“Maks,” I say quietly, fingers curling in his shirt. “Look at me.”
He doesn’t.
His gaze stays locked over my head, on the man behind me, like he’s already calculating angles. How hard he needs to hit, what bones he’ll break first.
“Maksim,” I try again, louder this time.
His hand snaps up so fast I flinch.
It clamps around my arm. Hard.
“Ah,” escapes me before I can register it.
His grip is harder than he’s ever held me. His fingers bite into my bicep, thumb pressing against the bone. Not enough to break, but enough that I know I’ll see his grip in purple tomorrow.
My breath stutters.
“Let go of her,” Ricky snarls behind me, starting forward.
Jace moves too, a step to the side, shoulders tense like he’s ready to pull Maksim off me if he has to.
“No.” I jerk my head at them, eyes wide. “Don’t. I’m fine.”
I’m not sure I am.
My pulse is a jackhammer in my throat. Fear and something else tangling under my skin.
Maksim’s attention finally drops from Ricky to me. Just for a second.
His eyes are burning.
“Fine?” he repeats softly, like the word is a joke only he can hear.
I swallow. “Just…stop.”
He doesn’t.
He shifts his grip, hand sliding from my arm to the back of my thigh in one brutal, efficient motion. Before I can process what’s happening, I’m airborne.
“Maks—”
He hauls me up and over his shoulder.
The world flips.
My stomach lurches as my view turns into his back, the warehouse floor, the tops of crates. My hands slam into his spine on instinct. I grab his jacket to keep from falling, my cheek pressed to the hard line of his shoulder blade.
“Ayla!” Kay squeaks somewhere to my left.
“Put her down,” Ricky snaps.
“Stay out of this,” Maksim growls, voice edged with something that makes the hair on my arms lift. “This is between me and her.”
His arm locks across the backs of my thighs, iron and inescapable. Each step jars through me as he storms toward the door.
Usually, I’d be kicking, clawing, doing anything to get away. Usually, I’d make a scene just on principle.
But Kay’s eyes are huge and shiny. Ricky looks like he’s about to get himself killed. Jace is tense and silent, jaw clenched.
