Page 55 of Maxim
The minute I step into my bedroom, I gasp as a mixture of shock and horror slams into me.
Chapter thirty-eight
Nat
The message daubed across my bedroom wall is as explicit as it is violent. Red paint - at least I hope it’s paint - drips down onto my white pillowcases, and from the pungent yellow stain on the bed, whoever left me this message also pissed in here for good measure.
I feel ill. Being called a cunt and a whore is bad enough, but knowing a stranger has violated my safe space is somehow so much worse. And… terrifying.
My clothes have been pulled out of drawers and strewn everywhere. Even my old journals are tossed around the room like confetti. It’s impossible to tell if anything has been taken.
Not that there was anything valuable in there. Or in my apartment at all. Everything useful to the investigation is with me or at the office.
It does not escape my notice that the first thing I worry about is the USB drives and my laptop, which makes me realize I understand on a subliminal level this attack isn’t random. Someone has broken into my apartment to look for items connected to my investigation, likely hoping my laptop was there.
Sadly for them, it was with me because I hadn’t gone straight home after work.
If I had, whoever came here would know what I know.
My legs wobble and for an awful moment, I think I’m going to throw up. But Max is there. He scoops me up in his arms and takes me back into the living room. I don’t say a word while he makes a quick phone call and then we leave my apartment. He carries my bag and laptop as well as me, like I weigh nothing at all.
Artem waits outside. He takes my bags from Max and drops them in the trunk while Max places me gently onto the backseat. I can hear them talking quietly to each other but I zone out.
All I can see are red drips and vile words. Who could have done this? And worse still, what if I’d been there when they arrived?
Cold dread snakes down my spine. It was pure luck I went out for the evening with Max. If he hadn’t been there, I would have headed home after making an excuse to Dylan.
God.
I doubt the pepper spray I keep in my bag would be sufficient to fight off a fully grown man for long. And if there was more than one guy… it doesn’t bear thinking about.
The journey back to Max’s apartment doesn’t register. It isn’t until he walks me into his gigantic bathroom and turns the shower on that I notice where we are.
It’s only then that I realize how cold I am. How badly I’m shaking. He peels off my shoes and clothes and then strips his own off, but there’s nothing sexual about it. The water is scalding against my cold skin but Max cradles me against his chest, letting the water sluice down over the two of us until finally I feel warm.
When I’m dry again, he places me carefully under the covers and climbs in next to me. I fall asleep with his steady heartbeat thudding gently against my ear.
Chapter thirty-nine
Max
Sasha lets himself in silently as I stare out of the tall windows, seeing nothing but the look of fear and revulsion on Natalya’s face when she walked into her bedroom. Part of me wishes I’d spared her the experience but I knew she wouldn’t let me take her out of the apartment unless she saw it for herself.
“I have someone reviewing the camera feeds around the apartment,” he tells me while pouring himself a drink from the cabinet by the wall.
The way he treats the place so casually irks me, but whereas I’d normally rip his head off for it, tonight, I say nothing.
Sasha’s my oldest friend and I know, deep down, he respects me and the job I do. Despite the way he takes liberties at times, we make a good team he and I. Both of us grew up in this world - me destined to run the Bratva and him as my loyal sidekick. It’s the same relationship my father and his father enjoyed.
Until they were both assassinated by a car bomb.
I continue looking out over the city as he drops down onto the sofa and rests his feet on the coffee table. The fact he’s not removed his shoes pisses me off but again, I say nothing. I know damn well he does it to irritate me. Winding me up is a source of amusement. He’s such a dick at times.
“Princess asleep?” he asks after a few beats.
I nod. She fell asleep almost immediately. Thank fuck. She needs the rest after an experience like that.
“I’ll oversee a new security installation on her apartment tomorrow. Are we adding cameras inside as well as outside?”