She scrunches her nose thoughtfully.
“I’ve never heard that name before.”
“It’s because he isn’t one of the big players. And he most certainly shouldn’t be cocky enough to be coming after me. Butthey caught wind of Josiah coming after me and assumed that I was weakened. Maybe I am, who knows.” I sigh and rub my hand over the back of my neck.
She is biting her lip, her eyes lowered, and her expression telling me she’s deep in thought.
I reach out and gently touch her arm, pulling her attention back to me.
“Don’t worry, Izabel. I promise you I can keep you safe. And I will. You don’t have to be afraid of anything,” I assure her.
She scoffs and shakes her head. “I’m not afraid. And I don’t need you to keep me safe. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself, thanks. I’ve been doing it for years. I happen to be very good at evading trouble.” She looks me up and down and smirks. “Mostly, anyway,” she adds reluctantly.
I grin.
“Then why do you look so worried?”
“Not worried, just thinking. Maybe we can try to set a trap for this Pavel guy?” Her eyes brighten.
“A trap?” I ask.
“Yes, we can lure him. Then you can catch him.”
“You can’t just lure people, it’s more complicated than that,” I chuckle.
“No, it’s really not. Seriously, I heard my brother’s security team talking about it before. You figure out what your enemy wants. It could be anything. Products, money, a person…who knows, everyone is different. And then you set up a situation where it’s tempting enough to entice them out, but not so tempting that it’s too good to be true….”
“I see, okay, yes, it doesn’t sound like a bad idea,” I say thoughtfully.
“So?”
“So?” I ask, still pondering what she’s said.
“What does Pavel Gusev want?” She asks, fully invested in this now.
“Well…he wants power. Uh….”
“What does he want from you?” she narrows down my thoughts.
“Okay, fine. The ultimate goal is power, but what does he need in order to get power? My products? It could weaken me or negatively affect my business. That would give him another opportunity to attack again and do more damage.”
“He tried to take me, remember. So, I think anything that pisses you off is fair game to him?”
“Mm,” I growl at the thought. “I’mnotluring him with you, Izabel,” I snarl.
She giggles.
“Alright…then maybe a fake delivery. Word just happens to get out that it’s a high-stakes haul or something?”
“I like the sound of that,” I say.
We sit brainstorming in front of the fire for ages. It becomes a sort of a game, and I pour us more drinks, and the evening rolls on in a relaxed, comfortable, and fun way. She’s laughing as the ideas become more and more outlandish. We end up ordering a snack platter for dinner, staying in front of the fire to enjoy it. We move from the sofa to the floor, sitting relaxed on the fluffy, soft rug.
I don’t want the night to end, but of course, eventually it has to.
Izabel tries to hide a wide yawn behind her delicate fingers. Her eyes are watery when she looks at me. “I think I need to crawl into bed,” she smiles. “I’ve had a lot of fun,” she adds.
“Me too. I think we make a pretty good team,” I chuckle.
