“What else can I do?”she shot back automatically.“It’s not like there’s plenty of entertainment here.”
That earned her the ghost of a smirk.The expression vanished almost immediately, but it lingered in the room afterward like smoke.
Maksim moved toward the small kitchen again, opening cupboards with distracted movements.
“You should eat,” he said.
“I’m not hungry.”
“You barely touched breakfast.”
“I’m still your prisoner,” Lena reminded him sharply.“You know that, right?This weird domestic act doesn’t cancel that out.”
He shifted his unreadable gaze to her.
“I know exactly what you are.”
The words should have chilled her.Instead, something hot curled low in her stomach.Lena hated herself a little for that.
The silence stretched again, heavy and strange.Maksim eventually settled into the chair across from her, nursing another vodka while shadows gathered outside the windows.
The apartment grew darker by degrees until the entire safehouse felt submerged in muted gold and black.Lena curled her legs beneath herself on the couch.
“You’re different tonight,” she said quietly.
Maksim didn’t answer immediately, but finally he said, “My brothers know about you.”
Her stomach dropped.Judging by his expression, that didn’t sound like good news.The room suddenly felt colder.“What?”Lena whispered.
“They want me to finish the job,” he said.
Fear flashed hot through her veins.
“So why am I still here?”Lena had to ask.
His gaze lifted slowly to hers.
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.”
The honesty of it unsettled her more than if he’d lied.Before she could respond, something shifted.Maksim went completely still.Every muscle in his body tightened with frightening immediacy.
Lena frowned.“What...?”Lena began.
“Quiet.”The word came low and sharp.
Then she heard it too.
A noise outside, followed by footsteps.There was more than one, she realized.Maksim moved instantly.One second he was seated, the next he was grabbing his gun from the counter with terrifying efficiency.
The atmosphere in the room changed violently.The man who cooked pasta and let her patch his wounds vanished.This version of Maksim was colder, and deadlier.Pure predator.
“Get behind me,” he ordered.
Lena’s pulse exploded.“What’s happening?”
She heard another sound.They were closer now.The front lock beeped once.Maksim swore softly in Russian.Then the door burst inward, and chaos erupted.
Gunfire cracked through the apartment like thunder.