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“There are ways past both of those issues,” I remind him. “We didn’t go after her when Willow was with Troy because if we’d been arrested or killed, Willow would’ve been stuck with Troy, with no one left to find her. But the stakes are different now. Which means we can play the game differently.”
Malice starts pacing, cracking his knuckles as he stalks across the living room floor. He practically radiates furious energy, but the same could be said for all of us. Ransom’s eyes glitter with anger, and that same unsettled agitation is there in me too.
But I push it back for now, because I need to focus. I need to be able to think past the raw emotions that grip me. My mind moves a mile a minute, putting together plans and discarding them just as fast.
Whatever we attempt against Olivia, the plan has to be airtight. It has to leave no room for error or surprise. Willow’s grandmother has proven that she’s very good at exploiting any opening we give her and operating in our blind spots. Manipulating them, even—like when she let us believe that Troy was dead, so he could come out of nowhere to ambush us and take Willow.
We can’t afford a mistake like that again.
“We’ve been hitting her financially,” Malice says finally. “How’s she paying for all this security?”
“We haven’t been able to hit her hard enough,” Willow replies. “We can hurt her investments and take away the expansions she wants to make to restore her estate, but she’s still incredibly rich.”
“Do you think we could try to outbid her?” Ransom asks. “Like, pay some of her security to just… take a little break and let us get in there?”
“That’s risky as hell,” Malice grunts. “What’s to stop them from just taking the money and then fucking us over? Then we’d be trapped with no backup.”
Ransom makes a face. “Yeah, there is that. But we took out Troy and his bodyguards. There’s got to be a way.”
“Troy wasn’t expecting us. He had guards around, sure. But they were overconfident, thinking no one would find them in his cabin. Counting on Olivia to underestimate the threat is a mistake. And she can always hire more guards, while there will only ever be just four of us.”
“Wait,” I say, cutting into their conversation as something sparks in my mind. “I have an idea.”
“What?” Willow asks, a flicker of hope lighting in her expression.
“Those jobs we used to do for her. All the stuff she blackmailed us into doing when we only knew her as X.”
Willow’s face crumples. “We already tried that route, remember? I couldn’t get enough information connecting her to being X and all the illegal shit she made you do. She’s kept her footprint too clean.”
“No, you’re right about that, but that’s not what I mean,” I say. I start pacing a little, letting the idea grow in my mind. “We won’t use those jobs for blackmail against her. Instead, we can use them to find people who have reason to be enemies with Olivia. Every job she sent us on, she was fucking someone over, right? So we follow those breadcrumbs, and we find someone who hates her just as much as we do. One of them might be able to help us take her down. Even the odds, so that there are more than just four of us to pull off this attack.”
Ransom and Malice nod, both looking thoughtful.
“That’s a place to start, at least,” Ransom says, scrubbing at the back of his head. “Getting outside help with this might be our best bet.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Willow asks, chewing her lip.
She still seems uncertain and worried, and I wish I could take that away from her. I know what it’s like to feel as if the rug has been ripped out from under you entirely.
“It’s the best idea we have right now,” I tell her, reaching out to squeeze her hand. “And it’s relatively low-risk, all things considered. Olivia already knows we won’t take this lying down, so she’s going to be expecting something to happen. The only way we’ll have a chance is if we do something she’snotexpecting. We just have to hope we can find someone with a big enough grudge against her.”
“Olivia Stanton is a heartless cunt,” Malice spits. “We’ll find someone who hates her. Shouldn’t be too hard. She’s probably fucked over countless people to get what she wants.”
“So that’s the plan?” Ransom asks, practically bouncing on his toes like he can’t wait to get started.
“Yes.” Malice nods immediately.
I do too, and when we all turn to look at Willow, she dips her chin once in agreement.
“Okay,” she whispers. “Let’s do it.”
I turn, heading for my office to start sifting through information. As I go, I call over my shoulder to Ransom.
“You and Malice work on upping the security of this place. We have to be on our guard. Olivia gave Willow time to make her decision, but we can’t trust that she’ll actually uphold her word. I’ll go see what I can find from the jobs we’ve done for her.”
Ransom nods grimly, and we split up, each moving quickly to handle our respective tasks.
* * *
