Page 45 of Mistaken
“Five!”
“Four!”
“Three!”
“Two!”
“ONE! HAPPY NEW YEAR!”
“Auld Lang Syne” begins to play and I’m lifted into Maksim’s arms, feet dangling and the wily villain is kissing me with a level of thoroughness that leaves no room for anything but opening my mouth when he slides his tongue in and I’m gripping his big shoulders as the “pop! pop!” of fireworks is going off, and-
He pulls away from my lips. “Those aren’t fireworks, GET DOWN!”
Now, there’s screaming, I can recognize the terrifying rattle that means there are automatic weapons going off and there’s a mad stampede for the door.
“Oh, my god, where’s Tania!” I’m trying to find her while I’m being yanked down behind a big table, Lauren on one side of me, and our guards and some well-dressed men that I suspect might be theirs acting as a barricade, already firing guns that appeared from their jackets.
“Head down, darling.” Thomas sounds as urbane as ever, and Lauren mutters something under her breath but does as he tells her.
My hand presses against that priceless diamond I’ve got pinned to my cleavage. Was this a robbery? No, not with automatic weapons. My stomach gives a lurch as I realize that no, the shooters want to kill people. Lots of them. And probably, specifically us.
Chapter 14 – Bad News and More Bad News
In which Maksim is capable of kindness for a full ten minutes before he jumps right back into Asshole Pakhan status
Ella…
I was frantically searching for Tania through the bullets and shattered glass when I felt something poke my breast, I looked down and remembered the priceless diamond. I tucked it deeper into my bodice, trying to hide it. Maksim grabbed my arm, “There is a side door to the kitchen corridor behind you to the left,” he shouted over the gunfire, “Fedor and Ivan are covering you and Lauren.”
“Wait!” I’m grabbing his arm as he’s lifting his gun again, “Who’s with you?”
He actually looks surprised, enough that his gun hand drops a little. “I’m fine.”
“But Tania! I can’t leave without-”
He interrupts me, “I’ll find her, but I can promise you that she could not be better protected, Yuri will keep her safe.”
“We have a window of opportunity in ten seconds,” Thomas is speaking in the same tone you’d use to ask for cream in your coffee. He’s shooting with one hand and helping Lauren gather up her long skirt with the other. I do the same thing and grab her hand.
“Ready?” She nods, and with a push from Maksim, we’re off, scrambling gracelessly across the floor toward the slight opening ahead of us. Thomas must have thrown in some bodyguards, too, because there’s five men around us. The shooting behind us is dying down, and I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing. Lauren and I are both slowing down, looking behind us and Ivan grabs me by the waist and hauls me through the door like a sack of flour.
There’s a clutter of shaken-up guests ahead of us, stumbling through the kitchen, but I guess it’s too soon for the police to have responded because the only people with guns seem to be a couple of security guards, and our guys.
“Ella! What the fuck!” Tania’s sprinting toward me, followed by Yuri, still keeping his gun up, sweeping the area.
“Are you okay?” I’m hugging her hard enough to nearly knock us over until Fedor pulls us upright.
She won’t let go of me, “How could this happen? Where are the police? This is-” Tania hates to cry, so when tears stream down her face, I hug her tighter.
I glanced over at Yuri, and there was blood on his tuxedo shirt, nauseatingly vivid on the starched white. “Are you okay?”
He did that mysterious Slavic shrug. “Most of it isn’t mine.” Never one to waste an opportunity, he nodded to Lauren, “Lovely to see you again, I ran into you and your husband in London at Wimbledon last year?”
“Oh, yeah.” She pushed her hair out of her face, “I remember! You’re Maksim’s brother.”
Tania sensibly interrupted, “Look, I don’t want to break up the reunion, but shouldn’t we try to get out of here?”
“Not without Thomas,” Lauren says instantly. Whatever argument she might have had after that is cut off when one of her bodyguards pulls her down to the floor. I feel wind rushing past my cheek and I’m suddenly face down, too.Someone’s shooting at us,I realize,and that was a bullet that just passed within half an inch of my head.Blood is splashing across the pale silk of my dress and it’s from Fedor, who grunts in pain but still shoots back.
