Page 57 of Caught By the Bratva Beast

“I'm not just going to leave you.”

“You can't shoot well enough to help me.”

I keep my mouth shut, leaving the space to focus as he slams down on the accelerator, the car shooting forward despite the tire that's rapidly losing air.

More gunshots crack through the air around us before the car starts to spin faster. As we slip down the side of the road, I know that this is the moment I'm going to have to get out and run. Maxim looks over at me and unbuckles my seat belt, throwing it aside. “Jump!”

I throw open the door, rolling away from the car as it sails into a tree. Darkness surrounds us, but there's a dim light glowing from the road. A shadowy figure starts to move toward me, and I squint as I back up, crawling toward the nearest tree and hoping that it's enough to hide me.

Maxim’s face comes into view as he gets closer, keeping his body close to the ground. “Are you okay? Did you hurt anything?”

I hold out my arms, looking at the small cuts from the twigs I rolled on. I've got a few scratches but nothing too bad. He crouches in front of me and it's then that I see the gash across his forehead, blood dripping down the side of his face. “Good. I don't know who the fuck is chasing us. You need to hide.”

“I’m not going to do anything without you.”

Maxim kneels beside me. “Is it broken or is it just sore?”

“I think it's sore, but I'm not going to be able to run on this. You're going to have to go.”

“You're more insane than I thought you were if you think I'm going to fucking leave here without you, Pearl.” Though it should be a sweet sentiment, his words blur together. He sways to the side.

“How hard did you hit your head?” I ask as I crawl toward him.

“I'm f … fine,” he says, but the words come out jumbled masses. He tilts to the side, head smashing against the ground before I have the chance to catch him.

Before I can check him, twigs crack in the distance, but they're growing louder. My chest tightens as I work the gun from Maxim’s hand, flicking off the safety after checking the magazine.

Even though it hurts, I get up. I drag Maxim over to a bush, leaving him in front of it and then hiding behind it. The only way I'm going to be able to get us out of this alive is to figure out how many men there are and kill them all.

More twigs crack, getting louder and louder, but only one man appears I squint through the darkness and it's then that I see it's the man Nicolo sent to deliver his message at the party. The man points his gun at Maxim, groaning when he sees him passed out on the ground. “I was hoping you were going to be alive. I was promised a fight.”

Before the man can pull the trigger, I stand up behind the bush, gun aimed straight between his eyes.

He chuckles and shakes his head. “What do you think you're going to do? Nicolo will find out. You'll kill me, he'll know you're a traitor. Hell, I'm sure he already thinks you are.”

I say nothing, pulling the trigger instead, shoulders sagging when his body hits the ground. Blood soaks into the dirt as a phone starts ringing. It's not mine. I didn't bring it this evening knowing that Nicolo would be messaging me, trying to get a hold of me.

I quickly search Maxim’s pockets until find his phone. I slide my thumb across the screen. Yegor.

“Where is Maxim? Tell him that I’m in the car and on the way.”

“Well, you're a little bit late on that.” My voice wavers. I scrub the tears from my eyes, looking at Maxim with the blood still seeping from his head. “You need to send somebody to me right now.”

“What's happening? Pearl, tell me what's happening. I've got somebody on the way. I'm getting in the car now, but you need to tell me what's going on.”

“Just get here. He might not make it.”

Chapter 21 - Maxim

My head is pounding like a son of a bitch as I sit up, bright fluorescent light shining above me. Groaning, I look down at the sharp pain coming from my arm, seeing an IV sticking out. I grab it, ripping it out of my elbow ditch and tossing it to the side as one of the machines starts to scream.

Yegor stands by the window, his mouth moving. His words are too soft to hear. He's got an ear pressed to his phone, his back to me as he looks out of the window. When he turns slightly, his gaze connects with mine and he hangs up, the phone sliding into his back pocket.

“I didn't know you were getting up. You need to rest. You should be sleeping.” He walks over and turns off the screaming machine.

“Where is Pearl?”

“She's not here right now. You need to calm down.” Yegor gets into my space as I try to get out of the bed.

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