I retract my hand.
The man purses his lips. “I didn’t take you for stupid.” He offers the box to Maxime. “Have it your way. Twenty grand. That’s my last offer.”
Maxime leaves the glass on the desk. “We’re done here.”
The man snarls, shaking the box in Maxime’s direction. “Take the fucking box.”
“You know where the door is,” Maxime says.
With a curse, he dumps the box on the bed and charges for the door. Caught off-guard, I step aside as he storms past me and slams the door.
I move to the bed. “What’s wrong with—”
“Don’t touch it.”
I stop in my tracks. Sweat breaks out over my body. “Poison?”
Maxime rounds the bed. “Explosives.”
“Oh, my God. Are you sure?”
“No, but there’s one way to find out.”
When he picks up the box, I utter a shriek. “Maxime, no!”
He walks to the open window, peers down, and throws out the box.
A loud explosion shatters the silence.
I run to the window. Bits of paper drift in a billow of dust in the air. There’s a big hole in the lawn next to the pool. Through the dusty cloud, it looks like a sepia picture of paper snowflakes. People storm out onto the terrace. A hotel staff member shouts loud instructions for everyone to stay back.
I grip the windowsill. “If I’d opened the box—”
He rests his hand next to mine, our pinkies overlapping. “I wouldn’t have let you.”
I’m shaking with cold, even though it’s warm. “That man. What about that man?”
He cups my cheek and kisses me. “They’ll lock down the hotel. We have to go.”
“Maxime,” I cry out when he lets me go to grab his bag from a chair.
Picking mine up from the floor, he opens the door and peers around the frame. “Come. Quickly.”
I rush out ahead of him. Instead of going toward the elevator, he ushers me to the fire escape. We run down the two flights of stairs and exit into the parking lot. He unlocks his car and dumps our bags in the trunk while I fit my safety belt, and then he tears out of the parking space.
My heart sinks when we approach the boom. It’s down. Maxime has a shady history. He’s only cleaned up his act recently. The police are always looking for a reason to arrest him, especially now that he’s no longer under the mafia’s protection. If they get their hands on him, they’ll use any means necessary, including torture, to make him give up information about his criminal family.
When the guard manning the pay booth recognizes Maxime, he salutes and lifts the boom. I sag in my seat, my body running hot and cold with shock and relief. We pull into the traffic, smoothly slipping into the flow.
“Your car,” I say. “They have cameras in the parking garage.”
“I know the hotel owner.” His brow is furrowed in concentration as he focuses on the road. “He’ll erase the tapes.”
The traffic is heavy. I don’t speak again until we’re on a quieter road. “What happened back there?”
He glances at me. “The day Izabella came to my office she tipped me off about Leclerc. He was blackmailing Alexis.”
“With what?”
His jaw bunches. “It was Alexis who started the fire.”
I gape at him. “You mean…?”
“Yes.” He takes a sharp turn, making my body press against the door.
“Maxime.”
“I only found out this morning.”
“Is that what he was doing in your hotel room?”
“I threatened him so he’d give me the evidence. I guess he thought he’d rather blow me up.”
I still can’t believe it. “How did you know?”
“I didn’t. It was a guess. I know how these people operate. I know how they think.”
“He would’ve let me open the box.”
“Revenge for how I punished him.”
I grip the door handle when he takes another turn. “What did you do to him?”
He clenches the wheel. “Doesn’t matter.”
The buildings change to more modern ones. “What now?”
“I’m going to deal with them.”
My stomach tightens. “Maxime.”
“I can’t let this go, Zoe.”
“The police—”
He takes the exit onto the highway. “You know I can’t go to the police.” He glances at me again. “Are you all right?”
I shake my head.
He cups my hand. “You shouldn’t have been there.”
“I should’ve told you I was coming.”
“No.” Smiling, he puts my hand on his thigh to change gears. “I appreciate the gesture. Just don’t surprise me again. I’m not good with those.”
The hard muscles of his thigh bunch under my palm when he steps on the clutch. “What if he comes after you?”
“That’s why I have to go after him first.”
A sickening thought hits me. “You weren’t going to let him leave your room alive, were you?” I remove my hand from his leg. “Is that why he came armed with that box? He knew he needed some kind of weapon? If I hadn’t been there—”
“You think too much.”
I’m not going to get anything out of him. Why do I even try? I look at the fields on the side of the road. “Where are we going?”
“Home.” When I say nothing, he continues, “I’ll make up for Paris.”
“I don’t care about Paris.” I care about our safety and our lives.
“What happened this morning isn’t going to happen again.”
“Please.” I close my eyes and lay back my head. “Don’t make promises.”
“Leclerc caught me off guard. I didn’t think he had it in him.”
“You don’t have to make excuses. You saved my life.”
“Because you obeyed me.” The pause that follows is strained. “Zoe, if you ever put yourself in danger again, I don’t know what I’ll do.”
I open my eyes. “I couldn’t know.” My voice is harsh. “Finding two killers in the weekend getaway room your husband organized isn’t exactly the norm.”
His eyes tighten in the corners. “I would’ve kept him far away from you if you were coming with me.”
“I know.”
“Say it.”
From the corner of my eye,
