Page 21 of The Pakhan’s Accidental Bride

The pieces start falling into place, and I don't like the picture they're forming. "You think someone was waiting for him to get me outside?"

"Or waiting for an opportunity." His hand finds mine, his fingers wrapping around my cold ones. "Could be your ex hired someone. Could be someone who knows you're connected to me."

"I'm not connected to you," I grumble.

"You are now." His eyes meet mine, and there's no compromise in them. "And that means you're a target."

"So, what am I supposed to do?" The fear is creeping back in now, cold and insidious. "Hide? Run?"

"No." He reaches out and cups my face with both hands, forcing me to look at him. His palms are warm against my cheeks, his touch firm but not painful. "You marry me."

I stare at him. "What?"

"You have to marry me now," he says, his eyes locked on mine, his voice absolute. "It's the only way to keep you safe."

10

EMIL

Ican't stop replaying it in my head.

The crack of the gunshot splitting the night air. Kiera dropping to the concrete like someone cut her strings. That single, horrifying moment when I was absolutely certain she'd been hit.

My stomach had dropped straight to my fucking toes.

I've seen men die. I've killed men myself, watched the light fade from their eyes without flinching. Death is part of my world, as familiar as breathing. But seeing her go down like that, thinking a bullet had torn through her body, had ripped something loose inside my chest that I didn't even know existed.

The terror was unlike anything I've ever felt.

She's fine. The bullet missed, embedded itself in the doorframe instead of her flesh, and she'd dropped from instinct, not injury. But my heart is still hammering against my ribs like it's trying to break free, and the adrenaline coursing through my veins hasn't calmed down one goddamn bit.

I watch her now as she sits on her couch, hands trembling slightly as she wraps them around the glass of water I forced her to drink. Her blue eyes are wide, still processing what just happened. She's in shock, the reality of it not quite sinking in yet. Her short red hair is mussed from when I'd pushed her down, and even terrified and shaken, she's beautiful.

The way her thin frame curls into the corner of the couch makes me want to pull her against me, to feel her heartbeat and reassure myself that she's really okay. The way her robe pulls tight across her breasts with each breath she takes, giving me a generous view of her ample cleavage, sends heat through me despite the circumstances.

Not the time, Nikitin. Focus.

I force myself to look away from her, to assess her apartment with a critical eye. It's small but tidy. Everything has its place. Books are lined up neatly on a shelf, throw pillows arranged just so on the couch, and not a dish in the sink. She keeps an ordered space, which tells me she likes control over her environment.

Too bad her environment is a fucking security nightmare.

I move to the window, checking the lock. Flimsy. A child could jimmy it open. I test the window frame. Old building, old windows. Shit.

"What are you doing?" Kiera asks, her voice still shaky.

"Checking your locks." I move to the next window. Same problem. The latch barely catches.

"They're fine. I lock them every night."

"They're not fine." I turn to face her. She's tucked her legs under her, the smooth skin of her thighs visible where her robe has ridden up. Christ. I need to focus on keeping her alive, not on how badly I want to touch her.

I cross back to her, crouching down so we're eye level. "Kiera, you need to understand something. You're in danger now. Real danger. That wasn't some random shooting."

"It was probably meant for Arnie," she argues, but her voice quavers. "He was right there. Maybe it was, I don't know, a robbery gone wrong or something."

"It wasn't a fucking robbery." The words come out harsher than I intend, and she flinches. I soften my tone, barely. "That was deliberate. And whether the bullet was meant for you or Arnie doesn't matter. You're a target now."

"How do you know that?" She's looking at me with those big blue eyes, confusion and fear mixing together. "How do you know it was deliberate?"