Rapture & Ruin by Julia Sykes
Chapter 6
Allie
Incandescent rage flooded my body in a pulse of reckless strength. I’d been through too much, and seeing the bastard stalking me caused something to snap inside my mind. The adrenaline rush sharpened my senses so that my full focus centered on Max.
Ever since he’d first materialized from the shadows in my apartment and slipped a needle into my neck, my instinct had been to try to run away. Well, that instinct hadn’t saved me from being tormented. It hadn’t saved my dad from Max’s deranged, sinister plans. Proof of his menacing resolve radiated from his hulking, shadowy form.
He intended to continue to victimize me. I’d allowed one bully to shred me today. Now, I’d been buoyed by my besties and more than a little tequila. My blood ran hot in my veins, and my fingers curled to fists at my sides. I’d be damned if I let another man crush my spirit. Especially since my dad’s safety was at risk.
When Gavin had taunted me this morning, I hadn’t been able to find the strength to stand up for myself. But Max wasn’t solely a threat to me, and I sure as hell would protect my family.
Max thought he could loom in the shadows and wait to get me alone again? Screw that. He’d made the mistake of letting me glimpse him in public. It was probably part of some sick intimidation mind game, but it would backfire on him now.
My street wasn’t particularly busy, but we were both out in the open. If I confronted him now, he wouldn’t dare try anything with potential witnesses around. Max didn’t want to be caught. He’d let me go on the condition that I keep his little abduction-and-interrogation session secret. That meant he wouldn’t risk getting the cops called on him if I screamed for help where people could actually hear my pleas.
I would tell him in no uncertain terms that my father had nothing to do with the Bratva. He would get the picture and back off. His vendetta was rooted in lies, and once he accepted that, he’d leave me and my dad alone.
Rage, alcohol, and a determination to protect my dad fueled me with purpose, harnessing my full focus. Peripheral concerns like Max’s mental instability or his massive muscles became white noise at the back of my mind. At that moment, it seemed completely logical that my only option was to confront the son of an infamous mobster: the deranged, damaged man who’d held me captive in his basement mere hours ago.
Before I could formulate any second thoughts, I squared my shoulders and turned to face Max. My chin tilted in challenge, and I spared only a brief glance at the road before taking the first purposeful step toward him. I stomped across the pavement, timing my movements to dodge the light traffic that traversed my neighborhood at this time of night.
Max’s body tensed, and his head jerked back as though I’d sucker punched him. I was close enough now to see his mouth drop open in shock, and I caught the flash of widened eyes through his tangle of curls.
That’s right, douchebag, I thought with grim satisfaction. I am not a victim. Be afraid.
I am strong. I am independent. I can do this.
A tingling giddiness washed through me as I repeated my mantra of self-empowerment. The heady sensation raced from my brain to my fingers and toes. My knees wobbled at the strange, dangerous rush, and I missed a step on my high heel. My ankle turned, and the ground rushed up to meet me.
Several sensory inputs slammed into me all at once: jagged pain cracked into my knees, a car horn blared, and a harsh curse snapped through the night air. Suddenly, strong arms closed around me, hauling me up and out of the way of oncoming traffic. For a second, shock rendered me motionless. The logical burst of fear at being trapped in my ferocious captor’s arms didn’t register; survival instincts made my fingers bite into his corded arms, pressing into his leather jacket hard enough to bruise as I clung on tight.
The car horn blared again, followed by more cursing from a different masculine voice. A tremor wracked my body, adrenaline spiking higher than ever. My nerves were jittery, my mind a tangled mess.
“Fuck off,” Max snapped back at the enraged driver who was currently cussing me out. He pulled me closer, and I realized my legs shook so badly that I couldn’t put any weight on my feet. Max’s strong grip was the only thing holding me upright.
An engine revved, and the person who’d almost hit me with his car sped off, leaving me alone with the mercurial man who’d drugged and kidnapped me. The man I’d been about to confront when I’d fallen in the street and nearly been killed.
The two different traumas warred for my emotional attention—almost getting run over and being held captive by Max.
My body seemed more preoccupied with the almost getting run over thing, because I couldn’t seem to unlatch my fingers from his bulging biceps.
Keeping his firm grip around my waist, Max hauled me farther away from the street and set me down on a bus stop bench. My hands were still locked on his arms when he released me and dropped to his knees.
“Are you insane?” he demanded, his voice taking on the rough, furious tone that’d frightened me so much last night. The beast was snarling at me, practically vibrating with anger.
But I was running on pure adrenaline, and my entire being was too wrapped up in the residual horror of almost getting flattened to focus on the threat Max should pose.
“Are you?” I snapped back, still riding the strange, reckless high that’d claimed me when I’d first started stomping toward him with grim purpose. “You’re stalking me,” I reminded him. As though either of us could forget it.
A flash of white through those dark curls as he rolled his eyes at me. “I was making sure you kept your promise not to tell anyone about last night. I’m not a threat to you.”
“Well, you’re sure doing a good job of acting threatening.”
He huffed out an exasperated breath, and his long fingers skated down my leg, starting just beneath the hem of my modest pencil skirt. Rough callouses tingled over my pebbled flesh, my every nerve alive from the adrenaline dump as he caressed my knee before working his way downward.
“What are you doing?” My voice hitched slightly on the demand, probably shaking from residual fear.
“Checking to make sure you didn’t break your damn ankle, Bambi,” he rumbled, applying light pressure to the delicate bones beneath the thin strap of my designer heels. His big hands were shockingly gentle, touching me the way one might handle an injured bird.
“Bambi?” I repeated, breathless from the shock of having my massive captor handle me with such aching care, as though his thick fingers might break me if he applied the barest pressure.
“Yep,” he declared decisively, his full focus on my ankle rather than my face. “You have those big, innocent eyes; long, unsteady legs; and no sense of self-preservation.”
“I don’t want you to call me Bambi.” Did I sound petulant? Damn it, I was supposed to be incensed and intimidating, not quivering and weak while my captor tended to my potential injuries. Almost getting hit by a car had really messed up my priorities.
“Well, I don’t want you to risk your pretty neck recklessly confronting me, but here we are,” he retorted, his voice still edged with anger even as his touch remained featherlight on my hypersensitive skin. “What the hell were you thinking, approaching a man like me? Don’t you understand how fucking dangerous that is?” His fingers dusted my scraped knees, and I hissed at the sting. “You’ll need to clean these up,” he said more gently. “Come on. Let’s get you home.”
“You’re not coming home with me!” I declared hotly, immediately rebelling at the idea of having the beast in my private sanctuary. “You’re not coming anywhere near me!”
His eyes finally met mine, and that black brow over his left eye arched as he stared at me pointedly: I’m near you right now. He didn’t have to say the words aloud for my cheeks to heat with something between chagrin and indignation. His hands were still on my legs, his huge palms nearly engulfing my calves.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he swore, low and serious. The streetlights caught in his black eyes, flickering over them like white-hot flames. Even obscured by his tousled hair, his right eye flashed through the darkness, keen with the fervor of his promise. “But you need to stop being so reckless. I’m not the only monster out here, and your father is neck-deep in organized crime. They’ll know who you are.”
A half-mad laugh burst from my chest as the absurdity of his warning fizzed through me, bubbling alongside my lingering adrenaline. “Reckless? You think I’m reckless? You freaking kidnapped and interrogated the mayor’s daughter. You’re lucky you’re not behind bars right now.”
His light hold on my calves firmed ever so slightly as his massive body tensed. “I thought we’d reached an agreement about going to the cops, Alexandra.” That soft, dangerous tone sent a thrill through my belly, but I didn’t cower. I’d learned that when it came to me, Max was all bark and no bite.
“We did, and I’ll keep my promise,” I assured him. I calmed, purpose settling over me as I remembered why I’d decided to approach him in the first place. “But you have to leave my dad alone. I know you think he’s a bad person, but you’re wrong. When I saw you tonight, I wondered if you planned to kidnap me again, but I chose to confront you because I have to convince you that my father is innocent. You’re obviously not ready to drop this, and I can’t leave him in danger like that.”
He released a heavy sigh, the tension leaving his muscles. “Listen, Bambi—”
“It’s Allie,” I interjected. I was so over the diminutive nicknames, even if Bambi wasn’t triggering like Freckles. It was still irritating.
“Right.” Another eye roll. He seemed to do that a lot. He didn’t take me seriously; he didn’t take terrorizing an innocent woman seriously. Max was either insane, or he didn’t possess a normal moral compass. It was infuriating as hell.
“You’re naïve,” he continued in that maddeningly dismissive cadence. “I get that now. Your daddy’s kept you in the dark about the reality of his climb to power. How do you think he affords your fancy designer clothes and even fancier education? Where do you think all that money came from?”
“He wrote a book,” I countered, struggling to remain collected when I wanted so badly to shake him. Naïve? What an arrogant asshole.
I finally peeled my fingers from his corded biceps and crossed my arms over my chest. He didn’t so much as flinch from my suddenly prickly demeanor. Instead, that single black brow crept higher, and he remained resolutely in my personal space. His hands were still on my legs. I was hyperaware of the heat of his long fingers wrapping around my shins, holding me with that careful but masculine grip.
I focused on the heat of my indignation to distract myself from the disconcerting warmth of his touch. “My dad’s book spent weeks on the New York Times best-sellers list. And he does all sorts of speaking engagements. He gets paid for those. He’s accomplished a lot, and his time and insight are valuable. He loves New York and cares about the people who live here more than anything. It’s not a crime for him to be compensated for his knowledge and years of public service. You have him all wrong.”
“Public service.” Max’s full lips twisted in a sneer, the defined lines of his face sharpening into the harsh mask that’d terrified me in that basement. He didn’t surge toward me with that awful snarl again, but he didn’t back down, either. His body heat kissed my skin as he growled, “You mean good deeds like destroying my family?”
I swallowed hard, drawing on all my willpower not to cringe away from that terrible, beastly scowl. “Your family isn’t innocent, Max.” I spoke gently to avoid provoking him, but his jaw still ticked when I said his name. “They bear sole responsibility for the consequences they faced. I can understand why they might’ve told you a different version of what happened, but it’s just not true.” I paused, choosing my next words carefully. “I don’t know what you’ve been through, but I can tell that you’ve suffered. But whatever happened to you doesn’t—”
“Stop talking.” I didn’t miss the warning that roughened the command. “You don’t know anything about me, and you don’t know anything about your father. That’s why I let you go. But I don’t have to sit here and listen to your pitying bullshit.”
Despite his unnerving tone, I pressed on, desperate to protect my dad from his misguided vengeance. “Max, please. You don’t have to—”
“I said stop talking!” he barked, his massive body swelling with barely contained rage. He still knelt before me, but he suddenly towered over me, his hulking frame crowding me back against the bus stop bench. He leaned in close, so I could feel the heat of his hissed demand whisper across my cheeks. “Don’t bother pleading with me. You think I’ll forget all about your father’s sins if you just blink those big, doe eyes at me? You might be innocent, but he’s not. If you want to stay ignorant, that’s your choice, but don’t keep repeating the lies your daddy fed you about how fucking virtuous he is. Not to me. Not ever. Understand?”
I couldn’t stop the shiver that raced across my suddenly chilled skin, and my fingers clamped around my locket for comfort. My teeth sank into my lower lip to hide its trembling, but I managed a shaky nod. My eyes burned as the remembered trauma of being held captive settled over me like a suffocating weight. Maybe I had been a fool to approach Max so fearlessly.
I am a monster out of your worst nightmares.
The man looming over me wasn’t safe. He was unstable, and it didn’t matter if something terrible had happened to him to drive him to this madness. He might not be pure evil, but he was still dangerous, no matter if he’d been hurt.
A low grunt caught in his chest, and he abruptly shoved away from me. “I said I wouldn’t hurt you, and I meant it,” he muttered, mercifully releasing me from his intense black stare.
He pushed to his feet, then glanced down at me. Reflexively, I hugged my arms protectively over my chest and shrank into the bench at my back.
His lips pinched as though he’d bitten into something sour. “You don’t have to be afraid of me, Bambi. I’m sorry if I scared you.”
“It’s Allie,” I whispered, hating the way he dehumanized me with the dismissive nicknames.
A shadow danced over his tight jaw, and he shook his head sharply. “You’re still bleeding,” he rumbled. “You should get home and clean up. Come on. I’ll walk you to your door.”
He held out a big hand, and I cringed away. His fingers clenched to a fist as he slowly withdrew the offered support.
When I didn’t move for several tense seconds, he spoke again. “It’s late. I’m not leaving you out here on your own. Get inside, lock up, and I’ll go. But not until you’re safely home.”
“Why do you care?” I asked bitterly, hugging my arms tighter to my middle.
His eyes flashed as he fixed me with an intense stare, pinpoints of light glittering over the dark pools. The effect was mesmerizing, and for a moment, everything fell away except for the two of us. “You’re innocent,” he rumbled. “I don’t hurt innocent women. And I don’t let them get hurt. Especially when they’re as reckless as you are. There are other monsters lurking in the dark.”
That final remark needled at me, and I broke away from his deep gaze. “Yes, you’ve said that,” I managed to scoff. “Funny how you’re the only one I’ve ever seen.”
He jerked back as though I’d slapped him. “Fair enough,” he said tightly. “Doesn’t change anything. I’m not going anywhere until you’re safely in your apartment.”
I shifted on the bench, confusion tangling my thoughts. I should be terrified that my captor was standing over me, but he was acting as though he was my protector. I didn’t know what to do with that, so I sat stiffly for several more seconds, silently willing him to leave me alone.
As though that would work. The man was a stubborn monster, I’d give him that.
“Fine,” I bit out. “I’m going home now. Happy?” I pushed to my feet and immediately swayed, my shaky body wobbling on my high heels.
A strong arm closed around me, long fingers bracketing my waist to support my weight. I tried to jerk away, but I only managed to stumble. Max made a rumbling sound of unmistakable disapproval, and my spine went rigid with indignation. He didn’t let me go.
“Those things are a death trap.” He scowled at my designer shoes. “I’m walking you to your door. Don’t bother arguing. You can’t walk straight, and I don’t feel like scooping you up out of the way of oncoming traffic again.” When I still didn’t take a step forward, he sighed. “Are you going to walk, or am I going to have to carry you? Your choice.”
“I’m walking,” I said through gritted teeth. “You’re infuriating as well as insane, you know that?”
He kept his arm braced around me as we started to cross the street. “Yeah, and so are you.”
I huffed out a furious breath, but he held me as firmly as ever. The man clearly wasn’t even a tiny bit intimidated by me or my considerable anger. With his huge, muscular frame folded around mine to protect me from falling, I couldn’t deny that I truly wasn’t a threat to him. The very idea was laughable.
We reached my door, and I fumbled in my purse until my fingers found my keys. “You can go now,” I said as coolly as I could manage. I didn’t want to open my door when he was so close. The memory of his body pinning mine to the wall as he drugged me was still horrifically clear in my mind. A residual shudder of revulsion rolled through me.
He finally released me, stepping away quickly as though I’d become white-hot. “I said I wouldn’t hurt you, and I meant it,” he rumbled. “Now that I believe you won’t go tattling on me to your father, I’ll leave you alone.”
I stiffened. Tattling? That made it sound as though my abduction and interrogation had been child’s play. I pressed my lips together, locking my retort inside.
“I’m home. You can leave,” I reiterated, giving him a pointed stare.
His chin lifted, and he stared right back at me with those dark eyes. “I’m not leaving until that door locks behind you. If you want me to go, hurry up and do it.”
A sound like a growl that I’d never made before slipped between my teeth, and I jammed my key into the lock with more force than necessary. I quickly slipped inside and slammed the door in his scarred face, turning the deadbolt behind me. I pressed my back to the wood and heaved in a deep breath.
I waited until I heard his heavy boots stomping away, fading into the night as he finally left me alone. A tremor wracked my body, and I slid to the floor as all the strength drained out of me. I huddled there for a long time, my bleeding knees stinging and my heart racing.
Max Ferrara had saved my life. He’d grabbed me out of the street before that car could hit me, and he’d gently checked my injuries. He’d insisted on walking me home and seeing me safely inside.
And he still wanted to punish my father for some imaginary sin. Max had sworn that he would leave me alone, but I didn’t think for one second that he was out of my life for good.