Page 7

“Stay here.” Gage shot her a stern look before disappearing to answer the knock at the front door. “Whoever it is, I’ll handle it.”

Kat leaned against the kitchen counter, fingers wrapped around a mug of coffee. She’d managed only a few restless hours of sleep before giving up. Gage’s bacon sandwich sat untouched on a plate—she was too wired to eat.

Choose between love and the job. You can’t serve both masters.

So much for the right choice. Now she had neither.

She set down her mug, ears straining to catch the conversation. A deep voice rumbled beneath her brother’s sharper tones.

A crash made her head snap around.

What the?—

Heavy thuds, then shattering glass. Shit. Had Eldridge found her already?

She removed the SIG Gage kept secured beneath his kitchen table, then crossed the kitchen in four swift strides, bare feet silent on the hardwood floor as she reached the hallway.

Framed in the doorway was over six feet of lethal energy locked in combat with her brother.

Leonid.

Her breath stuttered. She’d dragged him into her nightmare. The one man who’d always remained safely distant was now wrestling with Gage, risking everything.

Dangerous warmth unfurled in her chest.

He had come for her. Without question.

Oblivious to her presence, the men crashed into the living room, grappling for advantage. They spun, knocking over a side table, neither yielding an inch.

They crashed into a bookshelf, paperbacks tumbling to the floor. A sharp crack followed as a framed photo shattered.

She stepped into the room. Gage clawed at Leonid’s arm—the one locked around his throat.

“What the hell are you two doing?” She disengaged the safety on the SIG with a decisive click.

Both men froze.

“Now that I have your attention, perhaps you can tell me what the hell is going on here?”

Leo’s eyes widened, his chest heaving as he registered her presence for the first time. He released Gage and staggered backward, wiping the blood from his split lip.

Gage sagged against the wall, chest heaving. “Kat, put the gun down.” He made a downward motion with his hand.

“Nope.” She shook her head sharply.

“Katarina.” Leo breathed her name, his shoulders dropping.

Kat kept the gun steady, her gaze moving between them. “Sit. Both of you. Now.” She clicked the safety back on.

Gage straightened, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. “You know this guy?”

“Yes.” Kat didn’t lower the weapon. “He’s one of the two people in the world I trust implicitly.” She leveled a glare at her brother. “Though at the moment, I’m reconsidering that assessment of both of you.”

Leo’s gaze never left her face. “I got your message.”

The interrupted message. Half-formed words sent in desperation before she’d fled her flat. She hadn’t expected him to come. Hadn’t allowed herself to hope.

“I said sit.” Kat gestured with the gun. “Explanations come after you both start acting like adults instead of territorial wolves.”

The men exchanged truculent glances before subsiding onto opposite ends of Gage’s sofa, maximizing the distance between them.

Good grief. Men and their egos.

She lowered the SIG, though she didn’t put it away or hand it back to Gage. “Much better.” She took in the destruction—books scattered, an antique clock knocked from its perch, the shattered picture frame that contained a photo of her and Gage as children.

Leo’s presence was a complication. A complication she’d invited with her desperate message. His eyes tracked her every movement, and despite everything, her skin heated under his gaze.

She shouldn’t have contacted him. Bringing him here only put him at risk.

“Now,” she said, her voice controlled. “I don’t know what the hell just happened, and to be honest, I’m not sure I care.

We’re going to figure out how to clean up this mess.

Both the literal one—” She gestured at the destroyed living room.

“—and the fact that I’ve been framed for treason and MI6 is hunting me down. ”

She tucked the gun into her waistband, fixing them both with her most withering glare. “Who wants to go first?”

Neither man spoke. They scowled at each other from opposite ends of the sofa, cataloging the damage they’d done to each other. Blood beaded along Leo’s split lip, the crimson stark against his skin. A purplish swelling had already begun to distort Gage’s left eye, forcing him to squint.

Kat crossed her arms and huffed out a sigh. “Excellent. Two of the most dangerous men I know, reduced to schoolboys in a playground brawl.”

She leaned forward. “While I appreciate this testosterone-fueled display of male prowess, I don’t have time for it.”

She turned to her brother. “Gage, you’re supposed to be my safe harbor, not the HMS Belligerent. Did it occur to you that perhaps you should verify who was at the door before attempting to rearrange his face?”

Gage touched his swollen eye and winced. “He forced his way in, Kat. What was I supposed to do, offer him coffee?”

“You might have mentioned your sister was here.” Leo dabbed at his lip with his thumb.

Kat swiveled toward him, eyes narrowing. “And you, Leonid.” His name rolled off her tongue like a reprimand. “Barging in like you own the place. Did they not teach subtlety in special forces?”

The corner of Leo’s mouth twitched despite his split lip. “You didn’t exactly give me much to work with. ‘They’re coming for me. You’re the only one I can trust.’” His eyes crystallized to hard emerald. “What was I supposed to do, Kat? Wait for an engraved invitation?”

Heat crept up her neck. The desperation of the moment flooded back—typing frantically before Grant barged into her closet. The certainty that her life was imploding around her.

She’d broken Gillian’s cardinal rule. In her moment of crisis, with her walls crumbling, only his name had surfaced.

She hadn’t truly expected him to come. That would have required hope, and hope was a luxury she’d trained herself not to indulge in. Yet here he was—solid and real, bleeding from his lip because of her.

A knot formed in her throat. This was exactly why attachments were dangerous. Because now, seeing him here, she couldn’t pretend his safety didn’t matter to her more than it should.

“You could have called first,” she muttered, knowing how ridiculous it sounded even as the words left her mouth.

“Right.” Leo’s eyebrows rose. “Call the phone that’s undoubtedly being monitored by British intelligence. Brilliant plan.”

“He has a point.” Gage snorted, but quickly sobered when Kat’s stare swung back to him.

Something vulnerable flickered across Leo’s face. “I would always come if you needed me.” He paused, eyes locked with hers. “Because it’s you, Kat.”

Gage shifted uncomfortably. “I need ice. And maybe some Advil. But let’s start with ice.” He pushed himself off the sofa and limped toward the kitchen.

When he was gone, Kat sank onto the coffee table, facing Leo directly. The air between them was thick, a palpable thing she could have touched if she reached out. “Why did you really come? After all this time, why risk everything now?”

Leo closed the distance between them. Close enough that she could smell the faint pine and cedar notes of his cologne beneath the metallic tang of blood and see flecks of winter green in his irises. So close that maintaining her professional detachment required every ounce of her training.

Her pulse raced traitorously. Her throat tightened. She wanted to touch the split in his lip, to apologize for dragging him into her mess.

“Some connections are worth risking everything for.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “ You are worth risking everything for.”