Chapter 9 Nine

• Mikhail
• Maria tries to run the moment we take her out of the limo beneath my building. Rurik catches her quickly, but not before she kicks him in the shin. Cursing, he hands her to me. My grip on her arm is unyielding as she stumbles off the elevator and into my penthouse.
• When the door opens at the penthouse, her fear is displaced by wonder and awe. She stares slack-jawed at the pristine floor-to-ceiling windows that offer a panoramic view of the city below us, and then she does a double take at the artwork on the walls.