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It was a risk. This whole thing was a risk. Me staying here, plotting against Miguel was a risk in and of itself, but here I was. My whole life, I’d been trained not to run. I wasn’t about to start now. The plan might be risky, but if we pulled it off, the payoff would be the sweetest a triumph could be.
“It’s one way to catch Miguel off-guard. He doesn’t know we know a thing about the Cobra.”
“Sure, but we could kill him and be done with him much quicker. If you don’t want to do it—”
“I’m going to do it,” I interrupted him, my hatred for Miguel Santos flaring. “But this isn’t just about killing him. I want to destroy him completely, Cade. Crumble his empire, kill his loyal men, make him out to be a fool before holding a gun against his head and pulling the trigger. Before he dies, I want him to know just how spectacularly he failed.”
No one could understand my hatred for Miguel. No one. Even if I told them the truth, even if I told Cade and the others what Miguel did to me before handing me off to the Serpents, they still wouldn’t understand. I spent my whole life never being good enough, always living in his shadow, craving the one thing he’d never give me.
Love. Approval. Acceptance.
Things like that, you couldn’t get from a man like Miguel, even if you were his blood—which I wasn’t. So, really, the cards had been stacked against me my entire life. It was only now that I was finally playing the hand I was dealt, only now I could taste victory.
“I understand,” Cade whispered. “If you think this is the only way, I’ll do it. Of course I’ll do it. I just… it seems like there’s ample opportunity for this to go wrong, Giselle. I know how badly you want this, so if it doesn’t work, I know how awful it’ll be for you.”
Miguel had to be running around like a chicken with its head cut off right now. I bet ever since Rocco went MIA, he hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep. I’d bet anything he was planning and scheming and trying to speed up whatever plan he and Rocco had put in place.
I knew for a fact I didn’t cross his mind at all. He’d written me off the moment he’d handed me over to the Serpents. There hadn’t been a doubt in his mind that they’d kill me. Torture me, rape me, have their fun with me, and then kill me. To Miguel, I wasn’t even a pawn on the board anymore.
“We won’t fail,” I whispered, responding to Cade but also reaffirming it to myself. Miguel was one confident son of a bitch. He never thought anyone could stand against him and survive—and up until now, he’d been proven right.
But I wasn’t just anyone, and I planned on proving that to him.
Cade ran a hand through his blond hair. “I guess this means I’ll need to dye it just like yours, huh?”
“Yeah.” I couldn’t help but sound dejected at that. It was sad that Cade would have to dye his blond hair. It was a reminder that I’d had to do the same. Honestly, I missed my light-yellow locks; it was the one thing I had about myself that didn’t remind me of Miguel.
“And what about my eyes? Tristan Arrowwood doesn’t have green eyes as far as I know.”
“Under that mask, I don’t think it matters.”
Cade had taken the truth reasonably well. The fact that the Cobra was alive and well, that the Black Hand hadn’t killed him like we’d all assumed; it was all taken with a grain of salt. The fact that the Cobra was Tristan Arrowwood had been the roughest part of it all to swallow.
“Are you sure Shay will agree to this plan? He’s her brother. Maybe she doesn’t want anyone else donning that mask.”
“She won’t have a choice.” And that was the truth. Doing a bait and switch was the only thing we could do without alerting Miguel that Rocco had spilled the beans. “She’ll understand it needs to be done.”
I could tell Cade was still unsure, and that was fine. I didn’t need to convince him, and I personally doubted that I’d need to convince Shay. She was smart. She knew how men like Miguel worked, and she understood my need for vengeance better than most; she knew I’d be willing to do anything for it, and sometimes what you needed was one hella crazy plan.
Shay arrived on time, not a minute earlier and not a minute late. She strolled in through the front door, immediately spotting Cade and me at the table. She came over to us and pulled out the chair at the head of the table, sitting down with a hard look and a heavy sigh. Her body was clad in all black, though her nails had been painted a dark red color to match her signature red lipstick.
“Well?” she asked. “I’m here. What’s this plan you didn’t want to discuss over the phone?” Her brown eyes flicked between Cade and me, probably wondering what the hell Cade was doing here, or possibly why he was the only one here with me.
I’d tell the others, once the plan was set. Had to get Shay’s approval first… and her help.
“We know Miguel bought his way in. What we don’t know is who the traitor is. What I’m about to propose will hopefully help us both,” I started, well aware I had everyone’s attention. “I want Cade to be the Cobra.”
Shay blinked at me. “What?”
“He’ll dye his hair brown, throw on the mask, and no one will be the wiser,” I explained.
Her jaw was tight, and I could tell she still didn’t like discussing this. After everything she’d told me, I supposed I understood the trepidation, anger, and betrayal she felt over everything her brother did. “He doesn’t wear his mask in his cell.”
“Do the guards know that?”
Her silence was my answer. Cade took it upon himself to ask, “Where’s he being held?”
A moment passed before Shay replied, “Nix’s house. The basement. Nix watches him when he’s home, but when he’s out, that’s when he has someone else guarding the house. There’s a rotation of four different men. None of them ever do a full eight hours.”
