“That means we should head out soon,” Declan said, turning at the sound of the growling Doberman.
“Ma! Call off your dog!” Rory yelled, hiding behind Kat.
“He just wants to play.” She turned to me and smiled. “You must be Ella, I’m Rory’s mother, Iris.”
“Nice to meet you,” I murmured. I whistled, andthe dog came trotting over. I bent down on a knee and looked up at Iris as it sniffed my hand. “What’s his name?”
He leaned against me and swiped his tongue across my cheek.
“Killer. His name is Killer. He loves Rory, but Rory can’t stand him.”
“He loves to bite me,” Rory muttered as we headed into the house.
I tried not to gape at the soaring ceilings, the priceless artwork, the sheer opulence that surrounded us. This wasn’t just wealth—this was dynasty money, the kind that spanned generations and built empires.
Kat dropped her suitcase just inside the door, her face tight with worry. “Come on, Wren. Time to stress bake.”
I had to take a moment to process what Kat had just said. “Stress bake?”
“It’s what she does,” Declan explained, guiding me through an enormous foyer. “When things get tense, Wren bakes, and Kat eats it. It’s... therapeutic.”
Under any other circumstances, I would have joined them. Baking was my escape. But right now, I couldn’t think about anything except Nora.
“Where’s this command center?” I asked, following Jake as he strode purposefully through the house.
We entered what appeared to be a library transformed into a headquarters of sorts. Screens lined one wall, displaying a satellite view of Highway 401 and another of Alexei’s home. Another monitor shows the current weather, and the last one, and most important to me, a steady red dot that was Nora.
A short man with salt-and-pepper hair approached us. “Declan,” he nodded, then turned to the rest of us. “I’m Radley, head of security for the MacGallan estate. We’ve been monitoring the Petrova compound since your call.”
“Any movement?” Mikhail asked, stepping forward.
“The jet landed 2 and a half hours ago. We’ve confirmed six individuals entered the main house, including what appears to be a child.” Radley pointed to one of the screens, which showed thermal imaging of a large structure. “They’ve settled in the west wing. Most heat signatures are concentrated here and here.”
I moved closer to the screen, my heart pounding. One of those heat signatures was my daughter. So close, yet still impossibly far away.
“What about the storm?” Jake asked, coming to stand beside me.
Radley gestured to a weather map. “It’s intensifying faster than predicted. We have maybe a two-hour window before it becomes impassable,even by air. After that, we’re looking at a minimum of twenty-four hours before conditions improve enough to go get her.”
“We can’t wait that long,” I said, my voice sharper than I’d intended. “Every minute she’s with that monster is—” I broke off, unable to finish the thought.
Jake’s hand found the small of my back, steady and reassuring. “We won’t wait,” he said firmly. “Three hours is plenty of time.”
Mikhail nodded in agreement, studying the thermal imaging. “My father will have men posted here, here, and here,” he said, pointing to different areas of the compound. “The panic room is located beneath the main study. That’s where he’ll take her if he suspects trouble.”
“How do we get in without triggering them?” Kane asked.
“We don’t go in guns blazing,” Mia said, joining us at the monitors. “We need a diversion—something to draw attention away from our actual point of entry.”
“And we need to disable their communications,” Connor added. “Cut them off from calling for reinforcements.”
As they discussed strategy, I found myself drifting toward the window. The snow was falling more heavily now, the wind whipping it intoswirling patterns across the manicured grounds. Somewhere out there, beyond the storm, was Nora. Was she scared? Was she thinking I’d abandoned her?
“Ella.” Jake’s voice pulled me back to the present. “We need your input on something.”
I turned back to the group, wiping away tears I hadn’t realized were falling. “What is it?”
“Mikhail thinks you should stay here,” Jake said, his expression carefully neutral. “Where it’s safe.”
