Page 105 of Sinner's Sacrifice

They got closer to the standoff quickly. Airport emergency vehicles wailed behind them and the cop car.

This was all turning into a huge farce that would end up on news sites, television, social media, and god only knew what else.

“Sir, as soon as she saw the EMS dispatched and approaching, she smiled at Magnus.”

“That little shit was hoping for this,” Yvgeny grumbled.

“All the eyes on the situation makes it very difficult for anyone to just snatch her or behave outside human norms.”

Yvgeny grinned. His Samantha was smart, finding the best way to save herself with the limited options available.

He was still going to spank her ass, though.

He’d kiss it better afterward.

Men from the two groups trying to get to her opened fire at Yvgeny’s car. Idiots. Every vehicle he traveled in was armored.

The police car behind him blared out a warning over a loudspeaker and the shooting ceased.

“Stop here,” he ordered his driver. “Get a helicopter in here. Leaving any other way has too many risks,” he said to Mason.

The car came to a stop and Yvgeny got out. He walked toward Samantha, working hard to seem unconcerned to anyone observing him.

As he got closer to Sam, he noted her heavy breathing, pale pallor, and shaking hands.

She was staring at him and when he passed Magnus’s position, she took a step backwards.

Yvgeny stopped where he was. “Sam? Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”

Her shaking seemed to get worse with every second. “One of them bit me.” Her voice sounded shrill. “He actually tasted my blood. Then he spit it out like I used to do with Brussels sprouts when I was a kid.” She sneered at one of the men. “I guess he didn’t appreciate the shot of whiskey Nika made me drink.”

Thank God for Nika.

Yvgeny glanced at the two groups of men. “Which one of them did it? I will personally eviscerate them for you. Right now, if you like.”

Someone, Mason, coughed, “Prison sentence.”

“They said you’d try to drink my blood, too.”

He smiled. “I might bite you at some point, but not because I’m hungry. And I certainly won’t break skin.”

Her outstretched hand dropped to her side, but the one at her neck stayed there.

“Sam, do you...have a knife?”

“Yes. It was the only thing I could think of to do to keep them away from me. The asshole who bit me said I was worth my weight in gold. I assumed he meant alive.” She threw a glare at every male in sight. “I am not something you can own.”

“No,” Yvgeny said. “You’re not. You’re someone who should be cherished. That moron has no idea what you’re worth,” Yvgeny said. “Because, to me, you’re priceless.”

“Why?” Her question sounded brittle, as if it were a thin veneer of ice over an ocean of uncertainty and loneliness. Yet her gaze begged him to tell her, to convince her he was telling the truth.

He could do that.

“Because you argue with me and call me on my bullshit.”

He took a step closer to her. “Because you make me reconsider my narrow point of view on practically everything.”

Another step. “Because you make me laugh.”

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