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“Oh please,” Maksim says. “There’s no way they can win against all four of us when they don’t even know that we’re coming.”
“That’s not what I meant,” I reply. Curling my fingers over the back of my chair, I grip the pale wood hard in an effort to stave off the annoyance that ripples through me at the way they’re just brushing me off. “I think you’re underestimating what a pair of vindictive psychos they are. Even if you win and make them crawl and grovel and all that, they will come for revenge.”
“We’ll have a video of it as leverage,” Mikhail says, giving me a patient look that makes me feel like a silly girl who doesn’t know what she’s talking about.
I grip the back of the chair harder. “Video or not, they will retaliate. And when they do, you will get hurt. Seriously hurt.”
Mikhail’s expression softens, and he gives me a smile that makes me want to hurl the chair across the room.
“Look, I know that you’re worried,” he says, still speaking as if to a particularly slow student. “But we know what we’re doing.”
“Do you?” I challenge.
A hint of frustration flits across his face, and he takes a deep breath before fixing me with a firm stare. “Alina, this isn’t your area of expertise. It’s ours. Simply enrolling at Blackwater does not make you a qualified assassin. The world we live in and the world you live in is not the same.” He blows out a sigh. “So, yes, we know what we’re doing.”
Clamping my mouth shut, I swallow down the wave of emotions that are suddenly clogging my throat. I don’t trust myself to speak just yet, so I simply give him a nod and then grab the pots before walking back to the sink.
It takes all of my self-control not to slam the pots down in anger and hurt.
Just because I’m not a badass assassin doesn’t mean that I don’t have anything to contribute. But it doesn’t matter how smart I am. My brothers, my cousins, my father, my whole bloody family, take one look at me and then write me off. Because I’m short and slim and breakable, they think I’m defective. Not good enough to carry on the legacy of the Petrov name. It’s infuriating.
I take out all of those frustrations on the pots as I scrub them while my brothers and cousins start planning their stupid surprise attack that will get them killed.
Good. Why should I care if they get themselves killed? Then I can finally say, I told you so.
“Tonight,” Anton says. “We should do it tonight.”
My stomach lurches as panic crackles through my body. Because no matter how angry I am at my family members right now, I don’t actually want them to get themselves killed.
“I agree,” Mikhail says. Bracing his palms on the table, he pushes up from the chair. “Let’s get ready.”
Dropping the pot back into the sink, I turn towards the table as chairs scrape against the floor when the other three stand up as well.
“Please,” I say, meeting Mikhail’s gaze with pleading eyes. “Don’t. This will end badly. I know it will.”
His features soften again, and he walks towards me while Anton and the twins start towards the door. My heart pounds painfully in my chest as Mikhail slides an arm around my back and then leans down to kiss the top of my head.
“We’ll be fine,” he says. “I promise.”
I resist the urge to grab his shirt and keep him here by force. Because this will end badly. If they threaten Jace, or make him or Kaden crawl and grovel, then Kaden will kill them regardless of what leverage they think they have. I know he will.
Dread pulses through me as Mikhail gives me one last smile and then walks away as well. Upstairs, I can hear the others already opening closets and getting ready.
Shit. I need to do something. But what?
What could I possibly do to make sure that the Hunters won’t kill my brothers in retaliation for this attack?
An idea flashes through my mind.
Blinking, I stare at the darkening sky outside the window while my mind processes the possible consequences of such a decision. It feels like a betrayal. A massive betrayal. And if my family ever found out, they would never forgive me.
But it will keep them alive. And that’s all that matters.
Sliding out my phone, I pull up Kaden’s number and send him a text.
Fear and betrayal whirl inside my chest. But this was the right thing to do. My brothers and cousins will never be able to walk away unharmed from this war.
So I will take Kaden down in my own way.
