“Was that Nadia I saw leaving our suite a few minutes ago?”
I bobbed my head as I pulled myself from the wall and crossed to her. “Yeah. Here for any early morning interrogation.”
Ava arched an eyebrow. “Interrogation? That sounds intense. Did she say anything about the background checks?”
“She didn’t.” I shook my head. “She did grill me about being involved with her brother, though.”
We stepped into the sitting room, and I found Alex pouring coffee from an ornate coffee pot that sat on the sideboard.
“Hey,” he said with a grin, “you’re still standing. I heard you had a visit from the ice queen herself.”
I nodded as I poured myself a cup of coffee, suddenly wondering if it was poisoned. “Yeah. First thing this morning.”
“I didn’t even hear a knock. I’m surprised you did,” Ava said.
I sipped my coffee. “Oh, there was no knock. I woke up to find her perched on the edge of my bed.”
Alex’s eyes widened. “Whoa. That’s super aggressive. What did she want?”
“To know if we were working for her brother.” I furrowed my brow. “Nikolai is the brother, right?”
Ava nodded. “That’s what we gathered from our search of the royals. Looks like he was actually the first born. Then Natasha and Nadia.”
I narrowed my eyes as I paused mid-sip. “Wait, why isn’t he inheriting the throne, then?”
“I’m not one hundred percent sure, but apparently, there was a bitter divorce between Mom and Dad. Mom took Nikolai to live in upstate New York, Dad kept both of the girls. I’m assuming there was a falling out between father and son, and he disinherited him?” Alex shrugged as he made the suggestion.
“Doesn’t seem like Nikolai is too happy about that,” I murmured. That must have been why he was after Nattie.
“No, it doesn’t seem like he is. Hey, Doc, I know this is a really weird situation,” Ava said, “but I think we may be way in over our heads.”
I eased into the armchair, the words washing over me and twisting my stomach into a tight knot. We’d been in tight spots before, but the situation here seemed like a powder keg waiting to blow.
“She needs me,” I muttered, almost to myself. It wasn’t just that she needed help—she needed me, and somehow, I knew I needed her just as much. That connection we’d shared wasn’t just in my head; it was real, tangible, like gravity pulling me closer no matter the odds. I didn’t know what kind of life I could offer her, but the thought of walking away left an ache in my chest that felt unbearable. I’d fought my whole life to feel like I belonged somewhere. Maybe, just maybe, that somewhere was with her.
Ava perched on the edge of the couch, her features consoling as she leaned toward me. “We just don’t want you getting hurt. Physically or emotionally.”
I hung my head, my lips puckering. “Yeah, I get that, Ava, but I’m involved now. It’s too late for that.”
“It’s not too late,” Alex chimed in. “We could fire up the jet and leave.”
I leapt from my seat, the suggestion like a slap on the cheek. “No. I’m not leaving her.”
“Okay,” Ava said tentatively.
I twisted to face them. “Look, I get it. This seems dangerous, but…I’m not leaving. If you guys want to go, I’d totally understand. But I’m not leaving her. No way.”
Alex and Ava exchanged a glance. “We’re not leaving you, Doc. We’re a team. If you stay, we stay. I just…want to be sure you’re doing this for the right reasons.”
The right reasons?What did that mean?
“You know, I don’t want you to stay because you think it’ll look bad if you go, or like you’re a coward or…whatever. I don’t know what you guys think or what goes through your heads,” Ava said with a wave of her hand in the air. “I just want you to know that if you want to bail, that’s totally fine.”
“I’m not leaving her. And it’s not some misguided sense of duty or need to prove my masculinity. It’s this connection that we have. It’s deep. And I need to see where that goes.”
“That’s all we needed to hear–not that you need to explain anything to us,” Ava answered. “But I want you to be happy. Not to be doing this because you feel like you should.”
Was I happy? Not fully because I still wasn’t certain that I’d end up with Nattie. There were too many unanswered questions, too much of a chance that she could be ripped away from me.
