Their Villain, The Mogul's Beloved

Chapter 12

When the chaos finally settled, night still pressed down hard.

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A policewoman, worried Natasha might crack, offered to take her to the hotel, only to be shooed away with a “I just want to be alone.”

Natasha stood frozen before the rubble heap, minutes bleeding out, before finally dragging a leg gone pins and needles.

At her car, just as her fingers brushed the door handle, a rustle in the weeds alarmed her.

Calmly, she popped the door, grabbed the pocket knife from the glovebox, and slow–stepped toward the shadows.

Parting the overgrown weeds, she froze. Under a sky speckled raw with stars, a man lay sprawled— all sharp edges and icy stillness. Even flat on his back, she could tell he towered. Looming frame, stupidly perfect build.

His eyes—the kind that’d pull one in and swallow one whole–were shut tight. Blood, now dried and cracked, streaked across his face. Made those already cut–glass features look carved from Arctic stone–detached, refusing to soften.

Most importantly, Natasha knew this man.

She nudged the unconscious man with her toe. “Tsk. Who’s this poor little stray?” She drank in the blood–streaked, broken beauty for precisely three heartbeats before spurning on her heel and walking away.

But halfway through her turn, bone–white fingers snaked out and locked around her ankle–cold as grave dirt.

The man had opened his eyes sometime ago, staring at her in amazement with his deep eyes. “To treat your savior so cruelly? Miss Clark is really heartless.”

‘Don’t all girls have soft hearts and strong morals?‘ he wondered.

Natasha wasn’t surprised that he knew her name. When the police chief scrambled out, sweating bullets, to greet him that day, she knew this guy wasn’t just anyone.

So what?

She snorted. “Every damn crime show screams it: Never pick up stray men on the roadside. And hey, Mr. Savior–has nobody told you you’re giving off major fugitive killer vibes right now?”

‘Seriously, what kind of saint bleeds out in a weed pile at midnight?‘ she said inwardly.

Alexei, who’d personally dumped two men into wolf dens tonight, let out a dark chuckle. “Damn

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Chapter 12

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right I am. But since when did a killer and an arsonist not make a match made in hell?”

His eyes pinned Natasha’s suddenly stormy face. Though flat on the ground, being looked down upon, he had an air of superiority that could see through people’s hearts.

even though she was fuming, Natasha still fell

to her apartment and casually tossed the guy who had

gentle

not going to

will

severe–looking wounds, hesitating whether to

me?” Alexei’s brow arched, mockery

“Nope. Just don’t need you bleeding out on

do kick the bucket, my

practically

a smile. “No, because I need to give you a chance to

Natasha’s face fell.

cracking jokes, but his guard never dropped. After a couch break to catch his breath, he pushed through the

face ghost–white. Natasha winced at the phantom pain–yet

way he surveyed the apartment? Certified

tuned it out

knowing more about him; she just wanted this

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Chapter 12

enough; she didn’t

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collapsed onto the rug in front of the sofa, dizzy and exhausted, Natasha was already in

days, so many things happened that she hadn’t even had

ups and downs, the only thing she felt when she got back to

on the table. Only then did she dawdle over to take a look

losing so much blood, but he stayed alert and kept

or someone was after him

some rich heir, she would think he

didn’t bother

safe environment, Natasha had changed into

tension. As she moved, her slender legs swayed

tried stepping on his chest with her smooth red–painted

was still beating

harder on it a

he was scaring her with all the terrifying punishments his enemies might do if they caught

back at him.

hand grasped her

she let out a

watched the woman, whose eyes revealed a hint of guilt mixed with forced composure after getting caught

and no patient could withstand

didn’t wake up soon, her foot might end

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