It makes the fear sharper. More precise. Because now I know exactly what I stand to lose.
I sit beside her at last, tension coiled tight under my skin. She leans into me without asking, her head resting againstmy shoulder like it belongs there. My arm comes around her automatically, pulling her close, my palm settling at her back like muscle memory.
A sharp knock cuts through the moment.
I look up, already irritated. “What.”
The door opens just enough for Nik’s face to appear. He takes one look at the room—at Raelyn pressed to my side—and recalibrates.
“Your brothers are in the surveillance room,” he says. “Lev, Dimitri, Roman.”
I don’t hesitate. “Set up a video call. I’ll connect from here.”
Nik blinks. “From…here?”
“From here.”
I’m not leaving Raelyn for a nanosecond.
There’s a pause. A flicker of something unreadable crosses Nik’s face—surprise, maybe concern—before he nods. “Understood.”
He leaves and shuts the door again.
Raelyn pushes away from me and stands up. Her arms are crossed. Her face is tense, annoyed in that way that shows she’s scared but refuses to admit it.
“You’re being paranoid,” she says.
I shake my head once. “I’m being careful.”
“You can’t run a war room from your bedroom forever.”
“I can,” I say flatly. “And I will.”
She steps closer. “Konstantin. Go see your brothers.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
Her jaw tightens. “I’ll be fine.”
“No,” I say. “You won’t.”
“That’s not fair.”
“I don’t care.”
She exhales sharply, dragging a hand through her hair. “You can’t lock yourself in here because of me.”
I step toward her, stopping just short of touching. “I can. And I am.”
Her eyes flash. “This is exactly what I meant. This—this is control.”
“This is survival.”
“You don’t get to decide that alone.”
“I do,” I snap. Then, lower, more dangerous: “Because if something happens to you while I’m in another room, I won’t survive it.”
Silence stretches between us, tight as a wire.