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Ransom rolls his eyes. “Fucking typical.”
“Yeah, but in this case, it helps us,” Vic says. “She’s going to be attending an event outside of Detroit in a few days, and she’ll be driving there.”
“How far outside the city?” I want to know, already snapping into tactical mode.
“An hour or two, depending on traffic.”
“What’s the event?” Willow wants to know.
“A viewing of a private art collection. Some reclusive billionaire is opening up his collection for a single evening only.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Ransom grumbles. “That’s the most bougie goddamned thing I’ve ever heard. Who even cares about shit like that? Go to a fucking museum.”
Vic shrugs. “Rich people care. And like I keep saying, it works to our advantage here.”
“I don’t know…” Willow chews on her lip. “Even if it’s a private showing, that still seems too public. Too many possible witnesses.”
I watch Vic’s face, and I can already tell what he’s planning, so I shake my head.
“We won’t go after her at the event,” I tell Willow. “Thatwouldbe too public. Instead, we’ll hit her while she’s on the way there. Vic, what’s the security rundown?”
“She’s on the alert,” he answers, turning his computer back toward himself and typing a bit. “She’s upped her security. Usually, she has at least two bodyguards with her at all times, plus extra security in an additional vehicle that follows her main car.”
“So we separate them with Jonah’s help. She’ll have a driver for sure, who may or may not be trained as a bodyguard also, as well as the usual two guards. But we can handle that. We’ll take out the driver and force the car off the road. Then we’ll handle Olivia.”
Vic nods, his eyes riveted to the screen. “Yes. Luckily, this man with the art collection is reclusive. His estate is basically in the middle of nowhere—almost as far off the grid as Troy’s hideout was. It won’t be hard to make this happen off the beaten path to cut down on the possibility of witnesses.”
Willow takes all of that in, idly shredding a little scrap of paper as she listens. She still looks nervous about all of it, but when she nods, there’s determination in her eyes.
Ransom nods too, slapping a hand on the coffee table. “It’s as good a chance as any. And we need to move soon. We don’t have time to wait for a better opening. Either Olivia will get more members of Ethan’s old crew to come after us, or she’ll find someone else she can pay to do it.”
“Or blackmail,” Willow mutters darkly. “That seems to be her MO.”
“Right.” Ransom snorts a breath. “Either way, we can’t risk it. We don’t want to give her the chance to attack you again.”
“We’ll take two cars. One to take out the security vehicle, or at least keep it occupied, and one to go for Olivia’s car,” Vic says, in hardcore planning mode now.
“I want to be in the one that goes after Olivia,” Willow declares.
“No,” I say immediately.
“What do you mean, no? Why not? I won’t be much help taking out the other car.”
“I mean you’re not going at all. You need to stay someplace where it’s safe.”
Anger and stubbornness flare in Willow’s eyes, and she folds her arms, looking right at me without a trace of fear or hesitation. It’s pure defiance, and it’s hot as hell, even though it’s also frustrating.
“I’m. Going,” she says firmly. “And you can’t stop me. She’s my grandmother. It’smeshe’s been trying to kill. I’m going to be there when it all ends.”
There’s a war raging inside me. Everything in me is screaming that this is a fucking bad idea. She needs to be somewhere safe, someplace her evil bitch of a grandma can’t get to her. The protectiveness I feel toward her is strong, but just as strong is the fact that this is the shit I love most about Willow.
How fierce she is. How brave she is. How she doesn’t back down, no matter how much bullshit gets thrown her way.
If I’m being honest with myself, I think I fell in love with her the day she pressed her forehead to the barrel of my gun and basically dared me to shoot her.
I know she won’t cave on this. It’s too big and too important to her.
And I don’t actually want to let her out of my sight. In theory, she’d be safer away from the action, but there’s no one I trust to keep an eye on her besides me and my brothers, and leaving her alone in the safe house comes with its own set of risks.
