Page 88

She didn’t need sleep. She needed a plan.

Voices drifted from the kitchen—low and threaded with laughter.

She padded across the floorboards barefoot and pushed open the door.

“Leonid, I’ve found?—”

She stopped cold, pulse catching. The air was charged, danger dressed as family.

She found Leo instantly—leaning against the far wall, arms crossed, his steady gaze finding hers like a lock catching clean.

No nod. No smile. Just his presence.

She didn’t know how badly she needed that look until it landed.

She exhaled once, and let her focus widen.

Six men filled the kitchen space. Tactical blacks. Combat-hardened frames relaxed but ready. Weapons rested on the table. Sidearms cleared and safetied. Magazines stacked with precision. A suppressed rifle lay open, field-stripped and half-reassembled.

Operators.

Men the world never officially sent—or got back.

Loyalty made absolute. Guardsmen Security.

Leo’s team. The full unit.

The kitchen felt suddenly too small for what they brought with them. Loyalty, weapons,war.

Eli sat at the near end of the table, a sleek tablet glowing in front of him. He rose at the sound of her voice.

“There she is.” His voice held Leo’s accent, but tempered by warmth.

He crossed to her in three strides, his handshake firm. “Good to see you in one piece, Kat.”

“Eli. When did you get here? All of you?”

“An hour ago,” he said with a crooked grin. “Give or take.”

“I didn’t know?—”

Eli’s glance at Leo carried years of brotherly understanding. “We don’t ask permission.” His attention swung back to her and he spread his hands. “Leo’s fight is ours. And…yours is his. So here we are.”

They’d dropped everything. For Leo. Forher.

Her throat constricted, too full for anything but the smallest breath.

“Bea would’ve come,” Eli added, softer now. “But with Noah… she couldn’t. She sends her love.”

“How is the baby?” she managed.

A glow rose in his face. “Growing too fast. That mobile you sent? Noah’s obsessed. He’s already got the Bychkov scowl.” His glance at Leo was mock-accusatory.

Leo gave a soft grunt.

Zak stepped forward, wiping his hand on a dish towel.

“Kat. Alina sends her love.” His grin reached the intense set of his eyes as he gave her a brief hug.