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Then her eyes find mine. Everything inside me shifts.

There is pride, desire, relief. Something dangerously close to tenderness. And beneath all of it, the fierce instinct to protect her from anything that might threaten what she has become to me.

She looks away first. I almost smile.

The courthouse in Elizabethtown is small compared to those in bigger cities, especially, I’m assuming, the courthouses that Matilda normally operates in. That means I can feel the vultures on all sides of me; Yuri’s men, watching closely. Some strangers on the fringes of my criminal enterprise, waiting to set up their own opportunities, waiting to see if my empire will fall.

It won’t.

And if it did, I’d take them all down with me.

Semiyon’s gaze, in particular, burns a hole in the back of my right shoulder blade. I clocked him as soon as he walked in and hid in the corner. I confirmed it with Arthur, stationed out in the hallway, via text.

I’m not surprised that he’s here. But in the chaos of the last few days, I haven’t spoken to Matilda about this possibility. I didn’t prepare her. I see the brief flash of fear in her eyes when she caught sight of him, and it takes everything in me not to stand, grab him by the collar, and drag him out in the middle of the opening statements.

But as soon as she stood, in that tight little skirt and those thin heels, it’s like she transformed. The vulnerable woman I caught sight of days ago, as well as the disturbingly unseen force living in my house, disappeared. And the defense attorney arrived.

The judge finally calls the room to order and announces that the day’s session has concluded. The trial will continue tomorrow morning.

Chairs scrape against the floor. Papers shuffle. People begin gathering their belongings, the courtroom suddenly filling with movement and noise after almost two hours of tension. Mikhail rises, and the guards come out to wait patiently behind him.

I stand. My gaze immediately finds Matilda again.

She’s collecting her files, speaking quietly with Mikhail as they put him in cuffs. Her expression is composed and professional; she’s completely in control.

My woman.

The thought comes uninvited, and I don’t bother pushing it away this time. It has never been clearer than now that the only person in this life who will ever be able to stand by my side is Matilda Pierce.

She’s mine.

I wait in the hallway as people begin filtering out of the courtroom, watching each face as it passes.

Most don’t matter.

Some do.

My eyes keep moving, measuring the windows, the exits, the people lingering where they shouldn’t be. Through the glass, I spot Art standing near the entrance, along with two other soldiers. Good.

It would be stupid for Yuri to try anything here. But Yuri has never been particularly concerned with what is smart.

I keep my attention on the hallway until the courtroom doors open again and Matilda steps through.

She looks different. Lighter, more confident, her curly hair pulled back into a tight ponytail that makes those blue eyes even more striking.

The tension that has been sitting around her shoulders all morning is gone, replaced by the satisfaction of someone who knows she has done her job well.

“Mikhail’s going back to the jail in Lewis,” she says, falling into step beside me. “The remand order still stands.”

I nod. “And?”

Her mouth curves.

“And I think it went well.”

There it is. That smile.

I want to touch her. Something simple. Something that tells her I’m proud of her without having to say it.