Jake guided me to the sofa, sitting beside me. “You don’t have to decide anything right now. Or tomorrow. Or next week. Take the time you need.”
I leaned against him, grateful for his steady presence, his unwavering support. “What about you?” I asked, looking up at his face. “What do you want?”
His eyes softened as they met mine. “That’s simple,” he said. “I want you. Both of you. Safe and happy. Whatever that looks like.”
The simplicity of his answer, the depth of feeling behind it, made my throat tight with emotion. “Even with all this complicated history? With Mikhail back in our lives?”
“Even then,” he said without hesitation. “Ella,I’ve spent years watching you from a distance, telling myself I had no right to want what I wanted. Then, in the past weeks, everything shifted. I’m not backing away now. Not unless you tell me to.”
I reached up to touch his face, the stubble rough beneath my fingertips. “I don’t want you to back away,” I whispered. “I want you right here. With us.”
He turned his head to press a kiss to my palm. “Then that’s where I’ll be.”
We sat in comfortable silence for a time, the fire crackling in the hearth, the storm howling outside. There were still a thousand questions to answer, a future to plan, but for this moment, this quiet space between crisis and resolution, we could be.
“We should try to sleep,” Jake said eventually, though he made no move to rise.
I nodded, though the thought of returning to my empty guest room held little appeal. “Stay with me tonight?” I asked. “Just to sleep. I don’t want to be alone.”
His arms tightened around me. “You’re not alone anymore, Ella. Not ever again.”
As we made our way to my room, I paused at Nora’s door, easing it open to check on her. She was sound asleep, Killer curled at her feet, both of them oblivious to the storm that still raged beyond the windows.
Tomorrow would bring its own challenges—conversations with Mikhail, decisions about our future, the aftermath of everything that had happened at the Petrova compound. But tonight, watching my daughter sleep safely, with Jake’s solid presence beside me, I allowed myself to believe that whatever came next, I had someone that I could count on.
And for the first time in a very long time, that thought didn’t terrify me. It felt like coming home.
Chapter 28
Jake
Sleep didn’t come easy even with Ella curled against me in the massive guest bed. My mind kept replaying the events in Alexei’s study—the moment Nora broke free, the struggle that followed, the sound of the gunshot. I hadn’t told Ella everything that happened, not yet. Some truths were better saved for daylight.
I woke at dawn, the storm having finally blown itself out overnight. Ella was still sleeping, her face peaceful for the first time in days. I slipped out of bed carefully, not wanting to disturb her. She needed the rest.
Downstairs, I found Declan in the kitchen, staring into a cup of coffee as if it held answers to questions he hadn’t yet asked.
“Morning,” I said, helping myself to the pot.
He looked up, his expression somber. “Interpol called. They want statements from all of us. Today, if possible.”
I nodded, not surprised. “What about Alexei?”
“Single shot to the temple.”
My hand stilled on the coffee pot. “He did it himself?”
“Yes. Mikhail’s already given his statement. The CTV footage shows the flash after you both left.”
“We did leave together,” I confirmed, remembering the desperate struggle in the study after Nora escaped. Alexei’s men bursting in, the flash of gunfire, Mikhail’s cold efficiency. “As for his men, they didn’t give us a choice; it was self-defence.”
Declan didn’t press for details, which I appreciated. Some things were better left unsaid, especially in a house with ears everywhere.
“How’s Ella holding up?” he asked instead.
“As well as can be expected. She’s strong.” I took a sip of coffee. “But this is far from over. Mikhail wants to be part of Nora’s life.”
“And you?”
