Page 80 of The Russian's Bought Bride

The opposite side of his face lights up from approaching headlights, and when I expect them to eventually dim, they don’t.

Instead, it intensifies as someone approaches too fast. Then everything suddenly feels too fast.

A deafening crash breaks the moment as another vehicle slams violently into us from the side, and the image of him turns dark as my eyes snap shut instinctively.

The impact jerks my entire body sideways hard enough that pain explodes through my shoulder and skull simultaneously. Metal screeches loud enough to deafen, glass shatters everywhere, and the world spins violently as the SUV skids across pavement.

I don’t register my scream until my lungs start to burn as I try to inhale again.

The vehicle finally slams to a stop somewhere, but nothing feels right.

For a second, there’s only ringing silence, followed by the smell of smoke and something acrid. Then, pain throbs through my head, and my pulse is all I can hear in my ears.

My vision blurs badly as I try to orient myself, panic flooding through me all at once while I try to reach for something. Anything. But I can barely feel my fingers.

“Nikolai—”

My voice barely comes out properly as I suck in another breath, and as my eyes barely open, I’m looking at the roof instead of the floor.

Beside me, he’s moving already despite blood running down one side of his face. His expression shifts instantly from dazed to lethal awareness.

“Dani.”

The way he says my name snaps through the haze, and I feel his hand grabbing for me across the center console just as voices erupt outside the vehicle.

My stomach drops instantly despite the haziness surrounding my senses.

Nikolai seems to realize it at the exact same moment I do, and his entire body goes rigid before he starts reaching for his seatbelt.

“Lock the door,” he snaps harshly, voice hoarse.

But before I can even react properly or begin reaching for the lock, my door is ripped open, and the cold night air rushes in violently.

Nikolai growls as he moves more urgently, trying to unclip himself despite whatever damage he took from the impact. “Fuck…hold on. Dani—”

Hands grab me, but they feel icy and foreign compared to the warmth I’m used to with him.

My scream gets caught in my throat as more dizziness sets in, fighting despite the disorientation clawing through my skull. Everything feels sluggish and wrong.

Someone drags me hard against the seatbelt before cutting it away entirely.

“Nikolai!”

His name tears from my throat in panic, but it’s enough to wind me all over again.

I hear shouting from either side of me, followed by an impact that sounds like Nikolai has finally freed himself.

There’s a gunshot, but it sounds more muffled through my daze.

“Dani!”

Nikolai reaches for me again from across the ruined interior, bloodied and shaking, but someone yanks me violently out of the SUV before he can reach me.

The last thing I see is him lunging toward me with murder in his eyes, trying to get through the wreck.

But before he can, the weight of everything presses down on me, forcing pain through my skull until it fades to nothing, and everything goes completely black.

Chapter 25 - Nikolai