I take a deep breath. I know exactly how my proposal is going to be met. But I don’t see any other way. I power down the recovered phone and disassemble it quickly—just on the off-chance we’re being monitored. Then I look as honestly as I can into Maxim’s eyes.
“There is a way to win this,” I say.
His face flashes in warning. “Annika…”
“You need someone on the inside.” I take a deep breath.God help me.“I have to infiltrate his operation.”
Chapter Fifteen
Maxim
“No,” I say sharply. “No fucking chance.”
“It’s the only way.”
“I want to trust you. I’m doing everything I can to trust you, Annika. Don’t give me a reason not to.”
She stands and crosses to me, eyes narrowed. “Your men will die. You will die. He will crippleyouroperation and take whatever’s left. Your men. Your cash. Your stockpiles and trade deals, your property, yourname. He will erase you, Maxim, do you understand me?”
I turn away from her, running my hands through my hair. She follows me, catches my elbow and forces me to face her. Her black eyes pin me.
“He’s done it before,” she says. “You thought his silence was a crack, but it was a show. He’s fooled you, and probably every other gang in Russia, into thinking he’s lost his venom. This will be the first strike in a series of many, and the war will end with the Snake getting exactly what he wants: an empire, the biggest Russian crime syndicates have ever seen.”
She’s right. I know she’s right. I knew from the moment I asked her:What would you do?She does think like him. She knows her father, arguably better than anyone else in this God-forsaken country.
My men would do anything I asked, I’m confident of that. But if I’m seen walking away from a fight like this…it could be as bad as losing. We’ll be blood in the water, and all of the other sharks will come circling.
But if I let Annika go to her father…no. It’s impossible.
I lean against the door, running a hand through my hair. My skin is crawling. I’ve already lost one man, one of my best, one of my oldest allies. Could I stand to lose the rest? Could I survive a battle with the Snake?
“I don’t like this,” I growl. “We don’t fight like this. Sneaking, manipulating, like…”
“Like a woman?” Annika looks up at me, her beautiful face fearsome and determined. Still, I can’t tell…should I trust her?CanI trust her? She would do anything for her children. Even betray me.Especiallybetray me. What the fuck have I done to earnhertrust? Kidnapped her, held her captive, treated her like a conniving traitor?
“Maxim. Listen to me. Your brother understands what it means to be clever and careful.”
I flinch at the mention of Alexei, of his brilliant, dangerous infiltration of Viktor Desyatov’s operation…but she’s right.
“He knows how to bide his time,” she insists. “How to wait. He knows that not every fight can be won by firing first and lasting longest.”
I shake my head. “Annika. My men—”
“Will stand by you. It’s me they hate. Let them. I’ll prove to you, toallof you, that when I give my word, I mean it. You have my allegiance, Maxim. Do I have yours?” She doesn’t touch me, doesn’t reach for me, doesn’t step closer. She stands resolute: spine straight and shoulders square, face composed and fierce.
She looks like a soldier, not a snake. Not a girl in need of love or protection. She looks like she knows what she’s doing better than I do.
I take a deep breath. “How would it work?”
Sadly, vulnerably, Annika smiles.
* * *
“This is a mistake.” Sacha looks up at me from where he sits on a stretch of the broken stone wall. Cold breath plumes from his lips. His keen eyes hold mine. “She has her talons in you.”
I sit beside him, offer him a cigarette and light one for myself.
“You love her,” he says, when I don’t reply. “Don’t you?”
