A shot rang out, shattering the glass. Adrian dropped his gun and crumpled in a heap at her feet. Nate had shot him.
Agents rushed into the living room with their guns drawn. “Don’t move,” Chase said to Dimitri as he went to run to Adrian’s side.
“Please. He is my son.”
The French doors onto the patio opened, and Nate stepped inside. He was on his cell phone, ordering the paramedics inside. His eyes held hers as he walked toward her. She got up from the couch on shaky legs, moving around a moaning Adrian to throw herself at Nate. His arms went around her, and he held her close, his voice a low rumble as he gave orders to his team.
Once he was finished, he stepped back and put an arm around her shoulders, bringing her tight against his side. “Let’s get you out of here.” He glanced at her mother, who was attempting to go to Dimitri, an agent holding her back. “Mrs. MacLeod, let the agents do their job and come with me.”
“But they’re going to arrest him. He didn’t do anything wrong. Elliana, tell him. Tell him he tried to protect us.”
“It’s true, Nate. He did.” She told him everything that had transpired in the past thirty minutes. A muscle pulsed in his jaw as he looked down at Adrian. Nate had shot him just below the right shoulder. He looked like he wanted to shoot him again.
Two paramedics carrying a stretcher entered the living room, and Nate gently moved her out of the way. “Chase, let Mr. Ivanov go to the hospital with his son. We’ll take his statement there.”
“Thank you, Mr. Black. I will give you all the information you need to bring my wife’s family’s organization down. I am sorry for the loss of your friend. Had I known what was going on, I would have stopped it.” He gave Ellie a wan smile. “I am sorry for the hurt that I have caused your family. I love your mother, but you have all suffered enough because of me. I will stay away from your family.”
Ellie glanced at her mother, who sobbed quietly into her hands. “Thank you, Mr. Ivanov. But where you and my mother go from here is up to her, not me. All I ask is that you give my sister time to heal before telling her the truth.”
“Thank you, Ellie. You are a kind woman.” He glanced at Nate. “I hope you know how lucky you are, Mr. Black.”
Nate looked down at her and smiled. “I do. I—” He broke off when Richard yelled at Chase, who was cuffing his hands behind his back.
Dimitri glanced over his shoulder. “Keep him away from my daughter, and from me.” He strode off to catch up to the paramedics who were carrying his son from the house.
“Why are you arresting me? I didn’t do anything wrong!” Richard sent a pleading look at Ellie. “Tell him! Tell him I need to go to the hospital to be with my wife.”
“You’re not going anywhere near my daughter,” her mother said to Richard. Then she said to Chase, “I would like to file a complaint against this man.”
“I’ll be more than happy to take your statement at the hospital, Mrs. MacLeod.” Chase handed Richard off to another agent. “Yours too, Ellie.” He came over and gave her a hug. “Glad you’re okay.” He looked from her to Nate. “Why don’t we give you guys some time alone?”
“Appreciate it,” Nate said.
“Mrs. MacLeod, I’ll take you to the hospital.”
“Thank you,” her mother said to Chase and then she took Ellie’s hand in hers. “You are the bravest woman I know. You protected me when I’ve done nothing to deserve your protection. You have a gift, Elliana. You are a gift, and I’m sorry that I didn’t treat you that way. I’d like to try and make it up to you. To be the mother you deserve, if you’ll let me.”
“I’d like that, Mom.” She leaned in and kissed her mother’s cheek.
Her mother smiled and then glanced at Nate. “I have a feeling it will take more than words for you to believe that I want to make things right with my daughter, Mr. Black. But I want to thank you for what you did today. I’ll be forever grateful.” She gave Elliana’s arm a quick squeeze. “I’ll see you at the hospital.”
“She’s right, you know,” Nate said as her mother walked from the room with Chase. “You are an incredibly brave woman. I just wish you were a little less brave.”
“I’m not that brave.” She looked up at him. “If you hadn’t come when you did. If you hadn’t shot Adrian, I—”
“Don’t. Don’t remind me. I can’t think about that right now. Maybe in a couple days, we can talk about it. I was terrified I was going to lose you. I—” He glanced around the room. “I know the place is swarming with agents, but Ellie, I really need to kiss you.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’m still mad at you.”
“I’m the one who should be mad at you. You shut me out. Blocked my texts and my calls, and you put your life on the line. You scared ten years of my life off me.”
“You walked away from me, from us.”
“For less than twenty-four hours, and I never stopped thinking about you. Not once, Ellie.”
“You basically passed me off to another man, Nate.”
“Okay, that was stupid. I messed up. But it’s only because I wanted…I wanted to give you everything that you deserved, and I wasn’t sure I was the man who could give that to you.”
“And now you do?”
He stepped away from her. “Read my mind, Ellie.”
“I can’t. I told you before. You’re the only person I can’t read, Nate.”
“Try.”
She let down her barriers and opened her mind to his. I deserve every beautiful, badass inch of you, Ellie MacLeod. I love you. I think I’ve loved you since the first day I kissed you.. If you don’t let me love you, let me kiss you, I don’t know if I’ll survive.
She threw her arms around his neck and murmured against his lips. “I love you too. I’ve loved you since the first day I kissed you. Kiss me, and don’t ever let me go.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Two months later
Ellie put the finishing touches on her painting, pleased with how it had turned out. The turquoise-blue water shimmered and the vibrant pink flowers she’d added along the shoreline popped. But the focal point was the cabins in the background.
She planned to give the painting to Ryder on opening day of Second Chance Camp. If everything went according to plan, they’d be welcoming campers at the beginning of August. Nate and the board of directors of the charity founded in Brodie’s name, with some input from Ryder, were using the money to start the camp for at-risk youth in Brodie’s memory. It was a beautiful tribute to a man who’d done so much for the struggling young people in his community.
Ellie turned from her painting to focus on the men and women sitting behind their easels on the lawn. “Just remember, the goal isn’t for your paintings to look like mine. This is your interpretation of today’s theme—love in bloom,” she said as she walked along the third row, going over her lines in her head.
She chuckled as she’d been directed to by Spencer when she came to stand behind him and his leading lady, a pretty blonde with adorable dimples. They were sharing an easel and pretending to paint. At Spencer’s request, Ellie had painted the landscape for them last night. “You two have done a wonderful job capturing our theme on canvas. I’m sorry we didn’t have enough easels to go around, but I have a feeling this worked out just as it was meant to.”