Page 103 of The Bratva's Christmas Bump

Oh.

No.

He’s not gone.

Vinnie’s on the ground to my left, visible briefly under the gigantic mound of Maxim who has one hand around his throat and the other smashing repeatedly into Vinnie’s face.

I can’t keep myself stable. The ground tips and I step to the side, then again as I struggle to keep upright.

Maxim’s here?

How is he here?

Is this a hallucination?

“What…?” I stumble again and this time, I land in the arms of someone else. Before I can cry out, Stu’s face swims in front of me and my heart skips a beat, then suddenly, Maxim roars out in pain.

We both look to see him land on the ground with Vinnie’s knife protruding from Maxim’s abdomen.

“No!” I surge forward, but Stu hauls me back as Maxim scrambles up in a flurry of snow and dirt and launches at Vinnie once more.

The fight is impossible to track in the dark and Stu’s arms are like iron, refusing to let me go no matter how much I want to. If this is a dream, then I need to help, and if this is real, then I can’t lose him.

Maxim hits the ground again, gasping, and suddenly, Vinnie’s lunging toward me with both arms outstretched. Stu holds me so tight that the gun on his hip digs into my waist and I react without any thought. Instinct to protect fuels me.

I snatch Stu’s gun from his holster as he puts himself between me and Vinnie, raise it, and pull the trigger. The first bullet hits a nearby tree with a soft thunk. The next bullet disappears into the darkness, and the third finally finds its mark in Vinnie.

He roars in pain and keeps coming, even as Maxim surges up behind him, so I keep pulling the trigger even as the kickback makes my aim wild and weak.

“Hollie!” Stu yells, finally grasping my wrist and preventing me from firing further. “Stop!”

“Did I get him? Did I kill him? Is he dead? Is it over?” A sudden full-body tremble courses through me, and Stu’s arms tighten around me. The gun goes off three more times and Stu grunts in my ear.

“No, I got him. You didn’t kill anyone,” he says. “I got him.”

Darkness swallows me for a second and the ground falls away, only for warmth to envelop me. Opening my eyes, the stars above spin faster than I can handle. Then Maxim’s face swims into view and anchors me so completely that the stars finally stop moving.

“Maxim?”

“Oh, Hollie,” Maxim pants. “You left me for a second there.”

“I— what happened? How are you here? How am I— is he still…?”

I try to stand, but the lack of ground against my feet alerts me to the fact that I’m being carried in Maxim’s thick arms.

“He’s gone. He’s dead,” Maxim says gruffly. “I’m so sorry I didn’t get here in time. I’m taking you to the hospital.”

“You got stabbed,” I whimper as the throbbing at the base of my skull grows. “I was so scared, I— Maxim, don’t leave me, please. Please.”

“I won’t,” he whispers, bringing his face close to mine. “I’m never letting you go ever again.”

His warm lips close over my icy ones and I sink into a final, comforting darkness.

39

MAXIM

“Iwant to leave, you can’t keep me here!” Hollie’s arms cross over her chest, then she winces as the movement pulls at the stitches on her shoulder.