Page 284 of Sexting His Assistant

I let out a sob that almost becomes a laugh. “Yes, I’m bossy. You taught me.”

Luka drops beside us.

For one second, his eyes move over Misha’s injuries, and I see the calculation happen. Where he is bleeding. How fast. How much time.

Then Luka tears off his jacket and presses it hard against Misha’s side.

Misha groans.

“Stay with me,” Luka says.

Misha’s eyes shift toward him. “You’re late.”

Luka’s mouth tightens. “Complain when you’re not bleeding on my floor.”

“Not your floor,” Misha breathes.

“Everything is my floor right now,” Luka says.

I would laugh if I were not shaking.

Pavel appears nearby. “Meredith is on the run.”

Across the warehouse, near a side door behind the crates, Meredith slips through the chaos. She has lost her neatness now. Her hair is falling loose, and there is blood on her sleeve. She looks back once.

Our eyes meet. Then she disappears through the door.

Luka’s hand goes to his gun.

For one second, I know he is going after her.

He wants to.

Every part of him wants to chase her down.

“Luka,” I say.

He looks at me.

Then Misha makes a weak choking sound under his hand.

The decision hits Luka’s face like pain.

He turns to Pavel. “Send men after her. Alive if possible. Dead if necessary.”

Pavel nods and runs.

Luka stays. He stays with us.

That breaks something in me.

Because I know what it costs him.

I know he wants Meredith. I know he wants answers. I know he wants revenge.

But he stays.

He presses both hands against Misha’s wound and looks at Sergei as he rushes over.