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“Are you done?” I asked when Dmitri finally stopped talking.

Draven chuckled and elbowed Dmitri, though Feliks stroked his jaw as if he were thinking. I caught a hint of a smile from Manic out of the corner of my eye, but ignored that too.

“You’d be able to avoid being targeted by the other cartel and the feds if you rotated ports on a limited schedule,” I continued. “Which is why two to three a month makes sense. It would prevent you from being targeted.”

“Why would we listen to you?” Ronan asked me finally.

My cheeks warmed as his features hardened, but I knew what his question was beneath the surface—a challenge. To see if I’d be an asset or a liability. Thankfully, I had no intention of them using me for… anything other than what I was doing now. Manic had been right though; I needed to learn the board in order to prevent being played.

“The end goal is to make more money without being targeted by law enforcement,” I said, and they all mindlessly nodded. I faced Ronan. “Instead of using just this casino and its port, why not the other two he owns? Rotating ports means less suspicion, which is what you want. You’ll make more money this way, because you can bury larger shipments within the casino’s supplies. You will be hiding them with not one, but three ports on a rotating schedule. This structure protects everyone. You will get less bloodshed from both sides, and I’m sure the council will pull back a bit.”

Ronan smirked before looking at Feliks. To my surprise, Feliks nodded while rubbing his jaw. Dmitri whispered something to Feliks in Russian, his lips curving up, and their eyes clashed. Manic stiffened, as if he’d overheard. Feliks nodded again.

Holy shit. Did that actually work?

My father’s face beat blood red, his hands curling into fists on the table. “You’re a stupid girl. You’re going to regret⁠—”

Manic chuckled, low and throaty. “Actually, Luka, I think she’s the smartest person in the room.” He peered down at me, then asked, “What about the laundering? What would you do for that?”

I glanced at my father.

There was a time when I had been frightened of his wrath, yet ached for the soft side of him I didn’t often see. He was different then. Or perhaps it was a mask, much like everyone else here.

But now, as I looked at him, nothing but disdain and disappointment settled like a cold blanket along my skin. He was rough around the edges because he needed to be, not because it was natural for him. Deep down, he was a selfish coward who only cared about one thing: his casinos.

I grinned, and his face drained entirely of color, as if he knew I was about to ruin his fucking life. Good. I wanted him to feel my metaphorical knife as it entered his heart.

“The casinos' busiest days are Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays,” I explained. “You’d be able to successfully launder every single week if you mixed it in with the high foot traffic. A little goes a long way, and I believe you’d be able to have four million within two months, not three.”

Hushed murmurs echoed around the room, mostly in Russian. I sat quietly, taking in each face at the table. If I could shave off a month of being their captive, I’d take any chance I could get. Besides, this was my father’s problem now, not mine.

“Wonderful,” Ronan remarked. He grinned at Luka like I’d just made his entire week. “Then it’s settled. I want more reports pulled so Sutton can look everything over. I want her here a few days a week to control the schedules and manage the money.”

My stomach dropped. Oh, fuck.

I clearly didn’t think this through enough. I was in no position to run something like that, and now they were trusting me with money? The door opened with a deliberate whoosh as someone filed out of the room, surely to pull those reports.

What would happen to me if they couldn’t get four million within two months? Did I just give them a reason to keep me indefinitely?

“I have one more request,” Dmitri chimed in, and Manic stiffened beside me. “I want trade.”

“What kind of trade?” Ronan asked with an exasperated sigh.

“We give extra two percent for Sutton.” Dmitri waved his hand toward my father. “You keep dipshit casino owner, we keep her for even trade.”

Luka snarled at the insult, but my blood froze at the request. I guess I just received my answer. Dmitri wanted to trade me? Was he asking to buy me with the extra two percent of their profit? And why wasn’t my father chiming in?

My breathing picked up, blood pounding.

The racing of my heart started first, then the shaking of my limbs—from my thighs, up my arms, and into my fingers. Beneath the table, Manic slid his hand over my bouncing knee, squeezing gently, and my breathing slowly leveled.

“No,” Manic said coolly, giving one more squeeze before pulling back. “That wasn’t a part of the original deal. She’ll be released after this is over. Plus, I’m not too sure she’d be interested in warming your bed as a side-piece.”

“Not up to you, now is it?” Dmitri’s mouth twitched, but he said nothing else while we waited for Ronan to reply.

Our gazes shifted over. Ronan rubbed his jaw before shaking his head, and I quietly exhaled, my shoulders dropping from my ears. The last thing I wanted was to be stuck with the Russians.

“Manic is right,” Ronan added, rising from his seat. “Sutton is not up for trade, and we will stick to our original deal.”