Page 45 of The Bratva's Plus-Size Bride

But there’s a nagging fear that keeps me from jumping all in on the strike back front, and at its core is Ella. Escalating this battle means putting her in greater danger. A strike on the lawyers showed that they can and will fight dirty, and they have already tried to harm her once. I don’t want to risk it happening again.

Arseny and Luka agree with me, but Daniel and Viktor are against it. Easy for them to make the call when they’ve all already established themselves. They don’t know how hard I’ve worked for this, or what it means for me.

A knock at the door makes us fall silent, and a second later, Ella steps in. She’s carrying coffee for all of us—and we’re going to need a fuck ton of it—but takes a seat rather than setting it down and leaving.

“She's got a right to be here too,” I say before anyone else can speak up. Viktor shakes his head but keeps quiet.

“I have an idea.” Ella takes a deep breath, steadying herself, and my gut clenches. Whatever this is, I know I’m not going to like it, not if just talking about it has made her go pale like that.

“We’re all ears,” says Luka, pinching his eyebrows together. Lord knows we’ve already spent hours going back and forth. A new perspective might be what we need.”

Ella is carefully avoiding my eyes, and I sit forward in my chair, bracing myself.

“Let me be bait,” she says.

“No fucking way,” I interrupt before she can complete whatever insane plan she’s dreamed up.

Luka holds up a hand to stop me. “Let her finish, Anton.”

“Thank you.” She sucks her lower lip between her teeth before going on. “Look, we don’t know who did this, right? That’s the biggest problem because we can’t just retaliate blindly without maybe starting an even bigger issue.”

She got right to the root of the issue. Whoever did this was clean. In and out without leaving behind any tracks that could help us pinpoint the family responsible. Makes for a messy revenge. But there’s not a chance in hell I’m letting her endanger herself for my dream.

“That’s why we shouldn’t retaliate,” Viktor says, and I nod in agreement because if the choices are to give up on this venture or risk Ella, it’s not really a choice at all.

“And give up? Let someone hit you without hitting back?” Ella is appealing to our pride, and I see a ripple of agreement go around the room. My stomach sinks like a rock. “We set it up to find the real target, then strike back. Things don’t have to get messy.”

“Messy?” I stand and slam my hands down on the table, forcing her to finally look at me. “Risking you is beyond messy. It’s not happening.”

“Now hang on,” Luka says, getting to his feet, and I swear to God I’ll lay him out cold. “She’s got a good idea. They’re not going to want to kill her when a ransom will get them so much more, so it’s safe enough as long as we keep close. There’s some merit to it.”

“Merit?” I snarl.

He doesn’t flinch. Bastard. “Yes, and if you’d get your head out of your ass for a minute, you’d realize it.”

“Anton,” Ella says softly, “I know you’ll keep me safe. If they come for any of you, it’ll be a firefight. They know I’m an easy target, that I’m not armed. It’s the safest choice. You have to trust me.”

Trust her. Fuck. That determined look in her eye is one I know way too well. She’s going to be stubborn about this.

“It’s an insane idea. There’s no reason for you to risk this. We’ll just pull out of the area and go back to business as usual here.”

Her voice drops even lower. “This is your dream, and that’s important to me. Let me help. Please?”

It’s the please that does me in, because when have I ever been able to deny her anything? This is her plan, and refusing to go along with it tells her I don’t trust her abilities, don’t trust her to know how strong she is, and I’m never going to be the one to doubt her. I know she’s capable of anything. I just wish she weren’t trying to prove it like this.

“Fuck.” I drop back into the chair. She knows my answer before I even give it because she knows I can’t refuse her. It was just a matter of time. “Fine. We can discuss a plan, but if there’s one smidge of it I don’t feel comfortable with, we drop the whole thing. If anything goes wrong during? We drop the whole thing. Got it?”

She smiles, and I feel like I’ve won the lottery. This girl has way too much sway over me, but fuck it, I meant what I said to Kira. I’m hers.

I sit back in my chair and listen to her lay out her loose idea for a plan, which solidifies with input from everyone around the table into something that might actually, with a whole lot of luck, work. She’s bold, assertive, and so goddamn brilliant. Yeah, I fucking love that girl.

Chapter 24 - Ella

Am I really going to do this? That line I had been so determined to maintain between the mafia and the business side of things crumbled almost instantly, and now here I am, practically leaping across it. Realizing that I love Anton made me understand that I can’t pick and choose which parts of him I accept. I have to take all of him, or none. And none is not an option.

So here I am. Bait. This was my idea, so there’s no one to blame but myself. But that doesn’t stop the waves of fear and regret rippling through me right now. The only thing grounding me is Anton’s hand in mine. He’s been silent the whole drive, brooding, judging by the furrows in his brow. I can’t blame him.

When the car stops outside the location we decided on, my heart flips three times and lands somewhere in my stomach. His hand tightens on mine.

---