Page 5 of Sinister Promise

A cold sweat broke over my skin.

I stared down at the dim gleam of the silver knob, waiting for it to turn.

Had he followed me?

Of course, he followed me.

He should've opened the door by now.

The knob didn’t jiggle.

Maybe I was safe.

Maybe he would keep moving down the hall.

Or maybe he'd give up looking for me.

And maybe a flying unicorn would suddenly appear and carry me away.

I forced myself to wait.

One second.

Two.

Three.

Then…the scrape of a shoe.

A shift in the shaft of light under the door.

My breath came in ragged, uneven pants in my fight against the rising panic clawing at my throat as I stepped back from the door.

The doorknob slowly turned before the door swung open with a violent bang.

Pavel's steel eyes, cold and unreadable, stared into mine.

The sick stench of blood that clung to him filled my nose; my stomach rolled with the bile rising in my throat.

There was no way to pretend I hadn't seen him execute that man.

There was no way he didn't see me as a threat.

Pavel took a single unhurried step toward me. The gun was at his side, his finger still on the trigger.

"Fuck." His whisper was soft and low, his hard glare focused on my mouth.

I shivered as the possibility of him doing…other things…to me before he killed me became a very real threat. My gaze became fixated on the strong, tattooed hand gripping the gun, imagining it wrapped around my throat while he forced my thighs open.

Fuck.

My hands trembled as I kept backing away, feeling for the wall behind me. "Please..."

He took another step toward me. "You know who I am. And now I know who you are."

My fingers brushed the cool cinder block as I slid along the wall, away from him.

My eyes darted to the open door slightly to the side and behind him.

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