Page 48 of Tangled Souls

Fuck.

Mikhail.

And from the looks of things, he’s pissed.

He lunges for me, but I sidestep him quickly, my training kicking in. I don’t have to pretend to be the scared, small woman everyone in my life used to assume I am. Now, I can own the woman I used to hide away.

I am exactly who I am supposed to be. For me. For my men.

He’s bigger than I am which means I have to use his size to my advantage instead of allowing him to use it against me. Easier said than done sometimes.

When he comes at me again, I dodge and turn as his body moves past me while landing a hit to his kidney. He grunts in pain, but I know not to allow the feeling of victory to cloud my mind or my judgement.

This is bad, but his anger is working for me, and I can’t lose focus now.

“You fucking worthless whore,” he seethes as he turns toward me.

When he tries to slap me, I block it and land a punch to his nose. The sickening crunch makes me wince, but all Mikhail does is smile.

I try and put some distance between us, but it’s not easy in the confined space of the bathroom. The next time he swings at me, I’m not fast enough and take a hit to my jaw. My back hits the wall, but I steady myself quickly.

“Oh, this is fun,” he teases, not realizing I haven’t said a word. He doesn’t care about what I have to say, so why waste my breath? “You can fight all you want, Oaklynn, but eventually you’ll find yourself on your knees for me. No one will save you.”

The smile that stretches across my face is filled with dangerous promises. No one has to save me; I’m going to save myself. Well, at least I’m going to try.

CHAPTER 18

MAXIM

Something is wrong. I know it down to my bones. I’ve tried to gracefully step out of this conversation with a guy we’ve done real estate work for. In the past I prided myself on being charming and being damn good for business, but I’m getting pissed.

I’ve had my eye on the door to the bathroom almost the entire time, but there was a moment when I lost sight of it. It was just a moment. But I still can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong.

I should be taking this networking opportunity seriously but fuck it and fuck this guy.

“I’m sorry, my wife has been gone for a little too long and I need to check on her,” I try to keep the annoyance out of my voice but it’s almost impossible.

The guy, whose name fucking escapes me at the moment, looks confused. “You mean the woman in the black dress you were with?” His eyebrows pull even closer together. “I thought she was married to your brother?”

I growl, unable to stop the sound but not giving a shit either way at the moment. Not when alarm sirens are blaring in myhead and making it hard to think.

The need to get to our woman, our wife, is practically taking me to the floor. I need to move. Now.

Is this what panic feels like? It’s a foreign feeling to me. Being in control is something I pride myself on, but when it comes to Oaklynn everything that I’m used to flies out the window. The only thing that matters is her.

Without bothering to answer, I walk away from Mr. Whatever-His-Name-Is. I’m just about to reach for the bathroom door handle, not giving a shit about it being the ladies room, when the door flies open.

I jump back, my brain not catching up with what I’m seeing for a moment. Mikhail fucking Morozov is standing front of me, blood dripping from his nose and an arm wrapped around his torso like his ribs are hurt. His chest is heaving up and down as his wild eyes meet mine.

He snarls and barrels right through me. I stumble back but stay on my feet.

“Fuck no,” I roar and rush into the bathroom without even considering going after the man.

Not when our woman, the love of my fucking life, is in the bathroom.

I don’t give myself a chance to brace or prepare as fear crawls up my throat. Fear of what I’m going to find. Fear that I’ve failed her.

When I step into the bathroom, I almost stumble over my feet as I find Oaklynn leaning back against one wall. Her chest is rising and falling with her rapid breathing. Her brown eyes meet mine and all I can see is fire burning there.

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