Chapter Five

Brynn

“Are you sure this is the best idea to get involved?”

I rolled my eyes, tossing my empty duffel bag onto the bed with more force than necessary. “I think that’s something you should’ve asked me before you grabbed Leo from the airport.”

Sig leaned against the large armoire, folding his arms over his chest like he always did when he thought I was making a mistake. “I told you then we should keep our noses out of this Banachi bullshit.”

“Keeping a bunch of people alive isn’t bullshit, Sig.” I moved over to the dresser, pulling open a drawer to grab some bras and underwear, and tossed them into the bag.

“A bunch of people you either don’t know or haven’t seen in over twenty years. Yeah, I think that qualifies as bullshit.”

I stopped packing and turned to face him. “We’re already in it, Sig.”

Sig’s jaw tightened. “I think I see why Guy never liked the fact that you were connected to Banachi. You’re thinking with your heart, not your head.”

I sighed and walked over to my closet, grabbing a few shirts. “Is this something you would’ve told Guy?” Sig had been my personal protection for the last ten years, but ultimately, he’d always answered to Guy. Now, he answered to me, though I could still sense his occasional doubt. Hell, I doubted myself sometimes, but I didn’t have the luxury of stopping to overthink. I just had to keep moving forward, screwing up less and less.

He crossed his arms tighter. “You already know the answer to that,” he drawled.

I rolled my eyes, not wanting to talk about this anymore. “The weather’s cooler up north, yeah?”

“Pack for actual fall weather,” he advised. “Not South Carolina fall.”

I nodded, pulling a few pairs of pants from the closet, then moving to my trunk at the foot of the bed to dig out some cardigans. Wyndemere was going to be a far cry from the suffocating heat we’d gotten used to down here. I was looking forward to the cooler air, even if it meant stepping back into a place I’d left behind.

“A change of scenery will be good for us all, Sig,” I muttered, rummaging through the trunk. “And while we’re at it, we’ll handle Candace.”

“Something we shouldn’t have to handle,” he muttered back.

I shot him a glare. “What’s the point of being one of the most powerful people in the world if I can’t do what I want when I want?”

“Guy Maranga is one of the most powerful men in the world,” he corrected.

I cocked an eyebrow at him.

He sighed, knowing he had to concede. “Which is now you.”

“Exactly.” I returned to digging through the trunk. “Now, if I can just find my damn cardigans. Why don’t you go pack while I deal with this?”

Sig sighed but pushed off the armoire, ready to leave. “Like it’s gonna take me more than ten minutes to pack.”

I waved my hand at him. “Better to take those ten minutes now instead of right before we fly out tomorrow.”

“Did you want to take the Bombardier or the G280?”

I grabbed two cardigans and tossed them in the bag. I zipped my bag halfway shut, pausing. “We’ll take the G280. It’s not a long flight.”

Sig nodded. “I’ll make sure the plane’s ready to leave at nine.”

“Does that mean you’re done telling me I’m thinking with my heart and not my head?”

He gave me a look that softened the tension between us. Sig had been with me through too much for me to brush him off completely. His insight always came from a place of care, even when it annoyed me.

“It means I know you’re hard-headed, and you’ve already made up your mind.”

Our eyes met, and we both smiled.

“And I’m along for the ride,” we said in unison.

It was something Sig had said a thousand times when Guy was showing me the ropes before he died. Every time things got tense, every time a decision had to be made, Sig would shrug and say, “I’m along for the ride.” And he was. He never left my side, even when it was clear things were about to get rough.

As he moved toward the door, I called his name.

“Yeah?” He half-turned, waiting for whatever else I had to say.

“Do you think I’m making a mistake?”

He shrugged. “I guess we’ll find out.” He leaned against the doorframe and his expression softened. “You’ve got a lot of unfinished business with Leo, and I’m not talking about Candace. Maybe figuring that shit out will be good for you.”

I laughed, shaking my head. “Oh boy, I think I’d rather deal with Candace than Leo.”

Sig chuckled, giving me a wink. “Yeah, I don’t think that’s gonna happen.”

He left the room and shut the door behind him to leave me alone with my thoughts.

Candace was the immediate problem, but Sig was right—Leo was another thing entirely. There was too much history between us, and I wasn’t sure if I had the strength to dig through it. Every part of me wanted to focus on the job at hand, to do what needed to be done, but Leo had a way of pulling my attention back to the past.

But this wasn’t the past anymore. I wasn’t the same person, and neither was he.

Whatever happened next, I’d be ready.

Leo

I stood there in the dim hallway and watched Sig slip out of Brynn’s bedroom. My jaw clenched instinctively. It wasn’t that I had any right to be upset—I hadn’t seen Brynn in over twenty years, and who was I to judge who she kept close? But still, the sight of Sig leaving her room... it caught me off guard, and not in a way I liked.

Was there more between them than him being her bodyguard? I didn’t know, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to. Hell, she’d been married, for God’s sake. To Guy Maranga, no less. That alone should have been enough to shake me, and it had, but this... seeing another man leave her bedroom so casually, it hit me in a place I thought I’d closed off years ago.

But who was I kidding? If I had known about Guy Maranga back then, if I had known anything about Brynn’s life after we split, you can bet your ass that marriage would have ended a whole lot sooner. The thought of her being with Guy—ruthless, cruel Guy Maranga—made me sick to my core. But now... Sig?

I was still standing there, brooding, when Sig’s voice broke the silence.

“She’s not my type,” he called out as he strolled down the hallway, walking in the opposite direction of my room. His steps were easy and unhurried, like he knew exactly what I was thinking. He paused, turned on his heels, and met my gaze, his face unreadable. “And she’s still in love with some guy who doesn’t deserve her.”

His words hit like a sucker punch, but before I could respond, Sig turned back around and continued down the hall, his door shutting loudly behind him.

I stood there for a moment, absorbing what he’d said. Still in love with some guy? Was he talking about me? Could he be talking about me ?

I stepped back into my room and closed the door behind me, trying to shake off the strange mix of feelings swirling in my chest. Leaning against the closed door, I let out a slow breath, rubbing the back of my neck. There was no reason for me to be upset. None. Brynn was free to do whatever the hell she wanted. She didn’t owe me anything.

But damn it, if the thought of her still holding onto something—onto me —didn’t stir something in me that I wasn’t ready to face.

Over twenty years. A whole lifetime had passed since I last saw her. We’d both moved on, made choices, lived our lives. She married someone else. I made sure to shut out any part of my past that involved her, but seeing her now... it was like none of that time had passed.

My mind kept drifting back to Sig’s words. “Still in love with some guy who doesn’t deserve her.” Was that really how she felt? Had I been wrong all this time to think she’d moved on without a second thought?

I threw myself into a chair by the window and stared out into the dark, trying to calm the mess of emotions running through me. There was a lot more at stake right now than old feelings. Brynn had power more than I could’ve ever imagined, and we were heading into a war with Candace that was going to end in bloodshed.

But I couldn’t stop thinking about it—about Brynn; about everything we never said to each other and everything we’d left unfinished.

I hadn’t even realized how tightly I was gripping the armrests until I forced myself to relax and flexed my hands. This wasn’t the time to be getting sentimental. Brynn wasn’t the same girl I used to know. She was a different woman now; a woman who had married the most dangerous man in the world and stepped into his empire.

I wasn’t sure where I fit into that picture.

The thought of Brynn still caring about me, even after everything, was something I couldn’t quite shake. But I had to be careful. I’d already lost her once, and I wasn’t sure if I could handle losing her again.

Sig’s words echoed in my head. Still in love with some guy who doesn’t deserve her.

I stood up abruptly, pacing the length of the room. Maybe he was right. Maybe I didn’t deserve her. But I wasn’t about to let that stop me from trying to fix what had been broken between us.

We had too much history to leave things where they were. And as much as I hated to admit it, seeing Sig walk out of her bedroom made me realize something I’d been trying to bury for two decades—I still cared about Brynn. Maybe more than I should.

I crossed the room, yanked the door open, and stepped back into the hallway, ready to head down to Brynn’s room and talk. To clear the air. But then I stopped, hesitating.

What the hell was I going to say? “Hey, Brynn, long time no see. Sorry for messing up your life, but by the way, I still have feelings for you?” Yeah, that would go over great.

I closed my door again, leaning against it once more. There was no use diving headfirst into this when we had so much else going on. The business with Candace had to come first. Whatever Brynn and I needed to figure out, it would have to wait.

But one thing was clear now more than ever. Whatever happened in the days ahead, Brynn wasn’t just someone from my past anymore. She was front and center in my life again, whether I was ready for it or not.

And no matter what, I wasn’t going to lose her a second time.