Page 86 of Bought By Sin

“You could, but⁠—”

“No, I’m with her on this,” Adrik said. “She’s made it abundantly clear that she’s highly skilled at getting up close to the target.” He lifted his hand dismissively. “While the last mission didn’t end well, it started with perfection. She’s trained for this, Lev.”

She had been trained—through the sheer will of surviving as a slave for the Cartels and then through the dedicated regimen she went through under my and Roman’s supervision at the training facility and gym.

“But it’s too soon. For her. She was just captured.”

“And she’s been given the all-clear by the doctor, right?” Carina asked, raising one brow at me before looking at her. “You said the doctor told you that you’re good now?”

Mila nodded. “Yes. I have been given the all-clear.”

Goddammit.

Physically, she was healed. She had rested and she was able to endure the exertion of working out again. That didn’t mean that she’d gotten the all-clear in any other way, like the mental duress I’d suffered when she went silent on that last mission at the compound at the base of the mountains.

I wasn’t ready yet. I wasn’t eager to expose her to any circumstances of danger again.

But I had to.

Unless I could take the final step of telling her that she was mine, to love and cherish and fuck and protect, that label of her serving us and working for us would remain.

Until I ripped up that contract, like Maksim suggested, they would all see her as my assistant and helper.

“I can do this, Lev,” she said, squeezing my hand. The grip in her strength suggested that she felt like she had to do this. “I can’t take him out, but I can go in first, scope the area and be a scout. I can help.”

“I… know.” I heaved out a deep breath, hating to agree. But to argue with her on that point, I would be diminishing her worth and skills. Of course, she could be fast and sneaky to get a team into any dockside warehouse so one of us could kill Yusef Antonov.

I wanted to be greedy, though. To shelter her and protect her—at least for a little while longer since the last ordeal she’d survived.

“I can help you, Lev.” She bored me with her blue gaze, like begging me to search her face and find a reason she shouldn’t.

As I watched her, admiring her beauty and drive, I wondered if she was jumping at the chance to volunteer because she felt like she had to. That she “should” be put to use in the field, or if she wanted to.

If she was getting antsy for a purpose and something to do, I could respect that. I felt like that too if there were a challenge teasing me and I were held back with the order to be inactive.

I’d never want to hold her back from this desire to contribute and help. Yet, at the same time, it peeved me and worried me that she’d be so stuck in this cycle of feeling like she had to bend over backward.

Just to get our acceptance.

All to get my love.

She had it. She already had my love. If the last few days had proved anything to me, it was that she fully had me, heart, mind, body, and soul.

She didn’t need to risk anything to prove her worth.

In this room, though, I knew I was outnumbered by my brother and cousins who seemed to see her as an ace to utilize. Because she was new to the scene. Because she was so damn fast and sneaky, no matter the setting or exercise.

Even Elena and Carina seemed to support Mila accompanying the team I arranged to eliminate Yusef Antonov.

Damn. It.

I nodded, looking at Adrik, then the others. Lastly, I stared at her. “Fine. But you’re with me. If you’re going in, I’m not letting you go while I linger in the background.”

“If you didn’t go with her, one of the other assassins would,” Maksim said.

“I will be going in with her,” I stated, not leaving it up for discussion. Adrik was the interim boss, and I would always follow his lead, but on this, I wasn’t budging. I couldn’t endure the hell of knowing Mila was in danger while I lurked out of bounds.

“Fine.” Adrik shrugged. “Decide on who you want to delegate this to. Arrange a team and move on the plan as soon as you can.” He leaned back in the chair, looking far more stressed than ever. “Mila is a good choice, though. With her, we can get in close. She can gather more intel and expose more secrets to this fucking network. Yusek Antonov is Gregori’s second-in-command and he’ll have to have something useful on him in terms of intel.” He sat forward, rocking the big chair as he exhaled a long, harsh breath of exasperation. “And we need all the intel we can get to be one step ahead of the ‘mastermind’ trying to toy with us.”