The knife cut her skin. She felt the trickle of blood on her neck.
“Stop.” Low. Chilling. From Ryan. “Stop now. Or you’re a dead man.”
What a bold and meaningless threat. Her gaze caught his. “Look away,” she told Ryan. Because this was about to get bad. She’d just managed to work her right hand free. She would have to move quickly. Alexei had a major size and strength advantage on her. Given his passion for dirty, bloody work, Simone suspected that Alexei had a whole lot more killing experience than she did. But Simone would have the element of surprise on her side, and she would not be hesitating.
Still, Ryan did not need to see this attack. Especially if, say, something went wrong and she wound up getting her throat slashed open from ear to ear. Not the last visual she wanted him to have of her. “I really enjoyed our kisses, by the way.” Zero clue why she said those words. Or why she added, “I wish our time could have been different.”
A deep furrow cut between Ryan’s eyes.
“Where is the egg?” Alexei snapped at her as spittle flew from his mouth.
“Look away,” she told Ryan again.
Alexei thundered, “The egg?—”
“Go find a damn chicken! Because I don’t know where your egg is!”
The knife pressed harder.
And her left hand was free now, too. Yes! She’d just managed to wrench it out of the ropes.
“You have stumbled into the worst nightmare of your life,” Alexei promised her. “They know what you did.”
Great. Fabulous. Her head turned. “Come closer,” she whispered to Alexei as she let her shoulders sag. “I’ll tell you everything.” No, she would not.
But he leaned in toward her, and with that lean, he also lifted the knife a wee bit. Sort of an instinctive response. One part of the body moved, and another did, too. She’d been hoping for that response.
If only my feet were free. Then I could really have a fighting chance. But at least her hands were going to be in this battle. Alexei had been so intent on his threats that he hadn’t even heard the faint slither of the ropes falling from her wrists. She sucked in a breath and prepared for the worst. Because she’d had too many worsts in her life.
“Leave her alone!” Ryan yelled. “I have the egg!”
What?
Both Simone and Alexei craned their heads toward Ryan.
“Me!” Ryan shouted. “I took it. Not her. Me.”
He’d stolen an egg? What was happening?
“I’ve got the thirty-million-dollar trinket in my tux pocket right now. You searched her, but you didn’t search me because you are such a dumbass.”
Had he just said…thirty-million-dollar trinket?
“Come and get it!” Ryan taunted.
And Alexei was going. He was surging toward Ryan. Slashing out with his knife even as she screamed.
But…
Ryan was on his feet. In a blink, he was on his feet. No ropes on his ankles. No ropes around his wrists. The ropes around his chest and upper arms had fallen away because he was not bound to the chair any longer. He was up. Ready.
She was screaming at the top of her lungs. Horses were neighing nearby. Ryan caught Alexei’s forearm, stopping the downward slice of the knife before it could make contact with him. Stopping it in one serious, badass motion.
“You should never threaten a woman,” Ryan growled. “Bastard.” Then he attacked.
Fists flew. Bodies collided. Alexei’s knife was swinging, and she was still screaming. Screaming and clawing at the ropes around her ankles because she needed to get out of that chair and help Ryan. The man could not be killed right in front of her.
But even as the last rope finally gave way beneath her twisting, shaking fingers and Simone leapt to her feet, a body was falling.
