Page 44 of Bratva Hostage

I stare at her, unwilling to admit how good the idea is. I don’t want to encourage her continued involvement even if she is damn good. The idea of putting my wife in danger just doesn’t sit right with me.

Aleksei rubs his chin. “You’re suggesting we set a trap.”

“Exactly,” Cecily confirms. “But not an obvious one. It has to be layered. He doesn’t trust easily, but if he thinks he’s getting information from someone weak, someone desperate, he’ll take the bait.”

Maksim clicks his tongue and chuckles. “It’s not a bad idea. But who do you suggest we use as bait?”

“That’s the part we have to be careful with. If we make it too obvious, he’ll sniff it out. We need someone believable.”

My mind is already turning over possibilities, weighing the risks. It’s a good plan. A damn good plan. But that’s not the problem. The problem is her.

She’s sitting here, laying out strategies like she’s been doing this her whole life. And maybe, in a way, she has. She grew up under Thorne. She’s watched him manipulate people like chess pieces. She knows how to play the game, maybe even better than some of my men.

But that doesn’t mean I want her playing it.

“You’re not going into the field,” I remind her before she can even entertain the thought.

“I wasn’t asking to.”

That surprises me. I squint my eyes and tilt my head to look at her. “Then what exactly are you asking?”

“To be part of the operation, I know how my father thinks and how he will react to different kinds of bait. I can help organize the setup to make it seem real. You need someone who understands his patterns, his paranoia. That’s me.”

She’s right. Again.

I glance at Maksim, who watches Cecily closely. He’s still wary, but I can tell he sees the logic in what she’s saying. Aleksei, too.

I exhale through my nose as I weigh my options. The answer should be no. Keeping her away from this war should be my priority. But the reality is, she’s already in it.

I set my hands flat on the table. “You’ll be in the operations center. Nowhere else.”

Cecily blinks, clearly surprised I’m not outright refusing her. “And what exactly does that mean?”

“It means you’ll help set up the strategy, oversee the flow of information, and work with Maksim to monitor everything as it plays out. You’ll be involved—but from here.”

She exhales, and for the first time since this conversation started, I see something in her eyes that doesn’t fill me with exhaustion. Not victory. Not defiance. Something closer to understanding.

“Okay,” she concedes. “I can work with that.”

Aleksei watches me, but I can’t tell what he’s thinking. He’s been quiet through most of this, letting Maksim take the lead. But I know him well enough to recognize when something’s bothering him.

I don’t acknowledge it. Not yet.

Cecily glances between us, then settles her attention back on the map. “We need to pick the right leak. Something that feels like a mistake but still holds enough value for Father to bite.”

Maksim hums in agreement. “We can fabricate a shipment schedule. Make it look like we’ve got vulnerabilities in our supply chain.”

Cecily nods. “That could work. But it has to be fed through the right channels. He doesn’t take information from just anyone. He has specific informants. We need to use one of them.”

Aleksei crosses his arms. “We have someone in mind. We’ll handle that part.”

She doesn’t push. Smart. She knows how to pick her battles.

“If we’re doing this, we need to move fast,” Maksim suggests. “Thorne won’t sit idle forever.”

I stand, signaling the end of the discussion. “We move now. Maksim, start working on the leak. Cecily, you’ll coordinate from the operations center.”

Cecily watches me for a beat longer, like she’s still processing that I gave in, even a little. Then she nods.

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