Page 125 of Crossover

I nodded. That made sense, and, more importantly, gave me hope that I could keep my family safe.

“What about missiles?” I asked. “What if Vosch uses them when the plane first takes off?”

“We’ll have fighter jets ready to take them down,” he answered. “But if he’s got missiles in the country, we have bigger problems on our hands.”

After a few seconds, Cleveland leaned forward.

“I must caution,” he started, his firm eyes locked on mine, “while this is the best shot to take Vosch down, he’ll be surrounded by his soldiers when you arrive. He had only two with him in your penthouse because he took you by surprise, but this time, he’ll be anticipating something different. This is a test, and for all he knows, you’re going to come back and refuse to do his bidding—in which case, he’ll be anticipating your counterattack.”

“That’s why I need to pass his test and make him think I’m complying. Are you sure you can get the safety protocols changed immediately?”

Because once I delivered the safety protocols to Vosch, who knew how quickly he would try to carry out an attack against an “L” train?

He nodded. “We can make them go live with the push of a button.”

More oxygen flowed into my lungs with each tidbit of relief.

“That said…while you might succeed in taking out Vosch, you know the odds of you making it out alive, don’t you?”

I swallowed hard. “I’m practical enough to realize how this ends.”

69

IVY

“You lied to me!” The words wrenched from my throat, raw with betrayal, as I blinked furiously, fighting back the hot tears that threatened to spill.

Based on the angling of Grayson’s thick eyebrows, he wasn’t proud that he’d full-on tricked me into coming to this private tarmac of a regional airport, where the distant hum of jet engines filled the tense silence between us.

Just yards away, our sleek aircraft waited, its pilot already seated in the cockpit. The sight of it—primed for takeoff—only amplified the feeling of being trapped, cornered by Grayson’s elaborate scheme.

“I neverlied.” But his guilty tone told me he knew exactly what he’d done.

“Bullshit you didn’t!” I pointed my finger toward him, trying to swallow the lump that threatened to derail my talking points. “You made me believe you were coming on this trip with all of us.”

“I never explicitly said I was going, Ivy.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “Your definition of the truth is very different from mine, then.”

Grayson’s attention darted past our army of security guards.

“Fine,” he allowed. “I lied by omission. But only because I knew you wouldn’t get on that plane if you found out I wasn’t going.”

“You’re damn right I’m not getting on that plane without you.”

Grayson’s jaw tightened, and his eyes turned into daggers. “You’re getting on that plane.”

“Ma’am?” the CIA agent who was accompanying us called out from the private jet’s door, his tone urgent. “We need to go.”

“I’m not leaving withoutyou,” I insisted.

“They’re not taking off without you, Ivy. You need to be reasonable here.”

“Reasonable?” I stepped forward. The scent of his cologne, usually comforting, felt like a mocking detail he’d used to make it seem like he was preparing for an ordinary trip. “The CIA can do this without you.”

His impatient and worried glance darted around us again.

“They can’t,” Grayson countered. “No one can get close enough to him.”

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