Every protective instinct I possessed ran hot. Spiked with the need to keep her safe, I stepped out from the shadows as she came close.
Without a single second of hesitation, I had my gun out of its holster. I lifted my arm as I ran to intercept.
They weren’t just any men. The pair of men chasing her down the sidewalk were Popov soldiers.
What the fuck?
“Get her,” one told the other, both of them picking up speed. As I hurried toward them, a van sped down the road, its engine roaring as it revved.
I don’t fucking think so.
They weren’t getting her.
No one was.
Not on my watch.
I was lost, confused and lacking any answers for what the hell was going on. It didn’t matter. Whatever had happened to set the stage for this incident, it was way too close for comfort. I wasn’t allowing any danger to trouble this woman’s life.
Not at work.
Not near her home.
Especially when she was carrying a young child.
“Go get her,” the Popov soldier ordered.
I reached her, passing her swiftly and earning a gasp of surprise. Before she could whirl around or flinch from me, I jumped onto the sidewalk. Putting myself between her and the Popovs, I raised my gun and dared them to even look at her.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I growled as the men skidded to a stop at the sight of me blocking them from chasing her.
10
NATALIE
Paranoia had me looking over my shoulder after I picked up Maisie at Irene’s apartment. Daria was out of town for a procedure and couldn’t babysit tonight, so I had to take Maisie to her classmate’s apartment, a couple of blocks over. Irene was the only backup I had, and the only catch was that she wouldn’t come to my home to babysit.
That was the only reason I could’ve been caught outside at two in the morning, carrying my sleepy daughter home.
I wasn’t used to being on that side of town at this hour, and for good reason. Too many scary gangsters seemed to hang around there.
Two of them seemed too interested in my coming and going from Irene’s building. When I couldn’t ignore the sixth sense feeling of someone watching me, I peeked over my shoulder again and again.
Each time, they blended into the shadows, but they got closer, bolder, not even trying to hide the fact that they were chasing me.
Masks covered their noses and mouths. But in their evil, taunting stares, I knew they were smiling as they ran after me.
Fuck.
Fuck!
God, what do I do!
I couldn’t stop and call for help.
No passersby were out on the sidewalk.
In the city that never slept, no one was around to ask for any assistance.
