Chapter Sixty-Eight

Chapter Sixty-Eight
The estate did not relax after Atlanta.

That was the problem.

Nothing happened.

And yet the tension lingered anyway.

By morning, even the handlers felt it.

Conversations stayed shorter. Radios clicked more often. Men checked gates twice instead of once.

The dogs were worse.

Ghost nearly launched himself through the east fence when a delivery truck approached the outer checkpoint.

Nyx refused to run drills with another handler.

And Ares… Ares had become impossible.

“You are creating a codependency issue.” Anika muttered as the massive Cane Corso followed directly behind her through the kennel corridor.

Lizzy walked beside her carrying medical charts. “At this point he’d probably crawl into your skin if given the opportunity.”

“Helpful.”

“I try.”

The dog stopped abruptly when they reached the office doorway.

A low rumble vibrated through his chest.

Anika immediately followed his line of sight.

Maksim.

He stood at the far end of the office speaking quietly into a radio.

The second he stepped forward, Ares moved in front of Anika automatically.

Silence dropped hard between all of them.

Maksim stopped walking.

“That is becoming a pattern,” he said calmly.

Anika rubbed a hand down Ares’ neck. “I don’t know what his problem is.”

“He believes he is working.”

The answer unsettled her more than it should have.

Because that was exactly what it looked like.

Protective response.

Instinctive.

Focused entirely on her.

Ares relaxed slightly when Maksim stayed where he was, but his body remained positioned between them.

Maksim studied the dog for another long second before his eyes lifted to Anika. “You should not leave the estate again this week.”

Her patience thinned. “Absolutely not.”

“Anika.”

“No,” she repeated. “I’m not reinforcing this behavior.”

Ghost appeared moments later from one of the side runs, pacing tightly at Anika’s opposite side.

Maksim noticed that too.

Of course he did.

“Two dogs behaving this way simultaneously is not random.”

Lizzy shifted uncomfortably beside Anika.

Careful.

Too careful.

Maksim’s eyes flicked toward her briefly.

Thinking.

Dangerous.

Anika stepped around Ares before the silence could sharpen further. “I have enough people trying to manage me already.”

“You are difficult to secure.”

“That sounds like a you problem.”

Something warm flickered briefly through Maksim’s expression.

Amusement.

Gone immediately.

“Yes,” he said evenly. “It is.”

That should not have made her smile.

Unfortunately, it did.

By afternoon, rain rolled back across the property in slow gray sheets.

The estate darkened beneath it.

Inside the main house, Lizzy sat cross-legged on the floor of the common room reorganizing medical inventory while Romeo sprawled half across her legs like an
oversized weighted blanket.

Maksim entered quietly carrying fresh security reports.

He stopped when he saw her.

The room softened somehow when she was inside it.

That realization had become increasingly inconvenient.

Lizzy glanced up immediately. “You hover like a haunted Victorian husband.”

“I do not know what that means.”

“That’s probably for the best.”

He crossed toward the table instead of answering.

Romeo lifted his head briefly, saw Maksim, then settled again.

Interesting.

At least one dog still approved of him.

“You reorganized these yesterday,” Maksim observed.

“I was avoiding thinking.”

“About?”

She kept her attention on the supply kit. “That’s classified.”

“Mm.”

The sound carried entirely too much understanding.

Lizzy looked up then.

Rain tapped steadily against the windows behind him. His sleeves were rolled to his forearms again, dark ink disappearing beneath black fabric. Calm. Controlled.

“You ever get tired?” she asked quietly.

“Yes.”

“Then why don’t you slow down?”

He considered the question seriously before answering.

“Because everyone else does.”

The honesty caught her off guard.

“You think if you stop paying attention for one second everything falls apart.”

“Yes.”

“That’s unhealthy.”

“It is effective.”

Lizzy shook her head softly. “That’s not the same thing.”

For a moment neither spoke.

Then Maksim stepped closer and crouched beside Romeo, adjusting the dog’s front leg carefully where the splint still rested.

Gentle hands.

That part always undid her.

“You are quieter today,” he said.

She looked away too fast. “You notice too much.”

“Yes.”

“Again with the honesty.”

“It saves time.”

“That’s not always a good thing.”

His eyes lifted to hers.

“No,” he agreed quietly. “It is not.”

Something shifted again.

That impossible pull tightening.

Dangerously close now.

Lizzy’s pulse stumbled when his hand settled briefly against her ankle where Romeo’s weight pinned her in place.

Not gripping.

Not accidental either.

The room suddenly felt smaller.

“Maksim…”

A sharp bark exploded somewhere outside.

Both of them snapped upright instantly.

Operational instinct.

The radio clipped to his belt crackled.

“West perimeter movement,” a handler reported. “False alarm. Deer.”

Maksim was already moving toward the door.

Lizzy stood too quickly. “Wait.”

He stopped immediately.

That alone felt dangerous.

Rain hammered harder against the windows now.

“What?” he asked quietly.

She didn’t know.

That was the problem.

Too many things.

The kiss.

The tension.

The fact she trusted him more every day.

The fact he looked at her like he was trying not to.

Instead she stepped closer.

Close enough to feel warmth.

“You keep leaving,” she murmured.

His jaw tightened slightly.

“Because staying is harder.”

That stole the air from her lungs.

Outside, thunder rolled low across the estate.

Maksim’s eyes dropped briefly to her mouth before lifting again with visible control.

“Elizabeth,” he said quietly, “you are becoming a complication.”

She swallowed hard. “That sounds romantic in your language, doesn’t it?”

Something almost like a smile touched his mouth.

“Very.”

God.

This man.

Before either of them could make another terrible decision, another radio crackle cut through the room.

“Maksim.”

Duty.

Always.

His expression closed immediately.

Controlled again.

But not before she saw the frustration underneath it.

He stepped back first.

Again.

“I need to go.”

“You always do.”

The words came out softer than intended.

His eyes held hers one second longer.

“Yes.”

Then he was gone.

Lizzy stood motionless in the middle of the room listening to the storm outside and the echo of his footsteps fading down the hallway.

Romeo huffed dramatically from the floor beside her.

“Don’t start,” she muttered.

Upstairs, Anika stood at the bedroom window watching rain streak across the glass.

Behind her, Nikolai loosened his tie slowly after returning from a meeting call.

“You are thinking too loudly again,” he observed.

She smiled faintly without turning. “Is that becoming a habit?”

“Yes.”
He crossed the room and stopped behind her, one hand settling low against her waist.

Ares, lying near the bedroom door, immediately lifted his head.

Alert.

Watching.

Nikolai noticed.

Again.

His hand remained where it was this time.

Testing.

Ares stared for one long second before slowly lowering his head again.

Accepting.

Barely.

Anika exhaled quietly.

The dogs knew something.

She was becoming terrifyingly certain of that.

Nikolai rested his chin briefly against the top of her head.

“You still want to leave for Asheville next week.”

Not a question.

“Yes.”

“I dislike it.”

“You dislike everything.”

A quiet breath of amusement touched her hair.

“Not everything.”

She leaned back against him instinctively.

Warmth.

Strength.

Home.

And beneath all of it, the smallest growing secret in the world.