Bound by Choice

CONT’D

He drove his fist into Maksim’s abdomen with brutal force.

Maksim immediately folded forward.

Tiger Eyes straightened and made his way toward me.

A scream escaped me as I instinctively shoved against the stairwell door, desperately trying to get it open. It wouldn’t move. There was no way out. I was cornered.

The stranger sprang toward me with the swift, effortless movement of a jungle predator, catching me before I could escape. His hand closed around my throat, and suddenly everything turned upside down. The ceiling and floor seemed to trade places before I crashed onto my back. The impact knocked the breath from my lungs. His grip around my neck made it difficult to breathe, while pain spread through my chest and my heart raced desperately.Move! Get to your feet!” I urged myself in a panic. “You know how to fight! I pressed my back against the floor, trying to lift my knee, but he had positioned himself over my legs, holding me firmly in place. I raked my nails across him, my short fingertips digging into his thick forearms as his grip around my throat remained tight. With my vision beginning to fade, I swung my right hand and struck his left side with all the force I could muster.

His hold slackened just enough for me to turn my head and sink my teeth into the first patch of exposed skin I could reach. To my utter disbelief, the pressure around my neck suddenly eased.I sucked in a desperate breath and rolled onto my side, greedily gulping down air into my deprived lungs. My eyesight remained hazy, but I managed to push myself up onto my hands and knees. I continued breathing in quick, shallow bursts, my entire body trembling with adrenaline.

Compared to the chaos around me, everything else seemed to unfold at a painfully sluggish pace. The crashes and heavy impacts barely registered, and I could scarcely comprehend that they were signs of something happening beyond my own battered body.

Maksim’s face gradually emerged through the black-and-white spots dancing across my vision. Somehow, his features seemed both indistinct and sharply defined. Then came one last deafening crack, followed by a heavy thud.

“f**k!” Tiger Eyes cursed, clutching the back of his head as he writhed on the concrete floor.

Maksim moved steadily up along the man’s body, each successive blow landing with a sickening thud. The repeated sounds of fists connecting with flesh left me frozen in terror.

He’s going to kill him, I realized, desperately trying to think of some way to make him stop. “You’re a dead man,” Tiger Eyes snarled as Maksim finally rose to his feet.

How the hell could he still speak after taking that kind of beating? I wondered.

“Trust me, you’d better pray that’s the last time you ever come through that door. Now get your ass up and get out,” Maksim commanded, brushing the corner of his mouth with his hand. Tiger Eyes got to his feet, his eyes fixed on Manson as though weighing whether to carry out his threat then and there.

Maksim held his ground. “Don’t force me to do this, Konstantin.” His words were laced with fury, but beneath the anger was something far more intense.

Tiger Eyes ultimately chose not to continue the fight. “Until next time, brother,” he announced, a smile playing across his perfectly shaped lips as his attention shifted to me. “And you and I will be crossing paths again very soon, little lady,” he added, his green eyes carrying a promise I would have eagerly welcomed that morning.

Not anymore.

A shiver crept down my spine.

His grin widened into a hearty laugh as he made his way down the corridor, one hand pressed against the back of his head.

Then, as if by some miracle, the utterly useless security guard finally showed up.

“See to it that he leaves the premises,” Maksim ordered.

“Yes, sir.”

How f*****g convenient that he decided to appear only after the whole place had practically been turned upside down, I thought bitterly.

“Come with me,” Maksim said, taking hold of my arm. “Huh?” I murmured, my gaze darting from Tiger Eyes’ retreating figure to Maksim’s dishevelled appearance.

My purse was still in my office. I had to retrieve my phone. Call the police. Do something.

He placed both hands on my shoulders, his touch warm and steady. His fingertips pressed into my skin through the material of my dress, but the discomfort barely registered anymore.

“Evangeline?” Maksim asked in a calm, measured voice. “Evangeline Bennet, correct?”

“I... yes.”

“Are you all right?”

I began shaking my head, then quickly stopped, wincing as the soreness in my throat flared. “Who—”

The pain of speaking was too much, so I cut myself off.

Maksim tilted his head back, his thick hair now completely tousled and dishevelled.

“He’s left. You’re safe now.”

“The police?” I asked faintly.

“He’s gone,” he repeated.

A hard, dangerous intensity suddenly sharpened his eyes. His thick brows drew together.

My stomach tightened, and my legs began to shake. I knew that expression. Even if I’d never encountered it before, I would have understood its meaning instinctively. It was the calculating stare of a predator assessing its prey, deciding what to do with it now that it was trapped.

“But what am I supposed to do with you?” he asked.

A fresh shudder swept through me.

The room began to spin, and everything faded into darkness.