1
CHLOE
I’m back. Back in the devil’s lair.
The thought loops through my pain-dazed mind as the car rolls to a stop in front of Nikolai’s ultra-modern mountain mansion. A man and two women in hospital scrubs—presumably the medical team Nikolai mentioned—are waiting for us on the driveway with a gurney. Behind them is Alina, Nikolai’s sister, her beautiful face pale and worried.
I register all this only in passing. All my senses are consumed by the man holding me possessively on his lap.
Nikolai Molotov.
The devil himself.
His powerful arms are wrapped around me, securing me against his large body, and even though I’ve just seen him kill two men, I can’t help but derive comfort from his touch, his warmth, his familiar cedar-and-bergamot scent. His taste lingers on my tongue, my lips
