“Wait!” Madisyn lunges between Aaron and my gun.
Does she believe that I won’t shoot her? Because it wouldn’t take much to pull the trigger.
Sweat glistens on her forehead. And she’s breathing heavily.
She’s nervous.
“You’re protecting him?” I can’t quite wrap my head around why she’d willingly take a bullet for the greasy-haired agent.
Is she still in love with him?
My finger itches on the trigger. A pang of jealousy hits me like a stab wound to my gut.
“Please, don’t do this, Mikhail.” Her voice is soft and comforting. Her gaze never wavers. Her words pull me from my reverie. “The FBI has nothing on you. You’re a free man. If you kill Aaron, they’ll lock you away forever.”
I’m not the least bit afraid of a prison sentence. I’ve already been through one trial and gotten off.
“Isn’t that what you want? Me behind bars.” Why else would she have infiltrated my family?
Madisyn exhales a heavy sigh, and her eyes linger on my lips before moving up to meet my stare. “You’ve done nothing wrong. If you kill Aaron or me, everything changes.”
She isn’t wrong.
Madisyn has nothing on me. The FBI’s investigation is worthless. I’m confident that I haven’t given her any bread crumbs to use against my men or me. And if she had possession of the flash drive, it would all be over.
She lifts her hand, and her fingers graze my cheek.
I want to kiss her, devour her, push her down on the bed, and show her who’s fucking in charge.
She leans in on her tiptoes and brushes her lips against mine. She has a calming effect on me, like a drug that messes with my head.
My grip remains firm on the gun, but as I kiss her, I latch the safety, letting the weapon fall to my hip.
I deepen the kiss, biting her lip, and hearing her whimper stirs my cock. I want to fuck her, and I’d love to make the asshole behind me watch.
“Please, I know you’re not a monster. Somewhere, deep inside of you, you care about me. And I’m going to say that I still think you do. Or you’d have killed both of us already.”
She’s trying to connect with me, and I get it. This is her way of pleading for her life. She’s not a woman to get down on her hands and knees and beg for forgiveness.
Madisyn likes to think of herself as my equal. But she’s not.
She’s FBI, and we can’t be anything more than strangers because of that. We’re destined to be enemies.
“Go home,” she says, her hand falling to my chest. Her touch is comforting and peaceful. “Before we’re at war with one another. Believe it or not, I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“We’re already at war.”
I pull away from her grasp and shoot a look behind her at Aaron. He’s lucky that Madisyn kept me from putting a bullet in his head. I stroll toward the door, turn the lock, and yank it open.
I head for my vehicle without a word, leaving Madisyn behind with her ex-boyfriend. Hopefully, he’s a better man than I am.
She deserves better, even if I loathe her for her betrayal.