Just absence.
Like she’s seen this before.
Blyad.
Chapter 22
Ayla
Ali.
His name hits me like a punch.
The man Maksim killed—the one bleeding into the concrete, the one who denied knowing me, the one who took that bullet without hesitation—
Ali.
He used to sneak cookies to me when Gabriel decided I hadn’t “earned” food. Pressed sealed water bottles into my hands when no one was looking.
Told me to drink fast, hide the evidence. He’d slip them into my room like it wasn’t a risk.
Like my life was worth the danger.
And he just—He denied knowing me.
Right before Maksim put a gun to his head. My throat tightens, but nothing comes out. I don’t cry. Haven’t in years.
Maksim drags me out of the warehouse before the smoke settles, shoves the helmet back on my head, gets on the bike.
I climb on.
Because what else can I do?
His heartbeat is a hammer under his skin. I can feel it through his shirt, through the vibrations of the engine, through the tension locked in his spine.
He’s furious.
Not at Ali.
Not even at the name Gabriel Kaya.
He’s furious atme.Because I won’t break the way he wants me to.
We take off, but he isn’t on the road back to the townhouse.
No.
This turn is wrong. The buildings thin out. The air changes. My hands tighten on his waist, and he feels it. I know he does. His body goes even harder under my grip.
I try to breathe.
Ali’s face flashes behind my eyes. The split lip. The swelling. The way he looked at me one last time and pretended not to know me.
He saved me.In the only way he could.
And Maksim killed him for it.
My stomach twists with something uglier than guilt.
