Maya’s POV

We hide in the disused water closet, as the second trickle pass. Saint presses a hand over my mouth to keep me from making a sound. It feels like forever, as I listen to my belongings getting thrashed without being able to do a thing about it.

Even when I no longer hear them, Saint doesn’t let me move, pushing me hard against him for another couple of minutes. He steps out first, retrieving a gun I hadn’t seen last night when I treated him and covering the space.

When he doesn’t return, I get out too, joining him in the middle of my bedroom. My bed has been turned over, and the contents of my wardrobe are all over the floor.

I turn to look at him, just as a knock sounds on my door, followed by a sing-song voice. 

“Stay here!” I instruct with clenched teeth, before walking out of the room, shutting the door behind me. Saint didn’t look like one used to taking instructions, but he brought me here in the first place. The least he can do is listen to me. 

“Maya!” My best friend’s voice travels through the building. 

“Hey!” I whisper as I pull the door open, my eyes darting all around to ensure no one is watching us. “I wasn’t expecting you tonight.”

Her mouth falls wide open in mock horror. “Maya Sutton, don’t tell me you forgot all about our movie night planned. I even brought the cans of beer you asked for. You were supposed to make the popcorn.”

"Shit!" I press my palm against my forehead. "Ava, I'm so sorry, but today isn't a good day for our movie night. We can…"

She leans in closer and narrows her eyes. “Why are you whispering?” And then she looks behind me, a knowing smile stretching through her face. “Is there a man in there, Maya? Is that what this is about?”

“Ava…”

"You don't have to lie to me about it," she chuckles. "God knows how long I have waited to hear you say those words. You live like a hermit, and I was beginning to get worried about you."

“Well, you have no reason to do that anymore,” I whisper, already feeling bad for lying to my best friend. “Why don’t you…”

“Of course!” She chirps, pulling away from the door, a light spring in her steps. “I’ll leave you to finish what you started.

Ava walks away from the door and then calls over her shoulder abruptly as she disappears from view. "Don't forget to use protection! They taught us enough of that in nursing school."

“Did you tell your friend we were having sex, Maya Sutton?”

I jump and turn around. His gun has been safely tucked away, but I still can't wrap my head around the fact that something like that was in my apartment. 

“You need to leave, Saint. I have to tidy up my house and get ready for work tomorrow.”

Surprisingly, he doesn’t argue as he walks around me to the door. “I left my card on your bed. Call me if anything happens.”

“Let’s not meet again, Saint Lachlan.”

“My men are already around this building, just in case you remain stubborn and choose not to call me.”

“Goodnight, Saint.”

I pull the door open and watch as he saunters out before closing it again. The silence inside the apartment is deafening, and it feels like so much has happened in the space of twenty-four hours.

Changing out of my uniform, I start cleaning, putting everything back where they are supposed to be. The window in my room is still broken in, but the shards of glass on the floor appear different from the ones that were there last night, almost as if it was fixed before the new attack, only a few minutes ago. 

I have just had my bath, with my towel wrapped around my frame, when the smell hits. 

The smell of burning paper.

Rushing to the window overlooking the bookstore downstairs, I see the flame licking everything inside the building, bits of paper flying into the air, and the windows breaking with a loud groan.

I remain there, frozen with shock and bouncing on my feet. Before my brain finally processes what is happening, my front door suddenly crashes with a deafening sound, broken particles flying through the living area. 

I push back away from the window just as Saint storms inside, his coat billowing behind him and his eyes burning with such intensity that I don’t know which to be scared of the most, the burning building or the man in front of me. 

His eyes darken as his gaze meets mine, wet, shaking, and wrapped in nothing but a towel. I see the primal look flash through his eyes, so fast that I might have been mistaken. 

My hands move up to hold the towel tighter, but it's too late. It slips off my body, landing on the ground in a silent whisper. I cannot move, cannot breathe, as Saint takes one slow step forward, and then another. 

My breath hitches as he tosses a hoodie and leggings in my direction. “Put these on,” he growls. “Now.”

I finally move, my feet coming as I shrug into the clothes, wondering where they came from. Saint disappears into my bedroom and reappears a minute later with a duffel bag. A man in a dark suit accompanies him, and I am glad I am already covered. 

"Saint…" I start, but the sharp look in his eyes makes me press my lips together grimly. 

“They burned the bookstore, Maya. If that doesn’t scare you, I don’t know what else will.”

He hands the duffel back to the man standing next to him, then stalks closer to me, grabbing my wrist. “Let’s go.”

Saint doesn't give me an option as he pulls me with him towards the door and out into the cool night air. The firefighters are already on the scene, the whoosh of their hoses singing in the air. 

We’re almost at the gleaming black car, when I pause, a strange chill crawling up my spine. From the corner of my eyes, right before Saint pushes me into the car, I see it.

A figure, hooded by the darkness, watching us.