I stare at her while my mind processes what she's suggesting. It's actually brilliant. Divide their attention and their forces while we hit them everywhere at once. But it puts her right in the middle of the danger, and I won't do it. I can't lose her.
"It would allow us to take out as many enemies as we can in one coordinated strike," she continues when I don't respond. "They'll be scrambling to get to me and won't be properly defended anywhere else."
"No." I push off the wall. "I'm not using you as bait. End of discussion."
"Dimitri—" She starts to argue, but I cut her off.
"I said no." My voice is final. "Find another plan."
"No, Brother, this is the plan." Yuri's face is granite, his eyes locked on mine, and when he's made up his mind, there's no changing it. "And as Pakhan, I'm approving it."
"Yuri." I cross the room toward him. "You can't be serious."
"I'm completely serious." He looks past me at Tatiana. "It's brilliant, simple, effective, and it uses their own desperation against them." He's nodding as he turns to walk back toward the dining room where the others are waiting.
"But it puts her directly in the line of fire." I can't believe he's actually entertaining this idea when we almost lost her. "What if something goes wrong?"
"Then we make sure nothing goes wrong." Yuri keeps walking and gestures for us both to go with him. "We plan every detail. We have backup plans for the backup plans. But this is our best shot at ending this war quickly before they have time to regroup."
"There has to be another way." I'm grasping now and I know it. "Something that doesn't involve risking her life."
"There isn't." Yuri crosses his arms and turns around to face me. "And you know it. This is the cleanest option we have." My nephews are now gawking at us, Vadim staring with wide eyes at our sibling feud.
I turn back to look at Tatiana who's watching me with an expression of worry, but I think it's more about how mad I am at her now and not because of the danger she just volunteered for.
"I can do this," she says quietly. "I want to do this, Dimitri."
God, I want to smack her silly and shake some sense into her. She may want to do this, but it's just not safe.
"The decision's made." Yuri's tone makes it clear the discussion is over. "We'll coordinate with Luka and set the timeline for three days from now. That gives us time to plan and position our people."
"Three days." I repeat the words. "That's not much time."
"It's enough." Yuri heads back toward the kitchen. "Come on. We need to work out the details."
He disappears, and I'm left standing there with Tatiana. The stakes just got raised and I didn't see this coming at all. Putting her at risk again was never on the cards.
And there's nothing I can do to stop it because Yuri has made the call as Pakhan.
She wants revenge on the people who took her. And now she's going to get it.
I just hope it doesn't cost us both everything.
28
TATIANA
The drunk at table seven is already on his fourth whiskey and getting handsy—ah, the good ol' days. I dodge his grab for my waist and set his drink down just out of reach so he has to lean forward to get it. It's a trick I learned my first week working here. Give them what they want but make them work for it just enough that they forget about pawing at you.
"Thanks, sweetheart." He winks, and his friends laugh. "How about you stick around and keep us company?"
"I've got other tables." I force a smile and pick up his empty glass as I say, "But I'll check back in a bit."
I'm already moving before he can respond. My heart's racing and my hands are shaking slightly as I carry the empty tray back toward the bar. It's been weeks since I worked a normal shift and I'm pretty sure everyone here knows I was assaulted, though they don't know all the details why. Linda has hovered a few times, but her feigned concern eats at me. I'm supposed to be acting like things are normal, but I'm struggling.
Because everything is very much not normal.
Timofey's behind the bar mixing drinks and he grins when he sees me. "Look who's back from the dead. We thought Dimitri had you locked up in his penthouse permanently." His joke is in jest. They all knew that he reappointed me to his personal detail, which wasn't my idea. So I'm not sure what story he told Linda in order to put me back in the rotation down here.
