“She’s been a ghost for twenty years,” Lev says. “Now she’s suddenly on our payroll?”
“She’s smart,” I say. “Too smart to stay out of this forever.”
Luk lifts his eyes, assessing. “And you’re confident she’s not a liability?”
I let silence stretch until it feels taut, like wire.“She’s an asset. For now.”
That earns me a grunt from Lev. Luk, as usual, wants more.
“She has the skills we need. Clean credentials. No known baggage. And,” I pause, leaning forward, “she’s got more motivation than anyone we’ve brought in before. She wants answers. Let’s make sure she finds the right ones.”
Luk raises a brow. “Meaning ours.”
“Obviously.”
The truth is I don’t care how smart she is. I care how loyal she’ll be once she learns who she really is. Once she understands what her father died protecting. Once she realizes the blood on our hands was spilled for reasons I’m still trying to reconcile.
Lev speaks again, his tone sharp and low. “Does she know anything yet?”
“Not enough to be dangerous.”
“But enough to be curious,” he says.
“She wouldn’t be here if she wasn’t.”
Luk sets his tablet aside. “You’re taking a risk. Bringing her in now, with Spalding sniffing around again.”
“I’d rather have her inside the house than looking through the windows.”
That silences them. Luk gets it. Lev hates it. I expected both reactions.
“She’s not trained,” Lev mutters. “She’s not Bratva. She’s a fucking accountant. You’re not worried she’ll run to the Feds? Shit, imagine dropping an insider like that on Spalding’s lap.”
I look at him. “If she runs, I’ll handle it.”
There’s a pause before Luk shifts gears. “Speaking of Spalding, he called again.”
“Let me guess, he wants a meeting. Off the record.”
“Of course.”
I exhale slowly. “He’s circling something.”
“He’s been circling for months,” Lev says. “Maybe it’s time we clip his wings.”
Not yet. But soon.
“He’s greedy. That makes him predictable. And predictable men are manageable.”
Lev’s eyes gleam. “And expendable.”
He’s not wrong. But the fed still has value—for now. Until I know exactly who’s feeding him and why.
Luk leans back. “What about Tatiana?”
“She’s behaving.”
He raises a brow.
