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“Rurik. I didn’t know you were back. Is this the girl?” Ivan’s tone is light, almost amused.

“Mira,” Megan says softly. “Her name is Mira.”

“Ah. Right. Well, a cab pulled in after me; he’s waiting in front.”

“Did you call a cab?” Rurik’s voice is so soft it could be considered a whisper, but there’s too much gravel embedded in it for that. It’s more like a tight roar he’s trying to keep contained.

“I did,” I confess.

With him getting me all irritated, I’d forgotten I put in the request while I was scrolling through Megan’s phone. She never did get any of my texts or calls.

“You’re not going anywhere.” The growl he’s struggling to suppress is dangerously close to being unleashed.

“You’re being unreasonable. You did your job. I’m here. Now your job is done.” Flinging the words wasn’t supposed to hurt my feelings, but they do.

An ache in my chest forms, and it’s possible I don’t want him to let me just go off on my own.

“You think my job’s done?” His eyes narrow, and that electric thrill, the one only he can stir within me, shoots through to my core.

It’s too dangerous being with him. He’s making me forget my new rules. No falling for him. No falling for anyone, but especially not a dangerous man like him.

“I don’t need you.” My throat burns as I force the words out, as though my body itself rejects them.

His eyebrow arches. The man sees right through me. Nothing is more unsettling than when it feels like your soul is being seen.

“If you try to get in that cab, you’ll regret it.”

Keeping my eyes fixed with his, I speak to Megan, “Meg, I’ll call you later. I’ll have my phone back on by then.”

Slowly, I take a step back, testing to see if he’s going to get all grabby.

He doesn’t, so I get braver and turn my back on him.

“Mira, I don’t think this is a good idea,” Megan pleads, but she knows better than anyone that once I have made a decision, I won’t be talked out of it.

With deliberate steps, I walk past her, past the new man who’s entered the room.Ivan. He watches me with slight amusement cracking his otherwise stony features as I walk past him and out of the living room.

“She can stay here, right, Alexander?” Megan’s still trying to take care of this for me. But she’s already gone through enough, and this is my fault.

I have to figure a way out of this mess on my own. Too many people have already been hurt.

The sun shines on my face as soon as I open the door. Still, no one has grabbed me or dragged me back inside, but I’m on borrowed time. Running down the steps, I signal to the cab driver to wait one second and I rush to Rurik’s car to grab my bag before I jump into the idling cab.

“Hi!” I let out a huge sigh, feeling slightly victorious because I’m sitting in the cab. After I give him my address, he starts punching it into his GPS.

A mere second later, there’s a fist banging on my window.

“What?” I roll down the window, allowing Rurik’s angry face only a few inches from me.

Forests burn in his eyes as he glares at me. Maybe he didn’t think I’d actually get in the cab. But he was wrong.

“Get out,” he orders. The beast has broken from the leash.

“I’m not fighting with you, Rurik. I’m going home.”

“I’m not fighting, either.” He lifts his hand into the window, pointing a Glock at the cab driver.

“Whoa! Whoa!” The driver throws his hands up like it’s a robbery. Which I suppose it is, since Rurik is stealing me again.