I text back
I’m not with him.
Your location says otherwise.
What the hell?
I turn it off and exhale.
No. Fuck Gabriel. I begin my walk out of the parking garage and into the rain. The water practically drowning me with pressure.
I stop.
I have two terrible options.
Walk home in this rain and deal with Gabriel later or walk back and stay at Maksim Korsakov’s.
Goddamn it.
Chapter 9
Maksim
Fucking marshmallows.
She’s a nuisance.
A distraction.
Fucking annoying.
With that sharp mouth and those quick hands. I rub my ribs.
A soft knock comes at the door.
I don’t move from the couch. Just stare at the door.
I know it’s her.
The rain must’ve made her reconsider. Or maybe she realized walking through Bratva territory at night without a car is fucking stupid.
Smart girl.
I push off the couch, cross to the door. I unlock it, pull it open. She’s soaked. Hair plastered to her face, jacket dark with rain. Water drips off her onto the floor, forming a puddle at her feet.
“I need somewhere to stay,” she says. Not asking. Stating.
I lean against the doorframe. “That so?”
“Just for tonight. Until the rain stops.”
“And then what? You walk home in the dark through Russian territory?”
Her jaw tightens. “I’ll figure it out.”
I step aside. “Get in here before you flood my hallway.”
She hesitates—just for a second, then steps past me. I catch that marshmallow scent again, mixed with rain.
