Her stomach turned.Was this it?Was he going to finally point that gun at her, and finally shoot her?
Chapter Two
Maksim Volkov shouldhave killed her.The thought came to him with the same cold clarity as every other decision he had ever made in rooms like this.
A witness was a loose end, and a loose end was a problem.Problems should be quickly eliminated when they arose.
He had lived by that rule long enough that it had stopped feeling like a rule at all.It was instinct now, sharpened and honed into something automatic.Efficient.
So why was she still breathing?
Maksim stood across from her, gun steady in his hand, gaze fixed on the tremor running through her shoulders.She looked like she might shatter at any second, like glass stretched too thin.
And yet, Lena hadn’t run, at least not immediately.She had seen the body, noticed him soon after.Others would have bolted without a second thought, but not her.Interesting.
Sure, there was fear.It poured off her in waves, sharp and electric.However, beneath it, threaded through the panic, there was something else.Resistance.
Lena surprisingly had a steel spine underneath and that more than anything, made him hesitate.What was wrong with him?Did he wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?
It felt wrong to just end her life right here and now.
Maksim didn’t hesitate.Among his three brothers, he was the one who never faltered.He never questioned their father’s order, never softened.Alexei had always been the weak one when it came to women.
Alexei was too easily distracted, too willing to indulge softness where none should exist.Maksim had mocked him for it more times than he could count, and now, Maksim was in this absurd situation.
He had the upper hand, the gun in his hand.One pull of the trigger and it was all over, and yet he did nothing.Maksim tightened his jaw.
Irritation flickered through him, sharp and unwelcome.He studied her instead, silently cataloguing her.
Lena and dark curly hair, slightly disheveled from whatever chaos had brought her here.What would her reaction be, if he speared his fingers through that gorgeous hair?
She also had wide brown eyes that were too expressive, too alive.It was like they hadn’t yet learned how to hide anything.
They reminded him, absurdly, of soft, warm, melted chocolate.What a strange thought, and completely inappropriate for the situation.
His gaze drifted lower before he stopped himself.She had the right curves too.He always liked women with a full figure.Maksim tightened his grip on the gun.