Chapter 40
Liev
The house feels different without the constant need to be looking over our shoulders. Less security now that our only real threat has been eliminated. The low-level gangs that Hinto used Backscatter to negotiate with have bled back into Miami’s shadows, and our partnerships have only tightened.
We can’t rest, not yet. But we can keep building, securing a future for ourselves here.
Ryder stands near the window, one hand resting absentmindedly against her stomach. She’s showing now. Not dramatically, not in a way that anyone outside this house would immediately notice, but enough that I see it every time I look at her.
Sixteen weeks. The reality of it is no longer abstract, no longer something that can be pushed into the background while we handle everything else.
It’s here.
So is everything that comes with it.
I watch her for a moment before I speak, taking in the way she holds herself now.
There’s still a sharpness in how she thinks and moves, but something underneath it has changed.
A little softer. Sometimes I catch her murmuring and can’t help smiling, but I’ll never tell her.
She’d put a knife to my throat if I suggested she was sentimental.
“We need to talk.”
She turns at that, her dark eyebrows drawn together. We’re two weeks into the whole mess now. We are cooperating with the FBI, with Kazimir’s backing now too. They’ve been more entrenched in Savannah than Miami, since that was where Hinto’s main operation had moved to.
Takes some of the pressure off us, as well as Agent Pierce, but I can tell from Ryder’s expression that she’s wondering if I want to back down now.
No chance in hell.
I just want to make sure she and the baby are safe.
“You don’t owe me anything,” I say.
“That’s a strange place to start.”
“It’s the only place to start,” I reply. I step closer, not crowding her, but closing the distance enough that she can’t mistake what I’m saying for something distant or detached. I don’t want her to think this is business. It’s so much more than that.
“This marriage,” I continue, “it started as an arrangement. A necessity. Something that benefited both of us at the time.”
Her jaw tightens slightly, but she doesn’t interrupt.
“It doesn’t have to stay that way if you don’t want it to. If you want out, you can have it.”
Silence follows. She’s staring at me with those caramel eyes, but they’re distant, not quite focused.
“I’ll still protect you,” I ramble, having a hard time gauging where she’s at. What she’s thinking. Worry that she might actually take the out. “You and the child. That doesn’t change, regardless of what you decide. Wherever you go, I’ll protect you both.”
“Do you want that?” she asks carefully.
“No.”
The answer is immediate. I don’t even try to hide how ready it was, how much I mean it.
“No, I want you to stay, Ryder, but it’s your choice.
It’s always been your choice, all of this.
” I gesture at the house around us, the place that’s become a home.
Especially as we start to eye sharp corners, rethink the arrangement of rooms to fit playpens or a high chair.
“I’m going to be a father,” I say, more quietly now. “No matter what you choose. I’ll be there. I’ll make sure they have everything they need. Everything I didn’t.”
Ryder reaches out, her hand clamping around my wrist with surprising force. I can only blink as she pulls me closer, her face serious, as if she’s a teacher about to scold a student. And looking down at her, I feel exposed. Vulnerable. Or maybe just seen.
“You know you deserve this, right?” She says, voice sharp. “You worked for this Liev—all of it. Don’t question that.”
I nod, throat tight. It takes me a second to find what I want to say, though I can’t fight the impulse to keep reassuring her. “I won’t keep you somewhere you don’t choose to stay.”
She rolls her eyes. “Do you really think you could keep me here, Demsky? I’ve already escaped twice.”
“Mmm,” I hum, tugging her ever closer. Feeling the press of her body, like a little furnace, against my abs and chest. “And you forget I’ve hunted you down now…twice.”
A challenging smirk twists her pretty lips. In that moment, I’m pretty sure both of us are reliving the last four months. A whirlwind marriage, a new city, putting down roots, and feeling each other out. Fighting enemies we didn’t know we had. Coming to each other’s rescue.
“I’ve fallen in love with you.”
The words are simple. I don’t need to dress them up. I’ve already said them several times before today.
I don’t need her to answer, but she does anyway. Her forehead drops to my chest, and she wraps her arms around my waist.
“I love you too, Liev Demsky. And I’ll stay.” I feel her lips lift into a smile. “Doesn’t mean I won’t make you chase me now and then, though.”
“Good. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”