I swing my legs, trying to build momentum. If I can just—
His hand closes around my wrist.
The touch is firm. Absolutely inescapable.
“Let go,” he says quietly.
“No.”
“Ayla.” His grip tightens fractionally. “Let go of the branch.”
“So you can drop me?”
“So I can pull you up.”
I stare up at him, trying to read his face in the shadows. His expression is unreadable.
He could let go.
Why should I trust him?
My fingers are slipping anyway. The choice is being made for me.
I release the branch.
The world jerks upward. He hauls me up in one controlled pull, all muscle and balance, like my weight is nothing more than a fact to manage. My boots scrape bark as I clear the branch and land hard against the trunk, breath punching out of me.
I’m still gripping the brass knuckles. They feel slick against my palm—sweat or blood, I can’t tell in the dark. My chest heaves, dragging in air that tastes like pine and adrenaline.
Maksim doesn’t let go of my wrist.
He’s close now. Too close. I can feel the heat radiating off him, see the way his chest rises and falls with steady, controlled breaths. Like he just took a leisurely stroll instead of chasing me through the woods.
“That was fun,” he says. “Let’s climb down.”
Fun. He thinks this isfun?
He let’s my wrist go and makes his way down.
What the fuck?My heart is pounding in my chest, I’m sweating through the jacket and the head of the Bratva just said this was fun?
I follow down. My breaths slowly catching up.
The pressure lifts. Just enough to be dangerous.
For a moment, it feels like it’s over.
The second my boots hit the ground, the illusion shatters. My back hits the bark hard, his hand at my throat. “Maksim—”
“You ran.” His thumb brushes across my pulse point, deliberate. “You climbed. You tried to escape. Good instincts.” His eyes drop to my mouth, then back up. “But you’re caught now.”
I swallow. “What happened to fun?”
“Itwasfun, but I win.”
My heart slams against my ribs so hard I’m sure he can feel it through my skin.
“We had a deal,” I manage. “I get it, if you catch me, we fight, let me go, we can spar.”
