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“Please, Heidi. Let me take you somewhere safe,” I say, keeping my voice intentionally low and calm this time in an effort to persuade rather than command. “It’s only for a short time, I promise. I fully intend to kill Aleksandr Volkov, even if I have to do it in the middle of broad daylight. I intend to end this once and for all. But in the meantime, I won’t let him hurt you. I can’t.”
My voice breaks on the last part, and I know I’m dangerously close to revealing my feelings for her. I was fooling myself, thinking I could keep a wall up when it comes to Heidi. She’s unlike any woman I’ve ever met. Without even trying, she broke through all my carefully built defenses, slipped between the cracks like a soothing fountain of healing water that has cured all the raw wounds eating at my soul.
And now that I’m trying to bridge the distance between us, to convince her that I only have her best interests at heart, I find that I can’t stand the thought of living without her.
Sighing as she slips back into her top, Heidi tucks it into her pencil skirt before facing me. “I can’t, Maks. I have people counting on me, responsibilities I can’t just shirk. You’re the one with a target on your back, so from where I stand, my best chance of being safe is to stay away from you.”
The words cut deep, and though I can see a hint of logic behind them, I find her calm, even delivery the most painful. Here I am, my heart on my sleeve—despite my determination not to fall for someone again—and Heidi’s done exactly what she said she could and kept this a purely physical relationship.
She’s not justokaywith telling me goodbye. She would prefer it.
It hurts. I can’t deny it.
But worse than that, she’s backed me into a corner. We’re at an impasse, and now I only see two options—let her have her way, or actually make her my prisoner. And as much as I might like the thought of keeping her locked away for my pleasure, I don’t think I have it in me to destroy what trust we’ve built by doing that.
“Fine,” I growl, struggling to control my rising temper before I change my mind and do something I regret. Frustrated by her complete unwillingness to budge, I turn and storm out, jerking the lapels of my suit jacket closed and buttoning them over my destroyed shirt.
I can’t get her to see it my way, and I refuse to force her. But that doesn’t mean I can’t take matters into my own hands.
I’m vaguely grateful as I step into the reception area to find that Zoe and her daughter seem to have left. Hopefully, they were gone by the time things got physical between me and Heidi.
I push the thought aside as I pull my phone out of my pocket and dial Alexei’s number. She might not agree to bodyguards, but I’m going to give her extra protection whether she wants it or not.
“Where did you head off to like a bat out of hell?” he asks by way of greeting.
“Heidi’s office. Aleksandr knows about her. He sent me a text all but threatening to hurt her, but she’s so fucking hard-headed, she’s refusing to let me take her somewhere safe.”
My men start to follow me to the car, but I stop them in their tracks. “You stay. I want eyes on Heidi at all times—from a distance—until Alexei can send a tail to put on her.”
They give a single, synchronized nod and turn to take up posts where she won’t see them watching.
“I’m sending a tail?”
“Yes. I want them to stay close enough to stop Aleksandr but far enough that Heidi won’t know they’re there.” Opening my car door, I slip inside and slam it shut.
“You sure are bending over backward for this girl. You sure she’s not more than a fuck toy?” Alexei teases.
“This is not the fucking time, man. Get it done!” I snap.
“Sheesh, Maks. It’s done. They’ll be there in ten.”
I almost feel bad for snapping at my younger brother. I know he’s just razzing me like he always does. But my nerves are beyond frayed, and I’m on the brink of losing it after everything that’s transpired in the last twenty-four hours.
“I’m heading back to the office now. We are ending this war with Aleksandr once and for all. I don’t care how many hours it takes. I don’t care if I have to shoot him in the middle of the goddamn street. I want him dead, Alexei.”
34
HEIDI
It was harder to watch Maks leave than I ever thought it could be. My heart sinks as his silhouette disappears from the frosted glass. A moment later, he exits my office building, swallowed by the shadows of uncertainty.
I’ve fallen for him, harder than I’d imagined I could.
I wasn’t supposed to fall in love. We'd agreed it was just a contract, a business arrangement between us. And today, when I reminded him of that, he didn’t argue.
I could see the concern in his eyes, a glimmer shining through the anger he carried like a shield. But that hint of worry is probably just the ghosts of his past haunting him, his post-traumatic stress stemming from the guilt he carries over his fiancée’s death.
In the end, he seemed to accept my solution, which only confirms that his emotions have remained as unattached as he promised they would. I’m the idiot who read too far into things, who let my heart lead me astray.
