Page 53 of Guarded Knight (Echo Valley #3)

Xander is standing in the doorway with features that could curdle holy water.

Arms crossed. Jaw clenched. Expression locked somewhere between “big brother fury” and “please be okay before I fall apart.”

Behind him, a nurse unabashedly runs her gaze up and down his six-foot-something wall of muscle before disappearing with a muttered, “Damn…” As is typical, he doesn’t notice.

Gabriel shifts back from our embrace but doesn’t let go of my hand.

“I guess I should’ve knocked,” Xander says flatly. “Apparently, you two are really comfortable ignoring boundaries.”

Gabriel gives a curt nod. “Why don’t you come back later and try again?”

“Gabriel.” I squeeze his hand gently.

G lifts both brows but steps back with exaggerated innocence, like he wasn’t two seconds away from climbing into this bed.

Xander steps into the room, gaze scanning over me. The hospital gown. The monitors. The IV in my arm. His throat bobs like he’s trying to swallow something sharp.

“Thank God, you’re okay…” He clears his throat twice. Fails the first time. “You look…”

“Like I’ve been through a wood chipper?

His gaze flicks to Gabriel, then back to me. “I was going to say better than I expected.”

He drops into the chair beside my bed and folds forward, elbows on his knees. “I don’t even know where to start. With the crazy shit that’s over or the crazy shit that’s just beginning.” His eyes drift back to Gabriel. “But since one’s easier to wade through… Trent…”

His jaw tightens. He places a hand on the side of the bed like it’s the only thing tethering him to the room.

“I fucked up, Lara.”

“What else is new?”

He snorts, a reluctant smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. “I’m serious. Me thinking it was Cameron? I should’ve dug deeper. I should’ve…”

“Stop.” I smack his hand. “It made sense. We were all blindsided. Nobody here is to blame but Trent. Well, and Kevin and Belinda are pretty nasty, but that was a bonus round, I guess.”

He doesn’t answer. Not really. Just lowers his head like it’s still heavy with guilt.

“And if it wasn’t for you and Gabriel when we were younger…” My voice wavers. “I’d never have gotten out of there. And more than that…”

I hesitate.

“…I wouldn’t be so damn proud of myself.”

His gaze meets mine.

“You watched me so carefully, Xander. Sheltered me so hard I never got to see what I was really capable of.” My chest tightens. “But you also taught me how to be a badass.”

“Yeah, well,” he mutters. “There are less traumatic ways of proving it.”

“But us Youngs? We go big or go home, right?”

That earns a rough laugh. “Anton told me you stabbed the son of a bitch enough times to make him a paper doll.”

The memory hits like a punch behind my ribs. We’re joking, but there’s weight beneath it. I already know I’ll be drinking midnight coffee with Gabriel long after this is over, waking from dreams with Trent’s face in them or his phantom breath on my skin.

But I won’t say it to Xander. He’s carried enough.

I glance at Gabriel. He’s watching me with a look I’ll never fully translate, something between awe, ache, and pride. God, I want to believe that’s enough to build a life on. But what if it isn’t?

Xander sits on the edge of the bed, and my attention is back in the room.

“A paper doll, huh?” I say, voice lighter than I feel. “I left that much of him intact?”

“He deserved worse,” Gabriel says quietly.

I mean to laugh, but a cough, rough and sudden, fills the room instead. Gabriel’s already moving, circling the bed, lifting the straw to my lips with the quiet ease of someone who’s done this before. Like it’s second nature.

Xander watches him with something in his expression that I can’t quite name.

“So it’s on then? You two?” he asks, still looking at Gabriel.

Gabriel nods once. No elaboration needed. Xander has already heard his intentions.

Whatever passes between them in that second, it’s old. Deep. Brotherhood.

Xander’s never intimidated men into keeping distance from me out of pride. He’s kept them away because my life is precious and he’s never trusted anyone else not to waste it.

But Gabriel meets Xander’s stare head-on, steady, unwavering, like he’s saying without words: I’m here. I’m not leaving.

And in that quiet, I see my brother yield, not in defeat, but in trust. His shoulders loosen, his jaw unclenches, and everything about them softens.

It feels like more than permission. It feels like trust. Like Xander is finally setting me down in the one place he believes I’ll be safe.

The blessing settles something deep in me, steadies ground I didn’t know I was shaking on.

“So…” I lean back, throat still raspy. “You’ve seen Anton? Did he say anything about Kevin?”

Just because my stalker turned out to be Trent doesn’t mean that bastard is forgotten.

Xander’s expression tightens. “Just saw Anton in the parking lot, and he said the Feds are going in tonight.”

Gabriel shifts as though it’s news to him, too.

Xander notices and nods. “Anton’s coming up to tell you. Kevin’s at the hotel sipping champagne on donor dollars. That ends tonight.”

Thank God. “And Freya?”

Gabriel already reassured me she’s safe. It’s the first thing I asked when I finally started to recover. But I still have to ask how she looked when Xander saw her.

That must have been awful for her. I disappeared. Anton and Gabriel, gone in an instant. And she had to stay behind with a man she thought was both a financial criminal and capable of stalking her best friend.

“She’s okay.” Xander hides a smile. “Anton’s been making sure of that.”

His words pull a soft smile to my lips. I don’t know what’s happening there, but I hope it’s something. Something real. Anton seems like an amazing guy with a savior complex, a bit like the guy I’ve chosen.

Freya deserves a man who puts others first.

“I’m glad she has him,” I murmur.

Xander leans forward again and takes my hand. We haven’t held hands since I was a kid, afraid of monsters in the closet. It feels foreign and welcome at the same time.

“When are you breaking out of this place?” he asks.

“The doctors want me overnight just to make sure whatever Trent gave me doesn’t mix badly with my meds. Plus, the IV antibiotics.” I lift my hand with tubes stuck in it. “Morning, if all goes well.”

He gives a slow nod and squeezes my hand. “Good. I’m not going anywhere till you’re home.”

I know he has work, but those words are music to my ears.

“Does this mean the girls are here?” I ask, hopeful they’ll be in Echo Valley when I’m discharged.

His smile finally cracks, warm and worn at the edges. “Much to Theo’s dismay, I left them watching Spanish cartoons.”

I laugh, even though it hurts. “God help him.”

Gabriel’s arm is looped behind my shoulders, his body curved around mine just enough to keep me upright without making it a thing. I must’ve drifted—five minutes, maybe less. Long enough for the ache to settle. Long enough for the burn in my chest to ease into something that feels survivable.

The door creaks open.

Anton steps in first. Then Freya.

Her eyes find mine—and whatever mask she walked in wearing just dissolves.

“Oh my God,” she breathes.

She crosses the room in three strides, tossing her bag into the chair before sinking to the edge of the bed. One hand covers her mouth. The other reaches blindly for mine, like she needs proof I’m still here.

“I’m okay,” I croak. The lie scrapes in my throat.

“You’re not okay,” she snaps. “You’re hooked up to an IV and look like you lost a fight with a hurricane.”

“A handsome hurricane,” I tilt my head toward Gabriel.

Freya snorts. Her eyes are wet. She squeezes my hand tighter. “Glad to see your glass is still half full.”

“I felt awful,” I murmur. “You being at the gala alone… I wish you didn’t have to carry that.”

She pauses, glancing at Anton. “Yeah… When he rushed out during my speech…”

“Did you kill it?”

“Obviously. Full Oscar energy.” She shrugs bashfully.

“That’s badass considering you were abandoned.” I feel awful.

“I looked around for you and G and Anton, but you were just… gone. No texts, no excuses. I knew something was wrong. You wouldn’t leave me like that.”

“None of us would’ve,” Anton says, casually but it’s an undeniable truth. “It’s not exactly our style to bail mid-op.”

“I know,” Freya says. “It just felt like… we were a team.”

Gabriel straightens his spine, out of guilt perhaps, for ever suspecting her.

She continues. “The second you all vanished, I knew something was off. I freaked out for a bit, but then…”

She smiles coyly.

“…Kevin handed me the perfect opportunity.”

Anton shifts near the window, arms crossed, trying not to look proud.

Freya flushes. “He left his phone on the table. Unlocked.” Her nostrils flare. “He really thought I was that dumb.”

Anton lets out a dry laugh. “He was wrong.”

“Damn right, he was. I took that thing to the bathroom and combed through everything. Invoices, texts with Belinda—fraud, donor theft, even messages about you, Lara. They knew you were close to figuring it out.”

“Damn,” I mutter.

Freya’s voice dips. “Yeah. There was a lot in those messages.”

She doesn’t elaborate, but I know what she means. Belinda and Kevin were a thing. Shameless.

She shrugs. “I don’t know if it was brave or reckless. But I wasn’t about to let him walk away. When I got back to the table, he asked if I’d seen his phone, and I told him it fell into my purse and I hadn’t realized. Hook, line, and sinker.”

“You’re a damn legend.”

“I sent photos of it all to Rio right away.” Freya smiles crookedly. “What GhostEye found along with this evidence should be a damn good start to putting those two in jail for a long time. And it got the Feds moving today.”

She looks proud of herself. She should be. That is seriously brave. Ultimately, I couldn’t be happier Freya’s move was the checkmate.

But I’m still so sad this had to happen to her.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I wish this never happened to you.”

“I’m not sorry.” She lifts her chin. “I’ve rebranded as a honey trap.”

That pulls a giggle from me, but I contain it so I don’t cough again.

“You are, mamacita. Took down that man with your sexy booty and big brown eyes.”

Her laugh hits the air, and this time, it sticks.

Anton glances at Freya proudly. “Charges are stacking. Could be real time.”

Gabriel slides his hand down my arm, anchoring me, like he knows I’m thinking about the money. The families it should’ve helped.

Bittersweet doesn’t begin to cover it.

Freya sighs. “Guess we’re unemployed now, to top it all off.”

“Yeah.”

Shit. My miracle med runs three hundred grand a year. Xander and my parents would want to help, but none of us are made of money. I need insurance.

Gabriel kisses my forehead. “Firefly, there are enough Mendez businesses, Shadow Justice, Monarch Hills, GhostEye… we can find a role to bide time. Or even for good.” His eyes meet mine, and they’re filled with equal parts care and trepidation.

“You’ve got nothing to worry about. We’ll put you on the books.

For as long as you want to or need to stay. ”

My heart lights up. What he’s offering isn’t just security—it’s a place, a future, the thing I’ve been terrified to hope for. I’ve spent years trying to prove I could stand on my own. But maybe being with him isn’t weakness. Maybe it’s the bravest thing I’ll ever do.

“Can you even do that?” I ask.

“You think I or anyone in my family would even think twice about it?”

This changes my immediate need, but still, a part of me wonders how I’ll carve out value. Time will tell. Maybe I can start my own charity or become a volunteer? Doing something valuable with the time I have left is important, but only if it’s with him.

He’s laying it on the line.

I grab both sides of his face and kiss him. “Thank you…”

Anton smirks, rolling his eyes. “Get a room.”

Gabriel speaks out of the side of his mouth that’s still connected to mine. “We have one. You’re in it.”

“Christ. I’m charging rent,” Anton groans, but there’s a smile behind it.

We separate out of manners, but damn if I want to. I wish the walls would fall away and reveal our future. The one I believe we now have.

Anton shifts his weight, gaze on the floor. “Actually, Freya… I could use your honey trap skills.”

Freya raises a brow. “Excuse me?”

“You don’t mind late nights, do you?”

She lets out a surprised laugh.

Anton sighs. “Yeah, didn’t sound better in my head either.”

“Nope.” She grins. “But I can translate. You’re offering me a job at Shadow Justice?”

“Sounds like you both need one,” he says. “Shitty pay. Nonexistent, actually. But we’ve got a health plan. And if you need a place… you can crash at mine.”

“In the house?” She’s so surprised her curls bounce with her. “On the ranch?” Her sigh is palpable.

“Yeah. Unless you want to hear these two through the walls.”

A nurse pokes her head in. “Sorry, guys. Visiting hours are over.”

Freya grabs her bag but lingers a beat longer. “Love you, girl. So much.”

I wrap my tubed-up arm around her and squeeze. “Back at you. Good job, honey trap.”

She looks at me one last time as though she’s never been happier to see me. “See you tomorrow.”

I sink into the pillows as Gabriel tucks the blanket around me, his body already folding into the space beside mine.

“Being in the hospital always reminds me of death,” I murmur.

He nods like he knows. He does. He said goodbye to his mom in a room just like this.

“But this time,” I say, “I’ve had an epiphany.”

He offers a crooked smile. “Uh-oh…”

“I realize it doesn’t matter how much time we get.” I squeeze his hand. “What matters is that before it’s all over… we get to be in love.”