Anna tried to scream, but the hand over her mouth muffled her voice.
“Don’t make a noise,” the voice said.
Anna froze as the voice sank in, recognition hitting her like a jolt. Without a second thought, she drove her elbow into the attacker’s stomach, forcing a sharp grunt from his lungs.
Seizing that fleeting moment of weakness, she wrenched the knife from his hand. Spinning on her heel, breath ragged and heart pounding, she lifted the knife with both hands, her knuckles whitening around the hilt. The knife’s sharp edge pointed straight at James.
Anna’s eyes stayed fixed on him, steady with defiance even as traces of fear lingered inside her.
“f**k, that hurts like a b***h,” James growled, holding his stomach.
“First you betray me—and now you want to kill me?” Anna said, her voice
