26. BRAXTON
Chapter twenty-six
D igital schematics of Malinov’s estate glowed from the surrounding screens, and blueprints were spread across the table alongside messages from Nik’s operatives on the ground.
He’d spent a fortune to ensure that his people—caterers, servers, bartenders, security personnel, and florists—were embedded inside Malinov’s estate in key positions for the night of the party, ensuring we had boots on the ground without drawing suspicion.
I stood behind him, fascinated by all he was doing, watching as he pulled up files and ran background checks on the people he placed inside. “If any of these fuckers so much as blink wrong, I’ll have their entire bloodline erased,” he muttered.
Nik was a goddamn machine.
I didn’t have his wealth. His network. His army of hackers.
But I did have a very particular set of skills—I learned fast and had a virtually photographic memory.
“If this goes south,” I muttered, poring over the digital schematics of Malinov’s estate, “I need to know every possible escape route. I don’t want to be caught flat-footed.”
I memorized everything I could get my hands on: entry and exit points, vantage points and blind spots, emergency protocols, and even the sewage tunnels, if it were to come to that.
Nik caught me muttering under my breath about choke points and defensive positions. He looked up from his laptop and snorted. “Jesus, Thorin. You sure you weren’t military?”
“No,” I said, still focused on the layout. “Just a paramedic who’s had to think on his feet, working in and around Tacoma and Seattle.”
Nik exhaled, rubbing his jaw. “Yeah. I get that.”
At 3:17 a.m., Nik cracked Malinov’s security system.
The massive monitors flickered as we gained access to the cameras. We now had live feeds from every angle inside the mansion.
“You really are some next-level James Bond, huh?” I said, in awe of the seamless infiltration.
Nik arched an eyebrow. “More like Robin Hood.”
I scoffed. “Yeah? Stealing from the rich to give to the poor?”
Nik’s smirk flickered. “Something like that. I like to use my companies to spread the wealth.”
I let it go because I liked the idea. Nik had grown on me, even if I didn’t fully trust him yet.