Page 39 of Deception

“No.”

Nodding, he traces a hand up my arm to my neck. Cupping my jaw, he continues. “Your enemies are my enemies, and I’ll protect you. Unlike them…” He pauses for a beat, teeth grinding with disgust, before he tells me, “I’ll always find you, malyshka.”

“I’m not your little girl.” My snappy response earns me a cocked brow.

A bemused chuckle vibrates from him as his other hand flattens to the base of my back. “There’s nowhere you can run. No place you can hide. No one that can take you from me. That’s a promise, malyshka.”

“I amnotyour baby.”

“Nothing will stop me from finding you. Ever.” Looking down at his chest, Tomasz blows out on a deep breath, “Unless you kill me.”

There’s never been something I’ve wanted more than to make good on all the promises I made to him. My trigger finger spasms with the urge to do it, and yet, I can’t.

What’s wrong with me?

This is it. The moment I’ve been hoping for. The opportunity I’ve patiently awaited.

“What the fuck are you doing? This isn’t what we agreed!” Big-fucking-Ben chimes, breaking me out of our trance.

I trusted him.

I put my life in his hands…

He betrayed me.

He’s not here to bring me home. He’s not here to save me. It wasn’t his acquaintance with the Vassilys that was a farce; it was his loyalty to his country and our mission.To me.

Twisting in Tomasz’s hold, I press my back to his front. Shooting—one, two, three, four…

His men jump in without a beat of hesitation while my traitor’s line of defence collapses like dominoes to one side. Bullets zap around us. Rage unlike I’ve ever felt scorches my veins as I keep pulling the trigger. Even when I’ve run out of ammunition and it’s Tomasz and his men finishing what I started. The recoil of each shot continues vibrating through me as I drop the empty gun to the ground. I should’ve saved a bullet for the arsehole.

The heat of my emotions overwhelms me in the silence that follows. Benny looks between his last man standing and the others on the ground.

“You’ll regret this.”

The one man he has left at his side holsters his weapon as Tomasz’s men close around us.

“You should’ve killed him,” I hiss with reproach at both myself and Tomasz.

“Not today,” he retorts, voice steady like hell hasn’t just broken loose around us.

This is just another day in his world. If I was ever looking for a reason why he’s so composed all the time, this is it. He can’t afford to have a lapse in his control and poise. Much like I was raised to play to the rules of society, he’s been reared to rule a brutal and unforgiving legacy. One that’s built on blood and violence. For the first time, I wonder what it would be like to be like him. To own all that power he possesses.

“Let me go,” I snap when I try to walk away and his arm closes around me tighter while he hands the gun in his hand to his driver beside us. “Let me fucking go!”

Surprisingly, Tomasz releases me. The loss of his touch chills me to the core, and at first, I stall in my resolve to get out of here. Of all times for my head to think to the same tune as my heart feels, this is the worst.

I need to put space between me and him. I need to push the hurt down and lock it away so that he doesn’t exploit it anymore. However, with every step I take out of the maze, all I can hear are his words chasing me.

There’s nowhere you can run.

I turn into one of the hedge openings and follow the long path until I reach another opening.

No place you can hide.

My steps become longer strides as I pursue my freedom endlessly.

No one that can take you away from me.

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