Page 61 of Mission Shift

Then, without a word, he turned away, moving to the stove.

I sat on a barstool next to the island as he retrieved a pan, set it on the burner, and pulled out a cutting board in the same quiet, precise way he did everything else.

“You’re cooking?” I asked.

He shrugged. “It helps me think.”

I narrowed my eyes as he got out some ingredients—a couple of prime cuts of beef, rosemary, cloves of garlic, butter.

Expensive. Everything about him was always expensive.

Nik finally glanced at me, one brow raised. “You gonna drink, or are you just gonna glare at me all night?”

I grabbed the glass, knocking back the vodka in one swallow. It burned like hell, but maybe he was right. I needed to take the edge off so I could think straight.

“Fine,” he said, tossing a pat of butter into the pan. “You want honesty?”

I leaned forward. “I want to know who the hell I’m really working with. I want to be your partner, not just an errand boy.”

He gave me a slow, knowing smirk. “You ever heard ofAnonymous?”

My fingers curled tighter around my glass.

“Yeah. I’ve heard of them.”

He flicked his wrist, adding a sprig of rosemary to the pan. “Well, let me make this clear: they’re the most elusive, untraceable hacker collective in the world. Governments fear them. Billionaires reward them. Criminals underestimate them. They don’t play by any rules, don’t follow any cause except their own. They tear through firewalls like wet paper, expose corruption, and sometimes—when they feel like it—bring entire economies to their knees.”

I listened carefully, absorbing his words.

Nik glanced at me and said matter-of-factly, “I’m not just in the mafia, Brax. I run some of the most powerful cybersecurity companies on the planet. Some legal. Some not.”

To that, I had no reply. For a few minutes, I remained quiet.

Nik prepared a simple house salad and began cutting up some broccoli and carrots to go on the side. After everything that had gone down with his sister, Anastasia, in New York a couple of months ago, I’d gotten a vague notion about what he did, but I was sure it was only the tip of the iceberg.

Now, after I’d said I wanted to be his partner, he was making sure I understood just what I was getting into. Nik wasn’t just a mafia heir. He wasn’t just some rich Russian with goodconnections. He was one of the most dangerous men in the world.

A man with no allegiances, no loyalty to any government.

I exhaled sharply, setting my glass down. “So, you’re basically a cyber mercenary with just enough of a moral compass to sleep at night.”

He chuckled and turned to face me. “Something like that.”

I didn’t flinch or question what I was hearing; instead, I held his gaze, unblinking, waiting for him to continue.

I’d seen the worst humanity had to offer on the streets in and around Tacoma and Seattle, and I understood violence and what power did to men who had no morals.

But this?

This I could work with.

I didn’t give a shit about egos. I didn’t care about the lines Nik had to cross to survive.

I cared about one thing.

Saving Daria.

When the steaks were done, Nik got a couple of plates out from the cabinet and slid the steaks onto them, adding the salad and fresh vegetables before pushing one across the island counter toward me. “Eat.”

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