And groaned.
“Jared Kane,” Colin continued, voice pure faux innocence, “caught whispering with mystery men in expensive suits.”
He clapped a hand on my shoulder as he joined us, eyes flicking toward Nikos with casual curiosity. I forced a thin smile.
“This is Nikos,” I said, the lie practiced. “Friend of mine. Met at a whiskey tasting in Edinburgh.”
Nikos lifted his glass in greeting, every inch the charming enigma.
Colin and Lincoln shook his hand, the three of them exchanging small talk while I mentally braced for whatever came next.
“You’re off duty tonight, by the way,” Colin added, his grin unapologetic. “I’m taking your monitoring shift.”
My eyes narrowed. “What?”
Lincoln gave a rare, knowing smile. “We swapped shifts. You’re free to focus on your date.”
I glanced at Nikos, who wore the expression of a man who’d engineered every piece of the board and now just waited for me to fall into place.
“You all coordinated this?” I asked, my voice low, the words heavier than they should have been.
Zara leaned in beside Colin, eyes glittering. “We thought it was time someone tied the infamous Master Loki down. Or maybe just up. Either way, we want front-row seats.”
“I don’t need matchmaking,” I muttered.
“Good,” she said, lips curving wickedly. “Because we didn’t set you up.Hedid.“ She nodded toward Nikos. “So, who’s the lucky masochist?”
“She’s going by Hecate,” Nikos said, smugness in full bloom. “Seems appropriate. A dark goddess to match our trickster god.”
Zara let out a delighted laugh. “Loki and Hecate? Sparks are guaranteed. Maybe she’ll hex you into staying for once.”
Colin joined in. “Or tie you to her altar. Human sacrifice to the goddess of commitment.”
I clenched my jaw. “You’re all hilarious.”
Nikos clinked his glass against mine. “I aim to please.”
I grabbed the black envelope off the bar. “We need to talk.”
He followed without protest, smooth and silent like a man who knew he’d already won.
I led him through a side corridor, past locked doors and dimly lit alcoves, until we reached a private staff office. Once inside, I shut the door behind us with a decisiveclick.
“Tell me this isn’t going to blow up in my face.”
Nikos dropped into a chair with maddening ease. “Only if you lose your edge.”
“I’m not built for this.” I threw the envelope onto the desk between us. “I infiltrate. I manipulate the greedy, the corrupt.Not the vulnerable. This?” I tapped the envelope. “This feels like a setup for something worse.”
“It’s an opportunity,” he said. Calm. Cold. Calculated. “You get in. You install the worm. We rip everything, bank records, arms manifests, laundering operations, straight off their internal servers. Ivan Morozov gets his legs cut out from under him.”
“And his daughter?”
He blinked. “She’s not the target. If she’s complicit, she deserves what’s coming. If not, she learns a valuable lesson about trusting strange men in dark rooms.”
I stared at him, jaw tight, mind already calculating every angle. Every risk.
Nikos stood and straightened his jacket. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep my distance. But if Master Loki isn’t enough to satisfy her”—he paused, eyes gleaming—“maybe she’ll want a real god.”
