“I don’t know.”
I take a slow breath, trying to figure out how hard I want to push my brother for information. Chances are, he does know, but it would cost him his life to tell me.
“Yakov, I know that father is powerful, he’s terrifying… But if you change your mind… if you can somehow tell me where they are… Please… just think about it. You know how to get hold of me,” I say carefully.
Yakov bites at his lip.
The barista calls for us to say our order is ready.
I smile at my brother, “Just… consider it,” I say before turning to collect the two cappuccinos. Yakov picks up his flat white, and neither of us says anything more as we turn and go in opposite directions.
Back at the mansion, I set the fresh coffee down in front of Adrian. He looks up in surprise as though he’s forgotten I went out to get it for him.
“Wow, thank you, this is so appreciated. Any problems out there? Did security go with you?”
“No problems,” I smile, sitting down next to him and avoiding the other question. “Anything new on your end?”
“Nothing yet, but we do have a plan. I was speaking to Matvei, and we figured if we start putting pressure on Alek, he will be forced to come out and face us.”
“How will you put pressure on him?”
Adrian pulls up a map on his screen. “These businesses here all belong to your father. We can orchestrate a series of attacks on them, agitate the water, so to speak, and force him to react.”
“When are you going to start?” I ask, perking up at the idea.
“We wanted to consult with Simon first, to check if he was on board.”
“Simon is sleeping, let him rest. We’re on board. Do it,” I say sternly.
Adrian smirks at me with a glimmer of surprise in his eyes. “Yes, ma’am. We’ll get right on it.”
When Simon wakes up six hours later, the library is noisy and busy.
“Who let me sleep for six hours?” he grumbles as he walks in, rubbing his eyes. I turn to look at him and note that he looks so much better after some sleep. Standing, I slip my arms around his waist. “You needed it. I wouldn’t let them wake you,” I say.
“But you said you would wake me if anything happened,” he scolds me.
“Nothing has happened. Not yet. We’ve just started the attacks and…”
“Attacks?” he scoffs in surprise, hurrying to the screens.
“What the hell is going on?” he demands.
“We’re flushing the old fucker out!” Adrian says with triumph. “We’ve got three teams attacking simultaneously. We aren’t going to do too much damage, but we are going to annoy the shit out of him. He will have to come out and face us.”
Simon considers the idea and doesn’t disapprove.
He sits down in the open seat next to Adrian.
Behind us, we hear the team coordinators giving orders and providing feedback so that everyone can move as a single unit.
The whole thing takes less than an hour. I am tense, fidgeting, pacing, waiting…
But before it’s over, I hear Adrian and Simon shoutfuckat exactly the same time.
“What?” I blurt out, my heart leaping wildly.
Adrian shakes his head, and Simon turns to face me. “He anticipated this. As our attacks escalated, he launched an attack onourbusinesses. He must have had a team ready and waiting to respond that quickly. He wasreadyfor this.”
