Chapter 28 Tony
Tony
Adrian Belmont has been busy while we’ve been hunting his mole.
Boris summoned me to Dmitri’s office twenty minutes ago, and I’ve spent most of that time staring at surveillance photographs that tell quite the story.
Sasha sits beside me, with her knee almost touching mine.
Alexei paces behind his brother’s chair while Dmitri studies the images with the sort of scowl that usually precedes violence.
“Our teams in Western Europe reported in three hours ago,” Boris explains from his position near the window. “They’ve been tracking Adrian’s movements since we confirmed Ivan as the source of the leak. What they found is concerning.”
He’s underselling it.
The photographs show Adrian in Paris, shaking hands with members of the Corsican syndicate outside a café in the Marais district.
Adrian in Berlin, dining at a private club with a former KGB operative who now runs weapons through Eastern Europe.
Adrian in Amsterdam, photographed entering a canal house owned by financiers known for bankrolling hostile takeovers of legitimate businesses.
“He’s building a coalition,” Dmitri states. “Every network he’s contacted has one thing in common. They all have grievances against Russian organizations operating in their territories.”
“The Corsicans lost three shipping routes to us last year,” Alexei adds. “The Berlin contact had his money laundering operation disrupted when we expanded into Germany. The Amsterdam financiers have been trying to acquire a company we currently control.”
“Adrian is offering them something invaluable in exchange for their cooperation,” Boris continues. “Information about our operations, our vulnerabilities, and our financial structures. This is the kind of intelligence that could cripple us if it fell into the wrong hands.”
“And it’s all information that Ivan’s been feeding him,” I realize.
“Exactly.” Alexei replies with a nod. “Every document Ivan accessed, every file he copied, every detail he passed along is now being used to build a case for why these organizations should unite against us.”
I inspect the photographs more closely. Adrian looks different in these images than I remember from our meetings. Thinner. More manic. The composed art dealer I first met has been replaced by someone operating on obsession and desperation.
“He’s accelerating,” I observe. “These meetings are happening too fast, too openly. He’s not being careful anymore.”
“Which makes him more dangerous,” Dmitri replies. “A careful enemy is predictable. Adrian has stopped caring about consequences.”
“What exactly is he proposing to these networks?” Sasha asks. She hasn’t looked at the photographs yet, keeping her gaze fixed on her brother instead.
Alexei answers. “From what our sources gathered, he’s positioning himself as a coordinator. Each organization contributes resources and intelligence. In return, Adrian promises them a share of whatever territories and assets they can seize once the Kozlov operation is destabilized.”
“He’s selling them a war,” I surmise.
“He’s selling them an opportunity,” Dmitri corrects. “One they’re apparently willing to consider. Some have agreed to provide logistical support, others are offering weapons. The Amsterdam group is prepared to fund the operation.”
Sasha finally looks at the photographs, and her face goes pale as she examines a shot of Adrian leaving a hotel in Munich. She’s working through what this means. Adrian is trying to assemble enough firepower to destroy them completely.
“What’s our move?” I ask.
Dmitri exchanges a look with Boris before answering. “We need to force his hand. Draw him out before he finishes building his coalition.”
“How do you intend to do that?”
“By giving him what he wants.” Dmitri’s gaze settles on Sasha, then on me.
“You and Sasha will travel to London. Make it look like you’ve successfully isolated her from our protection and have convinced her to return.
That puts her back within his direct reach.
Adrian’s been waiting for this moment since he hired you. We give it to him.”
My stomach drops.
“You want to use Sasha as bait.”
“We need to end this threat before it grows beyond our ability to contain it,” Dmitri explains. “Adrian’s obsession with my sister is his weakness. We exploit that weakness, or we spend the next year fighting a war on multiple fronts against enemies we can’t predict.”
The logic is sound. I hate every word of it.
“What’s the plan?” Sasha asks with a steady voice despite the fear I know she must be feeling.
Boris takes over. “You’ll fly to London tomorrow evening.
Commercial flight, no security escort. We’ll follow, of course, but at a distance.
Tony will report to Adrian that he’s convinced you to leave Moscow for a few days, away from your brothers’ oversight.
Adrian will see this as his opportunity. ”
“And when he makes his move?”
“We’ll have teams positioned throughout the city. When Adrian surfaces and the opportunity is right, we take him.” Boris pauses. “But it has to look real. If Adrian suspects a trap, he’ll disappear again, and we’ll have lost our best chance.”
Alexei pushes off from the window. “I don’t like this. There are too many variables we can’t control.”
“Neither do I,” Dmitri admits. “But Adrian has forced our hand. Every day we wait, he gets stronger and we get more exposed. This ends in London, one way or another.”
The room falls silent, and I look at Sasha, trying to read her reaction, but she’s studying the photographs again.
“I’ll do it,” she finally declares.
“Sasha—” Alexei starts.
“This is my decision.” She cuts him off without raising her voice. “Adrian is coming after our family because of me. Because I exposed his operation in London. If using myself as bait is what it takes to end this, then that’s what I’ll do.”
Dmitri nods. “Tony, you’ll maintain your cover with Adrian until we’re ready to move. Keep him believing you’re still working for him.”
“Understood.”
“Boris will brief you both on extraction plans and emergency contacts. You’ll have backup in London, but they’ll stay invisible unless absolutely necessary.” Dmitri stands, signaling the end of the meeting.
The meeting breaks up, and everyone files out except me. I stay in my chair, staring at the empty desk where those photos had been spread minutes ago. This man is building an army to destroy the woman I’ve fallen in love with.
The realization doesn’t surprise me anymore. Somewhere between the deception and the truth, between the mission I was hired for and the person I’ve become, I fell in love with Sasha Kozlov.
I don’t know exactly when it happened, but I suppose that doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that tomorrow, I’m supposed to help put her in the crosshairs of a man who wants to destroy her.
I push myself out of the chair and leave Dmitri’s office. The compound is quiet at this hour, most of the staff having retired for the evening. I wander through hallways I’ve come to know over the past weeks, past the kitchen and the courtyard where she found me after my nightmare.
The library door is slightly ajar, with warm light spilling into the corridor.
I find Sasha curled up in one of the leather armchairs, a book open in her lap that she’s clearly not reading. She looks up when I enter, and something in her face relaxes.
“You’re not going to try to sleep?” she asks.
I close the door behind me and take the chair across from her. “I don’t think that’s going to happen. Thought I’d find you here.”
“This was my mother’s favorite room. Dmitri kept all her books after she died. Sometimes I come here when I need to think.”
I look around at the massive book shelves around me, at the worn leather furniture and the antique lamps. It feels different from the rest of the compound. Softer and more family oriented.
“What are you thinking about?”
Sasha closes her book and sets it aside. “Tomorrow. London. Whether this plan is going to work or blow up in our faces.”
“It’s a good plan.”
“It’s a dangerous plan. I’m not naive, Tony. I know what we’re walking into.”
“I know you’re not naive. That’s part of what worries me.”
“You’re worried about me?”
“Of course I’m worried about you. Adrian has spent months planning this. He’s obsessed with hurting you, and we’re going to hand him the opportunity.”
“That’s the point. Draw him out so we can end this.”
“And if something goes wrong? If Boris’s teams aren’t fast enough, or Adrian has more resources than we anticipated—”
“Tony,” she cuts me off gently, “I can’t think about all the ways this could fail, or I’ll lose my nerve.”
I lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees. “I should never have taken Adrian’s contract. If I had just walked away when he first approached me, none of this would be happening.”
“You know that isn’t true. Adrian was already planning something before you came along. He would’ve just found someone else to do his dirty work.”
“Maybe. But I made it easier for him.” I shake my head. “Every time I think about what could have happened if I’d followed through on his plan…”
“But you didn’t. You made a different choice.”
“After I’d already lied to you. After I’d already betrayed your trust.”
“And now you’re trying to make it right.” She stands and crosses to my chair, settling onto the arm. “That counts for something, even if it’s taken me this long to realize it.”
I look up at her. This close, I can see the faint freckles across her nose, the gold flecks in her green eyes, and the small scar on her right palm from a childhood accident she told me about in St. Petersburg.
“I’m scared,” I admit. “Not of Adrian, not of the danger. I’m scared of losing you before I’ve had a chance to show you who I really am.”
Sasha squeezes my hand. “Then prove it in London. Stand beside me. Watch my back like I’ll watch yours. And when this is over, we’ll figure out the rest together.”
“Together?” I ask, cocking my head to the side.
“That’s what partners do, isn’t it?” A small smile crosses her face. “Handle things together.”
The word settles something in my chest. Partners. Not spy and target. Partners.
“Whatever happens in London, I need you to know something.” I hold her gaze. “You changed everything for me. The way I see myself, the way I see the future. You did that.”
“You don’t have to say anything back. I just needed you to hear it before London. Before whatever comes next.”
She studies my face for a long moment, and I can see her working through something behind those green eyes.
Then she leans forward and presses her lips to mine.
The kiss is soft, unhurried, nothing like the encounters we’ve been sharing lately.
This one feels like a conversation. Like she’s telling me something she doesn’t have words for yet.
When she pulls back, her fingers trail along my jaw. “You should try to sleep. Boris wants us at the airport by seven tomorrow.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll stay here a little longer.” She glances at the shelves surrounding us. “My mother used to say books were better company than worries. Maybe she was right.”
I stand but don’t move toward the door. Part of me wants to stay, to sit with her until dawn breaks and we have to face whatever Adrian has planned. But she needs this time alone with her mother’s memory, and I need to respect that.
“Goodnight, Sasha.”
“Goodnight, Tony.”
I pause at the door and look back. She’s already reaching for one of the worn books on the side table. Tomorrow we walk into danger to face a man who wants to destroy everything she loves.
But tonight, she looks almost peaceful.
I hold onto that image as I make my way back to my room. Whatever happens in London, I’ll fight like hell to make sure she gets more nights like this one.
Quiet.
Safe.
Surrounded by the things that matter to her.
It’s not much of a plan. But it’s the only promise I can make that I know I’ll keep.