“You know him?” Leo asked, looking between us.
“I thought he was dead,” I heard myself say hollowly.
Max laughed. “That seems to be going around. Weird. You should know it takes more than a bullet in the back to kill me. Just ask Federica.”
Federica? It all crashed together wildly. They’d leaned on Fede and found me. If Max was here, then so was Kirill.
The smell of black cherries and dark chocolate filled my mind again.
He was here, watching me.
Max tutted at the stunned look on my face. “Don’t blame her. She didn’t have a choice.”
“Did you hurt her?” I demanded, ignoring Leo’s confused looks.
“No, of course not.”
“Did—didhehurt her?” I asked, unable to say his name.
Max shook his head. “He doesn’t want to hurt anyone, Mallory.”
A slither of relief flowed through my panic.
“He just wants you,” Max continued. “He’s waiting for you,” He nodded toward the front.
A sob worked its way up my throat.
“Look, I don’t know what’s going on here,” Leo blustered, finding his voice.
Max pulled a gun from his belt and aimed it at Leo in one smooth movement.
I stepped in front of him. “No! No one gets hurt.”
Max frowned. “He was being a dick.”
“Max.”
“Fine, but if the boss finds out he was trying to liquor you up, even a guardian angel won’t be able to save him.”
I nodded, knowing he was being honest. If Kirill had witnessed that pushy champagne scene, he would have crippled Leo already if not murdered him.“Sure, only he gets to drug my drinks, right?”
His mouth tightened, and he shrugged. There was no response to that because what could he say?
I turned to Fred’s son, praying he could see the sincerity in my eyes. “Don’t make trouble. Don’t try to leave or do anything this man says not to do. Please believe me. He’ll kill you.”
Leo paled and narrowed his eyes. “What have you gotten me into, Molly?”
That hurt a bit. I shook my head helplessly.“I’m sorry.”
I turned and started toward the doors. Every minute I’d been alone, running and hiding, had led me to a collision course with an inescapable fate.
Max was speaking quietly behind me to Leo. “If you have a healthy appetite for survival, I wouldn’t let him hear you call her Molly.”
I pushed open the swinging doors to the kitchen into the dark dining room.Kirill sat at a table in the center of the space, wreathed in darkness. Smoke curled off him from the glowing orange cigarette in his hand.
Black cherries and dark chocolate.
“Hello, Molly.”