I only smiled smugly, knowing she was right. She was more aware of the players in this Obsidian Eye alliance.
My father furrowed his brow, perhaps debating again about completely trusting a former agent. To accept her intel was one thing. But to grant her power to call any of the shots? That was something more.
“Well, come on,” Ivan said. “Gabriella’s going to have that baby any day and you’ll be distracted.” He gestured at me. “You’re not far off from distracting him”—he nodded at me—“from distracting himagain. Let’s focus and get this done.”
I smiled at my cousin for snapping us out of this standoff.
“Yes. Let’s go.” My father looked at Sadie. “Under your command, let’s get this fucking done sooner than later.”
Sadie turned to dazzle me with a smile of pure adoration and respect. She mouthedthank you, and I knew I was smitten. Forever. The joy that filled my heart at the knowledge that I’d made her happy was too good to ever not strive for again.
For the rest of the night, we were deep into planning mode. Sadie seemed to be one of those people who talked with her hands, and I marveled at how I was still learning her quirks and tells. If I stopped and considered it all, we really hadn’t known each other for long. In the manner of days and months, yes, we had that connection. But we’d spent time apart, as well.
After this is settled, though, we’ll have the rest of our lives to learn everything about each other.
At the moment, though, I gave her space to take over. As she did, delegating men and discussing who should move in where, I was impressed. I could tell my father and cousins were too. She wasshort, she was petite, and with that big baby bump, she looked vulnerable. But she could operate and think one step ahead of all of us, pointing out flaws and contingencies for us to have men tracking the right decoys and zeroing in on the correct location.
Over the course of the next two days, Dubinin spies would track the decoys she’d researched and follow those men. That step would clue us in to where the actual first meeting would be held. Once those coordinates were secured, we would move in and kill them all. Anyone with the dream of starting this Obsidian Eye group would surely think twice after our massacre.
I didn’t leave her side, commanding right along with her. She wasn’t only a consultant but also a director, yet she still didn’t know many of the members in the organization. That was where I helped and where my father and cousins stepped in to help.
Not once did she flinch or have a flustered moment, dedicated to working until late in the night.
I needed to get her to bed. She still had to mind her need for resting and relaxing. She didn’t complain when I suggested wrapping up for the day.
As she straightened a pile of papers, she said, addressing the supervisors in the meeting room, where we’d relocated for more space, “The initial and final assault will most likely occur in the Port-au-Prince area,” she concluded. With careful examinations of what had been said in the communication channels she used to hack into and spy on, something Simon assisted with like a pro, it looked like the high-ranking decoys that the crime families chose would meet in the dangerous and volatile territory in Haiti. “After this strike, the message will be clear to those groups these decoys represent.”
My father nodded. “Form an alliance again and we will kill them all.”
Nowthatwas a conclusion I’d stick with. No one would ever gather up to pose a collective threat against us. Many of the families involved in this were enemies of ours, several who had beef with us already, like the Riveras and Vipers. The way the FBI set up Sadie suggested they were in on it too, and they were, of course, an enemy of ours, standing in the way of our power.
Men left the room, filing out with their orders. More details would be double-checked overnight. Simon was still hard at work at his computer station in the remote facility he preferred to work from.
The planning was done—by Sadie. Even though it was time to call it a night, the mission would be upon us soon. I walked upstairs holding Sadie’s hand, knowing that she had done just that all day long and night for us. She’d “held our hands” to steer us into the preparation for a solid mission and operation.
And it was time for me to show her how much I appreciated all of her hard work.
32
SADIE
“Do you think it will work?” I asked Emil once we were in his room.
He smirked. “You are not going to convince me that you could be so insecure to have to ask me that.” Still holding my hand, he led me toward the bathroom.
I smiled, realizing this man knew me better than I gave him credit for. “Okay. Fair point. It will totally work.”
“I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure of telling you this before,” he said as he started the shower, “but your confidence is really, really…” He wasn’t in a rush to finish his sentence, kissing up along my neck and stripping me out of this sweater and top that Allan had delivered to the room.
“Really…?” I asked, also kissing him where I could as I helped him get out of his clothes.
“Really fucking sexy,” he whispered into my ear before kissing me hard.
In a slow and lazy, and also mostly clumsy, dance, we stripped each other. Kissing and feeling each other up in a relaxed round of foreplay, we eventually moved through the steam building and swirling in the bathroom. It wrapped around us, enticing us to step into the shower stall at last.
“Is this how it will always be?” he asked as he began to lather up soap to wash me.
“How?” I asked. “I’m a fan of saving water and showering together.”
