“Ace,” he answers, smiling wide and honest. “We’ve missed you.”
My chest warms in a way very different from how it does with Nikolai.
It’s simpler—comfort, familiarity, the kind of love that doesn’t rip you open but stitches you together with careful hands.
It’s friendship.
I’ve got my boys back.
“Alright—group hug.”
Elijah hesitates, but Enzo and I yank him in. The press of their shoulders, the easy closeness, this was safety, not sparks.
They fill me in as we move toward the car—Nikolai’s plan, the cover story, how Enzo and Elijah are meant to shepherd me off the property and rendezvous later with Nikolai and Adrian to finish the charade and figure out what comes next.
Priority: get me off Orlov land and out of sight.
“Nikolai wants me to leave without him?” The words taste wrong in my mouth.
He wouldn’t—he wouldn’t just let me go.
“It makes sense,” Enzo says. “He… he can’t risk being seen.”
He tries to sound practical, his fingers worrying the hem of his coat. But the explanation doesn’t sit right.
I take a step back from them, from the comfortable orbit they offered. “Where are you really trying to take me?”
Elijah’s jaw tightens. “Get in the car, Ace.”
“I’m not asking you, Elijah.” I turn to my anchor. “Enzo, tell me.”
Elijah reaches for my arm, trying to steer me, but Enzo’s hand closes around his wrist in a quiet, brotherly grip. “Enough, Elijah. Can’t you see that my sister isn’t attached to you anymore?”
That comment feels like there’s almost some type of inside joke I’m not part of so I hold Enzo’s eyes. For the first time since the night collapsed, I let myself be small in front of him.
He leans down and whispers—no theatrics, no possessive heat—just steady, “I won’t lose you again.”
“Where?” I say, breathless.
“Dante wants to see you,” Enzo says. “After that, we’re ordered back to Anova.”
“So you’re not giving me a choice?” Anger flares inside me, half from fear, half from humiliation.
“You know that’s not how our family works,” Elijah counters, softer than before.
“Dante found out about Nikolai’s attempt to go around the death order he put on you. We couldn’t keep up with Nikolai’s plan once he found out. He would’ve killed us all.”
Tears pool at the edges of my eyes, but I bite them back, nod, and let myself be led.
“So tonight’s choice is between me and the two of you?” I choke on the words as they leave my mouth. This choice is a hand pressed flat on my throat. “Either Dante kills me alone… or it’s all three of us?” I say it quieter this time, needing to hear it again—to know it’s really our only option.
“Ace…” Elijah begins, but I cut him off.
“But I’m free, so why do I need to die? Is he really that cruel?”
“It’s not about you, Ace. Dante wanted you dead the moment he started thinking about you and Viktor.”
“Viktor?” I ask, my words thick with disgust. “Nik would never let him touch me.”
