Page 83 of The Devil's Thorn
“And when she gives you the intel?”
I glance at him.
“She comes to the estate.”
He stiffens. “Not the penthouse?”
“No.”
“That place is?—”
“Private. I know.”
I say nothing more. Just let the weight of it hang between us.
He leans forward again.
“You’re not just testing her.”
I look back at him, eyes steady.
“No. I’m inviting her in.”
I set the glass down and let the weight of the next forty-eight hours settle on my shoulders. Not the pressure. Thecalculation.
This isn’t a mission. It’s an introduction.
Isabella’s first real step into my world—not as a waitress or a spy behind a tray, but as something far more dangerous.
A player.
She’ll be walking into a room with monsters, some old enough to have forgotten their own sins, others too young to know they’re already damned. And while they’ll be too distracted with each other to see her coming…
I’ll be watching everything.
From the corner. Behind my mask. With a drink in my hand and my orders already in motion.
I’ll see how she moves in a room where power speaks in silence and everyone smiles with knives in their hands.
And when it’s over…
She’ll come to me.
No crowd. No eyes.
Just mine.
I shift my gaze toward Nikolai. He’s watching me closely now, still trying to read what I haven’t said out loud.
“Send her the details tomorrow,” I say quietly. “Discreetly. No names. Just enough that she knows where to be, when to be there, and who to watch.”
I pause.
“Keep it coded. Just to be safe.”
Nikolai lifts a brow. “You think someone’s already watching her?”
“I think she’s the kind of woman people follow without realizing why. And I’d rather not give them a reason to look closer.”
