Page 87 of Marked By the Devil

“Yeah, but…” She shrugged again. “My appetite has been kind of funky.”

I kissed her as I dried myself. “We’ll figure it out.” I hated to think of her being so stressed last night that it would affect her physically.

We left the room together. I held her hand all the way until we reached the kitchen downstairs. Elena greeted us, holding Luka. “Did you sleep well?”

“We did,” I answered for both of us. And we also had just woken up well, too.

“We’re all meeting outside,” she said, gesturing with a tilt of her head toward the large outdoor entertainment area they sometimes used as a gathering area when the heat wasn’t too much. Fans moved the air and it was all shaded, too.

We joined her with all the others. Last night had been a long one for all of us, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if all my brothers and cousins had slept here in the mansion.

“There she is.” Adrik stood and started clapping at the sight of Wren. She blushed and smiled as she sat. Everyone else applauded her too, seeing her as the reason last night hadn’t ended as a hellish one as a bloodbath among major damages to our businesses.

“Thank you,” she said.

“No, thank you,” Maksim said. He was often the problem solver of all of us while Adrik was the leader. I imagined he was stunned and impressed with how swiftly Wren changed the trajectory of that huge plan of an attack against us. I’d never have to work hard to get him to approve of her now. Not that his approval would’ve ever changed my mind about her and how I felt toward her.

Make you my what, though?

While everyone talked about how the businesses and men were spared last night, I thought back to what Wren had cut herself off from saying when she came.

Was it more dirty talk? Of me making her my… naughty slut? Nah. That wasn’t how she talked, even raunchy.

Of me making her my… girlfriend? She already was.

Of me making her my…

“Don’t you think, Viktor?” Adrik asked.

“Hmm?” I raised my brows and realized I’d been asked something.

“We need to ride the momentum of what we accomplished by stopping that attack last night,” he said, giving me a quizzical look.

“Yes, we should.”

“I might have ideas about how to do that,” Wren said. “If I may.”

“I’m all ears,” Adrik said, proving once more that he would even hear someone else out.

“Once they, meaning Smithson and others, realize that their messages were all messed up and that someone infiltrated their programs and computers, they’ll be even more cautious about what is shared where. It’s a common issue that all departments have to stay on top of anyway. Every department has their IT and cyber security teams working around the clock to protect it all.”

“Good thing Trojan can get around even the best of the firewalls,” Elena said.

“Yes,” Wren said. “But now that it will be obvious that their files have been hacked or compromised, it will be on their radar. Even those who aren’t in on this corruption scheme will take notice. It might be a good window of opportunity to expose that there is a mismanagement of files. It could be enough to have someone act like a whistleblower and even accuse them of accepting bribes. We could twist it and spin it anyway we want.”

“Exposing Smithson and others won’t stop him,” Lev said.

“It could make him more prone to attacking,” Nikolai added.

“But then we’d be expecting that,” I said. “I think it’s a good idea.”

“Would it help us identify who is contacting Smithson on behalf of Gregori?” Maksim asked. “We need to find the intermediary he’s using since we killed Yusef Antonov. Because that link will show us where Gregori is hiding.”

“We also need to find who would’ve put that hit on me,” Adrik said, glancing at Wren. “And you. Or I guess the hit was originally on Smithson and he used you as a substitute to get out of that.”

“I think having the pressure of answering to a leak might anger whoever this intermediary is,” Wren replied. “It could out them and you would have a more concrete connection to follow.”

“Whatever brings us closer to stopping him,” Lev said. “With whatever he’s after.”