Page 187 of Fall Before Her Throne

“What do you mean?” I asked quietly.

“Greco will only let down his guard if he thinks he’s won, and he’ll only think he’s won if he’s defeated us.”

“If we fall for his trap,” Max explained. “If we take the losing scenario.”

“So…” Ryuji crossed his arms across his chest. “We either let the mayor die and Greco gets control over the city. Or we walk into this trap, and then we’re his for him to do whatever he wants with.”

“How do we win?” Ciel asked. “If he has us trapped, how do we end up winning?”

Obi looked up at me. “Leona is the play. She’s the only one who can defeat him.”

“What is wrong with this?” I asked. “I can kill him. Why hide this from us?”

“We won’t be with you, my love,” he answered. “In order for this to work, you have to get free while the rest of us are caught. But you will be on your own. If anything goes wrong, we cannot save you or help you face it. You have to draw him in. He will underestimate you, and that is his downfall.”

“I can do this,” I said quietly. But I could still see the fear in his eyes. The idea that I would once again be out of his reach, and he’d be unable to do anything. Obi needed control to make him feel safe. This was the most out-of-control idea he could come up with—and he hated it. “I’m not afraid.”

“I know you are not,” he said, gripping my hand. “But I am.”

Max cleared his throat. “Either we’re all in, or nothing. We don’t have to do this. Like Obi said, we can figure out another way, but if this is our chance…I think we need to take it.”

Wynn leaned over Ciel’s shoulder and looked at his phone. “We don’t have unlimited time to debate. They’re on the move.”

Obi’s plan meant that all of my men would be gone, and I’d have to face Greco alone. But what if something went wrong? What if Greco outsmarted me? What if he had even more up his sleeve?

I let out a breath. “We are a family. That is our biggest strength. That is where our power comes from. Not from Obi’s incredible brain and his plans. Not from Ciel’s hacking. Not from our firepower. Not from any of us individually. If we trust each other, if we rely on each other, we can pull this off. So I’m in. If this is what you and Max came up with, then I trust you. But that means that I need all of you to trust me, too.”

Max nodded. “I believe in us.”

Cas threaded his hand into my hair and pulled me to his chest. “I can’t stand the idea of not being able to protect you if something goes wrong.”

“Me too,” Ryuji said. “I don’t like it.”

I looked at Ciel. His ice-blue eyes stared back at me. “Even with us gone, you’re not alone. You have Fallon, Rossi, Felix. We have allies.”

Wynn nodded. “I don’t think any of us want to expose you to danger, but darling…if you’re in, I’m in. Otherwise, this will go on forever, and we’ll only get weaker.”

Cas’s chest rumbled. “Fuck.” He pulled my left hand to his lips, and he kissed my ring. “I love you, and I’m scared, but I trust you. I trust us, too.”

“Shit. Fuck.” Ryuji dragged his hands down his face. “If I’m going to jail, I better get the chance to fucking murder some people.”

Max grinned. “Don’t worry. That’s the plan.”

I turned to face Obi, pulling out of Cas’s arms so that I could cup his cheeks. “Obi? What’s your call?”

His fingers curled around the backs of my thighs, and he pressed his face into my belly. He murmured quiet words I couldn’t decipher. After a few moments of silence, he looked up. “Our power comes from our family. Nowhere else. Our family can survive this test.”

“Okay,” I said, nodding. Determination rolled through my body like a calming wave. We were about to face our toughest fight yet. We were going to willingly walk into a trap that was designed to destroy us. “Max, Obi, tell us—how are we supposed to win?”

58

OBI

It wasn’t hard for Ciel to hack the cameras of City Hall, but the mayor wasn’t there. Instead, she was in meetings at a nearby municipal building. We’d armed ourselves with as many weapons as we could carry as quickly as we could and then piled into one of our armored SUVs.

“Okay, everyone’s good with the plan?” Max asked from beside me in the front passenger seat while we drove there. I swerved through the city traffic. “We need to find and secure the mayor first. Then we’ll see what Greco does.”

Max and I had given them the high-level explanation of how we could take down Greco. The family had agreed before we left. We were proceeding with the plan. But it took every ounce of control in my body to not turn the car around and lock Leona up at home.