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“Let’s go spend the night with a bunch of pretentious assholes.”
I smile through my pain, not fooling either one of us. “Sounds like fun.”
* * *
It’s not fun.Not in any way, shape, or form. It’s hell on earth being in a roomful of people, feeling utterly alone as Maxim does whatever Maxim does, and I keep my eye on him from a distance. His men speak in English when I am near, which helps a little, but everyone else talks away in rapid Russian, leaving me alone with my thoughts.
The clinking sound of a knife tapping on a glass catches everyone’s attention. We all turn in the direction of an elderly man dressed in a suit worth enough to feed the homeless he is raising money for. He says something that I assume means the speeches are about to begin. I glance up at the large, ornate clock and see that it’s five minutes to nine. We’ve been here for almost two hours, but it feels more like ten.
Everyone focuses on the stage and claps, so I focus my attention that way and swallow when Maxim approaches the steps at the side of the stage, jogging up them two at a time. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, I move through the crowd to get closer. As if sensing me, he looks into the crowd, his eyes finding mine as he begins his speech.
I don’t understand a word, naturally, but he has the whole audience captivated. Standing at the base of the steps, I take a moment to glance at the people in the audience and watch those watching him. Some smile, some scowl, but nobody speaks as the man of the hour gives an impassioned speech about the homeless epidemic affecting the region, or at least that’s what I was told he would be addressing.
I hear a chime and look up through the arched windows and see the large clock tower next door signaling that it’s nine. Maybe once he’s finished his speech, we can leave. I mean, most people my age are in bed now, right?
Turning back to the stage, something catches my eye, making me look back at the clock tower, and it dawns on me.
Clocktower. Nine o’clock.
I run up the steps toward Maxim, who turns to me with a frown just as a red laser centers itself in the middle of his forehead. Out of time, I throw myself at him, knocking us both to the ground as glass shatters and screaming tears through the room. Pain slices across my cheek as I look down at Maxim, who stares up at me, his eyes locking on my cheek.
Turning from him for a moment, I look at the now broken window as a figure stands and rips off the black ski mask that once hid their face. My eyes stare into Rémy’s. My breathing falters as my heart threatens to beat out of my chest. Then he’s gone, and Maxim rolls us and yanks me to my feet.
Ignoring everyone around us, he drags me through the room to the back hallway, but instead of racing me out to the car, he spins me and pushes me against the wall. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“Saving your ass, you ungrateful dick,” I scream back, adrenaline racing through me.
“You could have been killed, you stupid, stupid woman,” he snarls before his mouth is on mine.
He kisses me with a ferocity that leaves me breathless and confused until sanity prevails, and I realize he’s broken his promise to me yet again. I pull back and break the kiss as he yanks my dress up and shoves his thigh between my legs. Without thinking, I lift my hand and slap him across the face. His head flies to the side, but if anything, it turns him on more. I move to slap him again, but he grabs my wrist, anticipating my move.
“You need to stop. I can’t keep doing this with you. We’re going around and around in circles. I am married. I won’t fuck you and betray my husband.”
“The same husband that threw you away?” he snaps.
I fight his hold, but he has me pinned, and his hands are like manacles around my wrists as he rubs his thigh against my pussy.
“He didn’t throw me away. You know nothing about him.”
Transferring my wrists to one of his hands, he pins them above my head as he pulls his cell from his pocket and dials a number.
Placing it on speakerphone, he watches me as the call connects and an achingly familiar voice speaks. “Did you fuck her yet?”
“No, but I’m going to. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”
When Calix doesn’t say anything, what’s left of my heart withers.
“You’re not bothered that I’m going to plunge my cock into your wife?”
“Why would I be? You’re not the first man to fuck her. I doubt you’ll be the last, or did you forget what I told you?” he replies with disdain. “Though I can’t say I’m surprised. She’s good. Almost had me fooled too.”
“Seems to me being locked away has made you stupid. The man who slept with your wife just tried to kill me and nearly killed her in the process when she saved my ass.”
He releases my hands so he can inspect the cut I can feel on my cheek, most likely from the shattered glass.
“She saved my life when it could be argued that her life would be that much better with me dead. Something tells me things are not as black and white as you made them seem. I didn’t get to where I am by being a fucking idiot. In my world, loyalty is everything. After tonight, you can kiss your wife goodbye because she’s mine now.”
Maxim hangs up on him, his eyes never leaving mine as he shoves the cell phone inside his jacket. Words fail me. I open my mouth, but nothing comes out.
