I grip the gun tighter. Hover with my finger on the trigger.
Then I shoot.
For a long second, Maksim stays perfectly still. His eyes squeeze against the noise, despite all the determination he’s shown so far. No matter what, he’s just a man.
And so am I.
Slowly, he opens his eyes again. We both stare at the hole in the floor, black and gaping, smoke rising from the mouth of my lowered gun.
“I missed.” I hand him back the gun. “You’re free.”
After a pause, he takes it. “You never miss.”
“Everyone misses sometimes.” I avert my gaze. “It’s just part of being human.”
A slight smile curves Maksim’s lips. There’s fondness there—and pride, too. “I hear they make the bestpakhani.Humans.”
Maksim stands. Kallie instantly throws herself back at him. “Thank God,” she cries. “I thought?—”
“What, that this guy was gonna shoot me?” He scoffs. “Please. Who else is gonna drive him around?”
“You’re both assholes, you know that?” Nik exhales, massaging Kallie’s shoulders as she shakes. “Putting a girl through all of that just to prove a point.”
“You’re a girl,” Maks points out.
“I don’t count.”
“Enough.” I fix my cuffs and call the attention of the room back to me. “We need to find Mia.”
“She’s at the hospital,” Kallie says. “The parking lot. Something weird’s going on there.”
“How so?”
“There isn’t a single car. And Brad, he… he seemed to know there wouldn’t be. I think someone from the inside is helping him. And then…” Her face turns grayish with fear. “The guys who kidnapped me? They weren’t amateurs. They had camo on. Felt like I was being ambushed by the military or something.”
Camo.“That’s Prizrak,” I infer. “Brad is using them.”
“Must be their last favor to him,” Maksim grits. “Before they ship it all overseas.”
Right. Last year, they’d been in the process of moving their organization abroad. Desya must have been the one to slow things down—one last game of revenge. Now, Brad’s taking advantage of that little hiccup to call in his favor.
But I won’t let him.
Like hell is he going to take the woman I love from me.
“Nik, you drive,” I order. “Maks, with me.”
“I’m coming, too,” Kallie says. Her tone brooks no argument.
But I’m not planning to argue. Time is already working against us here. If we’re going to save Mia, we need to move now.
And when I get my hands on Brad Baldwin…
He’ll learn just what it means to touch what’s mine.
59
MIA
