“We need to end this threat before it grows beyond our ability to contain it,” Dmitri explains. “Adrian’s obsession with my sister is his weakness. We exploit that weakness, or we spend the next year fighting a war on multiple fronts against enemies we can’t predict.”
The logic is sound. I hate every word of it.
“What’s the plan?” Sasha asks with a steady voice despite the fear I know she must be feeling.
Boris takes over. “You’ll fly to London tomorrow evening. Commercial flight, no security escort. We’ll follow, of course, but at a distance. Tony will report to Adrian that he’s convinced you to leave Moscow for a few days, away from your brothers’ oversight. Adrian will see this as his opportunity.”
“And when he makes his move?”
“We’ll have teams positioned throughout the city. When Adrian surfaces and the opportunity is right, we take him.” Boris pauses. “But it has to look real. If Adrian suspects a trap, he’ll disappear again, and we’ll have lost our best chance.”
Alexei pushes off from the window. “I don’t like this. There are too many variables we can’t control.”
“Neither do I,” Dmitri admits. “But Adrian has forced our hand. Every day we wait, he gets stronger and we get more exposed. This ends in London, one way or another.”
The room falls silent, and I look at Sasha, trying to read her reaction, but she’s studying the photographs again.
“I’ll do it,” she finally declares.
“Sasha—” Alexei starts.
“This is my decision.” She cuts him off without raising her voice. “Adrian is coming after our family because of me. Because I exposed his operation in London. If using myself as bait is what it takes to end this, then that’s what I’ll do.”
Dmitri nods. “Tony, you’ll maintain your cover with Adrian until we’re ready to move. Keep him believing you’re still working for him.”
“Understood.”
“Boris will brief you both on extraction plans and emergency contacts. You’ll have backup in London, but they’ll stay invisible unless absolutely necessary.” Dmitri stands, signaling the end of the meeting.
The meeting breaks up, and everyone files out except me. I stay in my chair, staring at the empty desk where those photos had been spread minutes ago. This man is building an army to destroy the woman I’ve fallen in love with.
The realization doesn’t surprise me anymore. Somewhere between the deception and the truth, between the mission I was hired for and the person I’ve become, I fell in love with Sasha Kozlov.
I don’t know exactly when it happened, but I suppose that doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that tomorrow, I’m supposed to help put her in the crosshairs of a man who wants to destroy her.
I push myself out of the chair and leave Dmitri’s office. The compound is quiet at this hour, most of the staff having retired for the evening. I wander through hallways I’ve come to know over the past weeks, past the kitchen and the courtyard where she found me after my nightmare.
The library door is slightly ajar, with warm light spilling into the corridor.
I find Sasha curled up in one of the leather armchairs, a book open in her lap that she’s clearly not reading. She looks up when I enter, and something in her face relaxes.
“You’re not going to try to sleep?” she asks.
I close the door behind me and take the chair across from her. “I don’t think that’s going to happen. Thought I’d find you here.”
“This was my mother’s favorite room. Dmitri kept all her books after she died. Sometimes I come here when I need to think.”
I look around at the massive book shelves around me, at the worn leather furniture and the antique lamps. It feels different from the rest of the compound. Softer and more family oriented.
“What are you thinking about?”
Sasha closes her book and sets it aside. “Tomorrow. London. Whether this plan is going to work or blow up in our faces.”
“It’s a good plan.”
“It’s a dangerous plan. I’m not naive, Tony. I know what we’re walking into.”
“I know you’re not naive. That’s part of what worries me.”
