustomed to violence.
A shudder wracked my body. The handsome billionaire wasn’t an innocent man. He was something worse, something darker than what he appeared. I’d realized before that the cocky playboy mask he wore was just a façade. Did it conceal a more sinister nature than the vulnerable man I’d thought I glimpsed beneath the handsome veneer?
I didn’t believe for one second that he’d spared Max from being arrested out of fear.
I pressed my lips together, forcing myself to wait in tense silence until Max and I had some privacy.
When we got out of the cab, he kept my hand ensnared in his, guiding me toward a shabby apartment building. He unlocked a door on the first floor and led me inside, sliding the deadbolt in place behind us.
