Chapter Six

Brynn

“This is nice,” Leo said as his eyes scanned the plush interior of the G280. The soft leather seats, the wood-paneled accents, the quiet hum of the jet engines—it was all a far cry from flying coach.

I glanced over at him and shrugged. “Thanks.”

“Seems like overkill for a trip to Wisconsin from South Carolina, though.”

I leveled a glare at him, one that probably carried more heat than necessary. “You have a problem being in a G280?”

He raised his hands in mock surrender, but there was a smirk on his lips. “I figured you’d have something smaller in your fleet to get us to Wisconsin.”

I couldn’t help but scoff. He wasn’t wrong. The G280 had a range of over four thousand miles, far more than we needed for this trip, and yeah, it was overkill. But I liked it. This plane was my favorite in Guy’s fleet—well, I guess my fleet now.

“Guess you shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, especially when you’re getting flown around in a private jet,” I said, my voice edged with sarcasm.

Leo chuckled softly and his gaze didn’t leave mine. He sat opposite me, facing forward with his face to the cockpit while I was seated with my back to the cockpit, watching him. Sig sat a few seats up, closer to the cockpit, quietly going over some details on his phone. Three other men I’d brought along—Jack, Don, and Clyde—occupied the back seats, their conversation low and unintrusive.

Leo glanced around the cabin again, his eyes briefly landing on the men before settling back on me. “You always travel with so many people?”

I shrugged. “Normally, it’s just Sig, but we’re going to be in Wyndemere for a bit, and I wanted some extra hands. Jack, Don, and Clyde—they’re like my Apollo, Creed, Murphy, and Princeton.”

Leo chuckled, a sound that felt both familiar and distant at the same time. “I see.”

Sig had been with me the longest, since the days when he answered to Guy. Jack, Don, and Clyde were newer recruits, brought in about two years ago after Guy’s death. Most of Guy’s people had left the scene when he passed, choosing not to stick around for the transition.

Leo’s brow furrowed slightly as if he were thinking back on something.

“It’s nice you still have Apollo, Creed, Murphy, and Princeton around. I thought for sure Greer would make Apollo slow down.”

Love makes people turn a blind eye to a lot of things. I’m not saying the Banachis are bad, but Greer adjusted to the lifestyle better than I expected. I suppose people can get used to anything when they’re with the right person.

Leo’s gaze softened a little, but he didn’t say anything. It was strange, sitting across from him after all these years, the air thick with all the things we’d never said. If someone had told me twenty years ago that I’d be one of the most powerful people in the world, flying on a private jet to deal with some criminal business in Wyndemere with Leo Banachi, I would’ve laughed in their face. Now, here I was, flying to Wisconsin to clean up a mess, and Leo was sitting right across from me like we hadn’t spent two decades apart.

Talk about life taking a one-eighty.

Leo shifted in his seat, drawing me out of my thoughts. “You’ll get to meet Kitty, Tatum, and Jada when we get there.”

I blinked at him, surprised. “Kitty, Tatum, and Jada? It’s still hard for me to wrap my head around the guys having girlfriends.” I had kept tabs on Leo and his men, but new names never seemed to stick with me unless I needed to remember them. Up until a couple of days ago, I never thought I would see Leo again, let alone be on my way to meet Creed, Murphy, and Princeton’s new women.

Leo shrugged, a slight smile on his lips. “It happened suddenly, fast, but they seem like good women. Kitty even lives at Wyndemere with her father.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You let outsiders live at Wyndemere?”

That was something I never would have expected from Leo. He’d always run a tight ship, strict about who came and went and who had access to his personal world. It was one of the things I’d always respected about him. But now… now it seemed like something inside him had softened.

Leo gave me a knowing look, sensing my surprise. “Yeah, I let outsiders in.” He paused, his fingers tapping lightly on the armrest. “Things change.”

I nodded slowly, letting the silence settle between us for a moment. Things had definitely changed. Neither of us were the people we used to be, and I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

“You’ve changed,” I said softly, not accusing, just observing.

Leo’s eyes flicked up to mine, a shadow of something passing through them before he shrugged again. “So have you.”

I couldn’t argue with that. I had changed—more than I wanted to admit, even to myself. Guy’s death had forced me into a role I never thought I’d be in, and while I’d adapted, there were still moments when I felt like I was playing a part in someone else’s life.

I leaned back in my seat, crossing my arms over my chest. “I guess it’s inevitable. Life changes you.”

Leo nodded, his eyes distant. “Yeah, it does.”

We both fell silent after that, the hum of the jet engines filling the quiet space between us. It wasn’t uncomfortable, just… heavy. There was so much history between us, so much unsaid, and yet here we were, back in each other’s lives because of circumstances.

It almost felt like fate had brought us back together, but I wasn’t sure if I was ready for it.

“Do you ever think about the past?” Leo’s voice broke through my thoughts, his tone careful, like he wasn’t sure if he should be asking the question.

I glanced at him and was surprised by the vulnerability in his voice. “Sometimes,” I admitted. “But I try not to dwell on it too much. What’s the point? It’s not like we can change any of it.”

Leo looked down at his hands. “No, but sometimes I wonder how things would’ve been different.”

I sighed. I’d wondered the same thing more times than I cared to admit. What if we hadn’t lost the baby? What if I hadn’t married Guy? What if Leo had come back for me?

But those questions didn’t matter now. The past was done, and there was no point in rehashing it.

“I guess we’ll never know,” I said softly, my voice barely above a whisper.

Leo’s eyes met mine, and I saw the man I used to love—the man I still loved, if I was being honest with myself. But we weren’t those people anymore. Too much had changed.

“We’ll deal with Candace,” I said as I shifted the conversation back to safer ground. “Then life can go back to normal.”

Leo nodded, but I could see the questions in his eyes. The things he wanted to say but didn’t. We both knew there was more to figure out than just Candace, but for now that was enough. It had to be.