With This Ring

I nodded quickly.

“Good. Start walking.”

Blankly, I began to walk. Down the stairs I went like a zombie. He followed behind. As if he had nothing to do with me. When I got on the street outside, he turned and went in the opposite direction of the woman in the blue coat. The woman never looked at me. I began to follow her. All I could see in my head was the image of Maxim on the ground. A knife in him. The knife quite close to where I had shot him.

Around the block I saw the white van parked by the curb half hidden behind a news kiosk. The side door was half-open and once I disappeared into it, it would drive off and my security detail would not know until they realized I did not appear from behind the kiosk. That would give the driver of the van precious time to get away.

In the side mirror I could see the reflection of a man on the passenger seat, I imagined there must be at least one man at the back, and of course, there must be a driver. Just seeing the van snapped me out of my zombie-like state.

My heart began to pound furiously in my chest.

I realized that if I got into that van and went with them, Maxim was a dead man. If they wanted to kill him they already would have done so. They needed me to go with them. I knew Maxim was as tough as they come, but the only reason he was still alive was because whatever they wanted him to do for them, he had not yet done. The thought came to me crystal clear. They were going to use me as leverage to get him to do something.

I slowed my pace as I tried to formulate a plan in my head. My hands were shaking, but I forced myself to calm down. This was not the time to be paralyzed with fear.

The side door of the van opened all the way and a man with black hair looked out of it. Our eyes met. “Hurry up,” he urged harshly.

I was only a few feet away from him. A thought circled in my mind and it was dangerous, extremely so. It could cost me my life and Maxim’s if I calculated wrong. The other option was letting myself get captured and become their leverage over Maxim. Right now, I had some advantage. I was still free on a busy street and in sight of my security detail. The man must have seen the hesitation in my face, because he said urgently. “Come on.”

I dropped to my knees and simply, but very loudly, began to bawl.

My voice was loud and piercing, my words indecipherable. It was enough to confuse and get the attention of anyone within a mile from where I was. The man panicked and rushed over to try to pull me up forcibly. Whoever he worked for hadn’t told him to be careful of me. That I was Igor Fedorov’s daughter and was taught to fight since I could stand.

The moment his hand closed around my arm, I had him.

Immediately, I struck his neck, right on the Adam’s apple, and it instantly had him howling. With one hand he held the source of his agony, but with the other he reached for his gun. A vicious kick to his gut and he was on the ground. He lost his grip on the gun and I dove for it.

I spun around on the floor and had it on him before he could even think about rising.

I glanced quickly at the door to see that his friends had gotten down from the van and were advancing. From the other direction my father’s or Maxim’s security detail were running towards me.

As if on cue, the sound of sirens blared in the distance. I saw the terror and panic in his eyes. “Fuck,” he cursed. “You fucking bitch!” He scrambled upright and stumbled towards his friends and in seconds they had zoomed away.

Even before my security team reached me I had pulled the phone out of my pocket and dialed Levan’s number.

It was picked up even before the first ring was over.

“Freya, I was just about to call you. Are you alright?”

“Levan? What’s going on. Where’s Maxim? Is he alright?”

The silence that followed almost knocked out my knees.

“Levan, what’s going on?”

“Get into the SUV. I’ll be waiting for you.”

Chapter Seventy-Six

Freya

I remained in terrified silence until we arrived at an old warehouse. I jumped out and was escorted through the cavernous space to an office. It had about ten members of their security team in it. Levan stood when I came in.

“What’s going on?” I asked Levan, my heart in my throat. I tried my very hardest to keep my composure, but I was a nervous wreck. All I wanted to know was that he was alive.