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Delove leaned back in his chair and sighed. “I agree. His attacks are getting more frequent. He’s desperate, and that makes him a very dangerous man.” He glanced at the evidence board, his eyes darkening. “We need to lure him out.”
“How?” Cian’s eyes were tired, hair disheveled after a long night of staying up. Every time I woke in the middle of the night, I found him awake, hovering over me, murmuring sweet words to make me feel safe. It had helped, but only a little. The only thing that was going to make me feel better was Ryzen locked up behind bars.
Delove looked between us and loosened his tie. “You’re not going to like this, but our best bet is to give him an opportunity to strike, and when he does, we’ll be there to catch him.”
The only problem was my lack of confidence in Delove. After the incident a few months ago, he had proven time and time again that Ryzen was smarter than him and his slew of FBI agents. What was going to be different about it this time?
“I understand you are the recipient of a prestigious award. My congratulations to you.” Delove tapped his fingers on his desk. “The gala is in a few days, and that would be a pristine opportunity to catch him. It’s a big night for you, Cian. If he’s going to try again, it’ll be there, especially if we give him a little incentive.”
“Incentive?” I questioned, and Cian froze.
“No,” Cian growled, his hand tightening on my knee.
“No, what?” I looked between the two men, not making the connection Cian had.
“Bait, Nova. We need to use you as bait at the gala to draw him out.” Delove said it so casually, as if the answer was completely obvious.
My heart slammed against my chest, and I inhaled sharply. That had not been the answer I had been expecting. But what choice did I have? Ryzen was going to keep coming after me, no matter what I did. But what if this time we were ready for him? It wasn’t like I could count on the FBI to actually do their job, but what about the rest of us? Valik, Harvey, and Cian’s brothers would be there, watching and waiting. If Ryzen did attack at the gala, then that would be our chance to flip the tables on him.
“OK.” I nodded, and Cian’s head snapped in my direction.
“Nova,” he started, but I held my hand up, shaking my head.
“We don’t have a choice, Cian. He’s coming for me, for us. I won’t let him hurt another person because of me. It’s time we ended this once and for all.”
Cian sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. “I don’t fucking like this.”
Delove’s eyes sparkled with a new enthusiasm. “We’ll be there the entire time watching you. I’ll have my team of undercover agents at the party and around the perimeter. He won’t get away this time.” He clenched his fist.
I wished I could believe him. But what I knew was that Cian wouldn’t let anything bad happen to me; that I trusted. “Tell us what we need to do.”
“Technically, you don’t need todoanything.” Delove tapped a finger against his chin. “Ryzen will be looking for an opportunity where you’ll be alone, and he can get to you. So we’re just going to give him that opportunity.” He sounded so casual about the whole thing, it made me want to punch him in his perfectly chiseled jaw. “Hang tight for a few minutes.” He rapped his knuckles on his desk and left us alone in his office.
“Nova, we don’t have to do it this way.” Cian searched my face, looking for any resistance I might have to the idea. But there was none. I could do this. We could do this together.
I stroked my finger across his cheek, knowing what we were going to have to do. “I love you for saying that, but Delove’s right, Cian. This is the perfect opportunity to finally catch Ryzen. I’m just upset that it has to happen on a night where we’re supposed to be celebrating you and your achievements.” I leaned over and pressed my lips to his.
I was so fucking proud of him. Stupid Ryzen, always finding a way to ruin the good in our lives.
“It’s OK,” Cian murmured against my lips. “All that matters is catching that son of a bitch.”
Delove cleared his throat and walked in with a large poster-sized paper. He laid it on his desk and flattened it out. “I was able to pull this from our archives. It’s a layout of the Grandiose Gallery.”
We stood and peered over the floor plans as Delove pointed at different spots. “My guess is he’ll try to come in here.” Delove pointed at an isolated back entrance just off the alley. There was a stairwell that led to a long hallway, and the surrounding rooms were just storage areas. “It’s the perfect place for him to hide. We’ll have cameras surrounding the perimeter, but keep the back door free of security so he won’t be deterred from entering. Once inside, we’ll grab him.”
We spent the next hour going over details. There really wasn’t anything for us to do other than go about our lives and pretend that we weren’t freaked out about Ryzen coming after us. We didn’t know if this was even going to work. What if he didn’t show up? What if hedid? Either way, my body was on high alert. I just hoped that this would be over soon so that I could go back to living my best life with the man of my dreams.
We were mostly quiet on the drive home as we tried to digest the events of the morning. Valik was exceptionally quiet, and when we got to our apartment, I sat down and dragged him down next to me.
“How are you holding up, big guy? Have you talked to Milliani?”
He shook his head and sighed as he leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. “Not yet. Can’t do much with Kaviathin and Althazair guarding her at the hospital. I’ll try calling again in a few hours.”
“She’s tough; she’ll pull through this.” I patted his back.
“I’m just…” He exhaled sharply. “I feel so damn guilty. She was sneaking out to come see me. I should have picked her up, but she insisted she was fine.”
“Hold on a second. You don’t need to feel guilty, Valik. Ryzen is unpredictable. You can’t feel guilty over his actions. If he wanted to harm someone, he was going to find a way.”
