“Exactly,” she says calmly. “And chaos makes people sloppy. This quiet approach?” She gestures between us. “It’s not working fast enough. You said so yourselves. We don’t have months. Wemight not have weeks. The Vipers are sniffing around, and our traitors are getting bold. So we give them a stage.”
Asher watches her. “And you stand in the center of it.”
“Yes,” she says. Not stubborn. Not proud. Just… decided.
My heart stutters. “You’d be painting a target on yourself.”
She tilts her head. “How is that different from now?”
I don’t have an answer to that.
“They already hate me.” Her eyes flick between us. “So we make them come to me. We make them show me who they stand next to. Who they whisper to. Who they follow when they think I’m not listening.”
“That’s a lot of variables,” Asher says slowly.
“That’s a lot of data,” she counters.
He goes quiet, considering.
I lean back in the chair, mind racing ahead. “We could seed different rumors in different circles before the party,” I say. “Feed slightly different versions of the same lie to each suspect. See which version comes back to bite us.”
“Yes,” she says immediately, snapping her fingers once. “Exactly. Use the night as a net. Not just to watch body language, but to trace information flows.”
“And if the Vipers hit while we’re busy playing host?” Asher asks.
“Then we deal with them too,” she says. “But they’re not going to storm the house blind. They’ll want to know who’s on their side first. If anything, a party buys us time. We move the date up,call it a raid celebration, a fundraiser, a ‘Xavier’s going to pull through’ toast—whatever. Make it sound like we’re reassuring everyone, and then at the party we show we have no loyalty to Xavier. We make it clear that we are disrespecting him, and hope that makes people feel more comfortable to be themselves.”
I can’t help it. Admiration cuts through my fear. She sounds like Xavier when she talks like this. Strategic. A little cruel. Unafraid to make people uncomfortable to get what she needs.
Only she does it with that extra edge of not having been raised in this. Of having chosen it anyway.
Asher’s gaze slides over to me. “What do you think?”
I snort. “I think their are already rumors that she’s not loyal to Xavier. If she openly acts like she doesn’t care about Xavier then people will think they can trust her.”
“And they’ll show their true colors.”
“Exactly!” She beams.
Asher looks between us for a second before he pushes off the desk, coming to stand beside her.
“We do this,” he says, “we do it with every safeguard possible. Guns cached in every room. Exit routes locked down. Only invite people we want eyes on. No outsider, understand.”
“I like it when you’re all stern,” she says.
“Val,” he deadpans.
“Okay. Okay. Let’s throw a party!”
8
VALENTINA
“Oh my God, no,”Jackie scoffs, voice dropping into a register of pure panic. “Valentina. Honey. Sweetheart. What are we doing?”
I blink, looking over my oversized t-shirt, leather skinny jeans and knee-high boots. “We’re… getting ready for a party?”
“Oh, so you normally look like a hobo and a dominitrix had a baby?.” She takes three steps into the room, each more dramatic than the last, until she’s close enough to grab the hem of my shirt between two fingers like it offends her. “This is not a party outfit.”
