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He had already been dozing off as it was.

“Want me to read you a story?” I asked him.

He yawned and nodded, but before he left the room, he shook his head. “Mama can. Good night, Mr. Volkov.”

Viktor and I told him good night and they left. I tracked the mother-and-son pair as they moved through the room, letting out a contented breath as they went.

“It seemed to me that he was about to call you Daddy.” Viktor smirked at me as he lifted his drink.

I shrugged. I wouldn’t have minded. Since Louisa and I talked about fatherhood—how Brady didn’t have his and how I was losing mine—it was hard not to see myself taking that role. To be his dad. To help raise him. I was getting it in my head that I could take all that my father had taught me and be that kind of a guidance for Brady.

I could give him a brother or sister, too.

Envisioning Louisa staying here for good felt more like a fantasy than a plan.

She was still so cautious to believe that she was safe here with me, or that she should be with me at all. Even as a protected witness. The longer she stayed here and I acclimated to being near her so much, the more that I hated how she’d need an excuse for why she was here.

Once we got to the bottom of what happened with that video and why Konstantin assassins were sent to kill her, she could go.

I wasn’t sure I’d be able to let her go. That wasn’t a consideration when I was getting hung up on the idea of having her to myself.

“I see,” Viktor teased when I didn’t reply.

“You see what?” I said.

“Your nonanswer is an answer. That boy isn’t the only one getting attached. You’re fond of him too.”

I sat forward and sighed. “I’m more than fond of her.”

“What’s stopping you?” he asked as he stood.

I got up too. “I don’t know. She’s here because she’s a witness to some kind of ploy with Gregori faking another death. And she’s here because Kirill Konstantin sent men to kill her.”

“That shows the obvious. Konstantin is Gregori’s new lieutenant, so he’d be the one to dispatch someone to handle a witness they don’t want to worry about,” he said as we moved toward the kitchen, where Wren had ear buds in, listening to reports from Trojan. She claimed that she’d napped too much during the day and she wanted to be productive now. Viktor liked keeping her close, though, so she’d come with him to visit but also work.

“I feel like I need to show her that we’ll eliminate those threats. If I take the target off her back, she could choose to be here with me instead of being forced to stay here to stay alive.” I shrugged, hating that it had come to that. That I’d be this stuck on wishing for a woman’s acceptance.

Viktor shook his head. “I know what you mean. But it doesn’t have to be like that. To expect her to choose life or death along with whether she’d want you or not.” He patted my back. “Trust me on that. I wondered the same thing with her.” He tipped his chin in the direction of Wren. “And all I had to do was have faith that she felt the same for me as I did her.”

After they left, I headed to the guest room I’d been staying in and considered the weight of his words. He had faith—in love—to welcome Wren into his life for good. I had to turn off the filter that Louisa would only see me as her protector.

Duty and obligation couldn’t trump true affection.

I showered and fell into bed, wondering how much longer this gradual buildup of sexual tension could go on between us. It couldn’t be sustainable. Not when it felt so natural to be with her, to be with her and Brady like a ready-made family.

Just before I drifted off to sleep, a slight sound pricked my attention.

A small drop of an object.

Then a couple of footsteps.

Brady?

I sat up, straining to listen. Instantly awake and alert, I carefully swung my legs over the bed and stood.

He never gets up, though.

He was a very sound sleeper. With an attached bathroom, he could get up and get a drink of water as he needed without making a sound.