“I see,” Mikhail repeated, though his tone suggested he didn’t like what he was seeing. He sighed, running a hand through his hair in a gesture I remembered from so long ago. “Very well. If you’re determined to stay in Wolfcreek, then I’ll find a place nearby. At least temporarily.”
I blinked, caught off guard by his easy capitulation. “You’d do that?”
“For Nora? Yes.” His expression softened slightly. “She’s all I have left, Ella. My father’s empire has crumbled, and my old life is gone. She’s my future now.”
There was a sincerity in his voice that was hardto dismiss, a vulnerability I’d rarely seen during our short relationship. I found myself nodding slowly.
“We can work something out,” I conceded. “For Nora’s sake. But there will have to be rules, boundaries.”
“Of course,” he agreed quickly. “Whatever you think is best.”
Jake had remained silent during this exchange, but I could feel the tension in him, the careful control. I squeezed his hand under the counter, trying to convey what I couldn’t say aloud—that nothing had changed between us, that Mikhail’s presence didn’t threaten what we were building.
The conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Declan, his expression grim.
“Interpol’s here,” he announced. “They want to speak with each of you separately.”
The next few hours were exhausting—a detailed recounting of everything that had happened, from Mikhail’s reappearance to the rescue at the compound. The agents were thorough but not unkind, especially when it came to questioning me about Nora’s kidnapping. By the time they finished with me, I felt wrung out, emotionally and physically drained.
I found Jake waiting outside the room they’d been using as an interview space, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.
“How’d it go?” he asked, straightening as I approached.
“About as well as could be expected,” I sighed. “They seemed satisfied with my statement.”
He nodded, his eyes searching my face. “You look exhausted.”
“I am,” I admitted. “But I need to check on Nora. Make sure she’s okay.”
“She’s fine,” he assured me, taking my hand. “I just came from the stables. She and Kat are grooming the ponies. She’s in heaven.”
The image brought a smile to my face despite my fatigue. “Of course she is. Animal-crazy, that one.”
“Wonder where she gets that from,” Jake teased, his thumb tracing circles on my palm.
I leaned into him, allowing myself a moment of weakness now that the immediate crisis had passed. “What did you tell them?” I asked quietly. “About what happened in the study?”
His arms came around me, steady and secure. “The truth. That we were defending ourselves and each other. That Mikhail did what was necessary to protect his daughter, and that Alexei was alive when we left.”
I nodded against his chest, relieved. Whatever had happened in that room, I trusted that Jake and Mikhail had done what they had to do. The rest were details I didn’t need or want to know.
“What now?” I asked, pulling back to look up at him.
“Now,” he said, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, “we go home. Back to Wolfcreek. Back to our lives.”
“Our lives,” I repeated, testing the words. “That has a nice ring to it.”
His eyes softened as they met mine. “Yeah, it does.”
∞∞∞
The flight home the next day was quieter, more subdued than our frantic race to the Petrova compound had been. The roads were still partially snow-covered, but the storm had passed, leaving behind a landscape transformed—pristine, unmarked, like a fresh page waiting to be written upon.
Once we landed, Nora dozed in the backseat of Jake’s truck, exhausted from the excitement of the past few days. Mikhail had opted to remain at the MacGallan estate for another day or two, finalizing arrangements with his contacts and, I suspected, giving us space to settle back into our routines before he inserted himself into our lives again.
“Are you sure about this?” Jake asked as we crossed into familiar territory, the first glimpse ofWolfcreek visible in the distance. “About staying here? We could go anywhere, you know. Start fresh.”
I considered his question seriously, looking out at the snow-covered fields and forests I’d come to love over the past eight years. This place had been my refuge, my sanctuary when I was running scared. Now it was simply home.
