Chapter 27
Ella
The trip back to the MacGallan estate was treacherous, the storm growing fiercer with each passing mile.
We followed the other vehicle in front of us, driven by Rory.
By some miracle, all of us were accounted for.
The four reapers, Mia and Connor. Declan navigated our vehicle with grim determination, the SUV fishtailing occasionally on the snow-packed roads.
Nora remained tucked against my side, her small body gradually warming, though she still trembled intermittently.
I couldn’t stop touching her—smoothing her hair, rubbing her back, reassuring myself that she was real and safe beside me. The terror of the past twenty-four hours had left me raw, as though my skin had been peeled away, exposing every nerve.
“How did you find me?” Nora asked finally, her voice small but steady. “I thought no one would know where to look.”
I exchanged a glance with Jake over her head. “Jake put a tracker in your boot,” I explained. “The one with the loose sole that you’re always complaining about.”
Her eyes widened as she looked down at her feet. “Really, I thought that was a stone! That’s so cool! Like spy stuff!”
Despite everything, I had to smile at her enthusiasm. Even after being kidnapped, my daughter’s resilience amazed me.
“Exactly like spy stuff,” Jake agreed, his voice warm with affection. “I knew that loose sole would come in handy someday.”
Mikhail watched this exchange silently from the row behind us, his expression unreadable in the dim interior light. When Nora turned to look at him, however, his face softened.
“Are you okay, Dad?” she asked, the word still new and tentative on her lips.
“I am now,” he replied.
Finally, the MacGallan estate loomed ahead, lights blazing through the swirling snow like a beacon. As we pulled up to the main entrance, I saw several figures hurrying down the steps to meet us. Wren was at the forefront, her face tight with worry.
“They’re back!” she called over her shoulder, pulling open the SUV door before we’d fully stopped.
The next few minutes were a blur of activity.
We were ushered inside, out of the bitter cold, into the warm embrace of the mansion.
Nora was immediately swept up in a flurry of attention—blankets, hot chocolate, concerned questions—while Mikhail was led away for medical attention.
The cut above his eye looked worse in the bright light of the foyer.
Jake stayed at my side, his hand at the small of my back, a steady presence as Wren guided us to a sitting room where a fire blazed in a hearth large enough to walk into.
“You both need to warm up,” she insisted, pressing mugs of something steaming into our hands. “You’re half-frozen.”
I sank onto a sofa, suddenly aware of how exhausted I was. Every muscle ached, and now that the adrenaline was fading, I felt hollow, emptied. Jake settled beside me, his thigh pressed against mine, solid and reassuring.
“You should rest,” he said quietly. “Nora’s safe. You can relax now.”
I shook my head, unable to take my eyes off my daughter. She sat cross-legged on a plush rug near the fire, already chattering away to Kat about the kittens in Jake’s barn. The normality of it was surreal after everything we’d been through.
“I can’t,” I whispered. “Not yet.”
Jake nodded, understanding without need for further explanation. He moved his arm around my shoulders, drawing me against his side where I could feel the steady rhythm of his heartbeat.
“Thank you,” I said after a long moment. “For everything. For having the foresight to put the tracker in her boot. For coming back for Mikhail.”
He pressed a kiss to my temple, his lips warm against my cold skin. “Always.”
Declan entered the room, his expression grave as he approached us. He leaned his forearms on the back of the sofa. “Local authorities just reached the Petrova compound,” he reported in a low voice. “Alexei Petrova is dead, along with most of his security team.”
Jake looked at me, then at Declan. “He was alive when we left him.”
Declan straightened. “I don’t doubt it for a second. What Alexei was about to face likely was even too much for him to handle.”
Relief washed through me, so powerful it left me dizzy. “It’s really over then?”
“Not quite,” Declan cautioned. “But I’ll take care of it.”
I nodded, too tired to process the implications fully. All that mattered was that Nora was safe, that Alexei could no longer reach us.
“Where’s Mikhail?” Jake asked, glancing around the room.
“Doctor’s patching him up,” Declan replied. “He took a beating, but nothing serious. He’ll be fine.”
The words hung in the air, laden with unspoken questions. What happened in that study? Clearly, someone pulled the trigger.
Nora looked up then, her eyes finding mine across the room. Whatever she saw in my face made her scramble to her feet and hurry over, climbing into my lap as though she were much younger than her eight years. I wrapped my arms around her, breathing in the scent of her hair, still wet from the snow.
“Can we go home soon?” she asked, her voice muffled against my shoulder.
Home. The word carried so much weight now. Which home? My little house in Wolfcreek? Jake’s ranch? Or somewhere new entirely?
“Soon,” I promised, meeting Jake’s eyes over her head. “Very soon.”
Later that night, after Nora had finally fallen asleep in one of the mansion’s many guest rooms, I found myself wandering the quiet halls, too wired to rest despite my exhaustion. The storm still raged outside, snow piling against the windows, but inside all was warm and still.
I followed the sound of voices to a study at the far end of the east wing. The door was ajar, and through the gap, I could see Jake and Mikhail, seated across from each other in leather chairs; neither looked exceptionally comfortable.
“—need to discuss what happens next,” Mikhail was saying, his voice low but intense.
“That’s up to Ella,” Jake replied, his tone firm. “And Nora.”
I pushed the door open wider, stepping into the room. Both men rose immediately, their expressions guarded.
“Ella,” Mikhail acknowledged, gesturing to an empty chair. “We were just talking about arrangements going forward.”
“I gathered,” I said, choosing to remain standing. “But I think we should all get some rest first. It’s been a long day.”
“Of course,” Mikhail agreed, though he made no move to leave. “But there are practical matters to consider. Security arrangements. Living situations.”
I felt a flare of irritation. “Nora is safe in bed for the first time in twenty-four hours. Everything else can wait until morning.”
Jake moved to my side, his presence steadying. “Ella’s right. We all need rest.”
Mikhail’s eyes moved between us, something like resignation settling in his expression. “Very well. But we do need to talk, Ella. About our daughter. About the future.”
The possessive pronoun grated on my nerves, but I nodded curtly. “Tomorrow.”
As Mikhail left the room, I let out a long breath, some of the tension draining from my shoulders. Jake’s hand found mine, his thumb tracing gentle circles on my palm.
“You okay?” he asked quietly.
I considered the question, really considered it. “I don’t know,” I admitted. “It’s all happening so fast. First, Mikhail comes back from the dead, then Nora is kidnapped, now we’re talking about... what? Custody arrangements? Co-parenting? I can’t even think straight.”
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.