Page 20 of Shielded Secrets

I flinched at the slightpopof the silenced hit. It was nothing different from the bullets that Rurik had aimed to pierce his heart and lungs. The man was already dead, and with the controlled range of the headshot, it wasn’t a gruesome mess like what they showed in TVs.

Rurik winced, looking back up at me. “I told you to look away.”

I did then. As the realization that this man was dead and could no longer hurt me, I instantly reverted back to that fight or flight.Thisman was dead. Rurik had saved me from him, but others could be hanging around. Just from the differences inbody sizes, I knew this wasn’t the man who’d followed me to my apartment earlier. Maybe that guy was still out there. Backup could be waiting nearby.

Relieved when I saw no indication of anyone being near—either as a witness or an attacker—I let my shoulders sag. “I think…” I swallowed hard and tried to speak again after that croakiness. “I think he was working alone.”

“Who does he work for?”

I shook my head, glancing down at the dead man. “I… I don’t know.” That was the truth. I hadn’t seen this man near Jerome. If this guy was a friend of Jerome’s, then I knew all abouthim. With Rurik’s deep, dark stare so intense on me now, I couldn’t find the courage to explain a single word about my past, though.

“I was just walking to work and he came out and?—”

Rurik stood fully, grimacing as he moved his arm.

“Are you all right?” I was careful not to step on or near the dead man as I approached Rurik. Extending my hand, I moved toward him to help him. How, I had no idea. But if he was wounded at all—at the expense of keeping me safe—I wanted to at least do the minimum of offering him a comforting touch or a display of gratitude.

Of all the possible ways I ever could have been face to face and reunited with this strong and sexy man, this was not how I envisioned it happening.

But as it sank in that he’d put himself at risk to protectme, I couldn’t help the tide of gratitude and deep appreciation that came to me.

“You…” I shook my head, still marveling at the fact that he was here, apparently for me. But another wince lining his face had me tensing with worry. He was here, all right. It wasn’t an illusion or a dream. And he was hurt. “Your arm…”

He stopped me from touching him. Instead of waiting for me to come to him, he grabbed my hand and pulled me closer. It wasn’t to embrace me in a hug, but when he kept me close to his side and urged me to walk away from the dead man with him, it hardly mattered what he intended.

“My arm will be fine,” he said, so gruff and matter-of-fact as he took his phone out.

I was deprived of following up about what pain was causing him to grimace as we hurried away. Trusting him because it washim, I tried to follow the quick call he made to someone named Peter. I gathered enough of his call that it was an order to clean up the mess from that dead man there, but also to check for another body further back.

“You? That was you?” I asked after he shoved the phone back in his pocket. “You got that first man away from me when I was walking home?”

He nodded, giving me a quick glance. “And now you’re riding home with me to tell me what the hell is going on that so many assholes are waiting to jump at you in the dark.”

I winced as he held my hand tightly again. It wasn’t a punishing grip as if he feared I’d escape him, but a confident hold, nonetheless.

So much for the fantasies.

I’d dreamed of his returning to my life in so many ways, but in all of those visions, we’d been reunited because he wanted me. I’d fantasized about him sweeping back into my life with a grand need to be my hero.

And it hadn’t left me any time or energy to recall that he would only ever be here for a job, as part of his duty.

Not formebecause he missed me, but because I was an accessory to whatever the Baranov Family was dealing with for business. That was all he could have interest in me for.

As he guided me toward the parking lot to leave, I vowed to stack up an even higher wall around my guarded heart. Now was the time to protect myself from the kind of stupidity a silly crush or pointless romance could bring down on me, even with the man I couldn’t stop thinking about.

10

RURIK

Feeling Kelly’s small hand within mine soothed a part of me that I didn’t know was broken. This petite woman had so much power over me, and I doubted she realized it.

The triumph of killing that man would stay with me for a long time. The elation of being the one to come to her rescue wouldn’t fade soon, either. But the instant trust she’d placed in me, to follow me without question, gave me hope that I couldn’t be wrong about her.

After I hurried her to my car, dismissing the protests of my shoulder burning in pain from overusing it too soon—twice in two fights tonight—I registered how quiet she’d gotten.

She hadn’t argued once. She didn’t say a single word.

I knew she was aloof, but this…

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