Page 108 of The Enemy Protector
"Give it to her," I say.
Kirill is quiet for a moment. "I'm sorry?"
“I need her to know he’s watching.”
“Isn’t this something you should handle?”
“No. Have it delivered to the warehouse as intended.” I lean back in my chair and contemplate my decision. “This does two things.We find out if she’s being given all the information. And we’ll know if she’s ready to fight.”
"She'll panic," he says.
"No she won't."
"She might."
"She won't." I've seen her panic once, or something near it, and it looked nothing like how most people imagine panic looks on someone. It looked like stillness.
"She'll be angry,” he says.
“She should be. I want her pissed. I want her fighting back.”
"You're testing her," he says.
"I'm trusting her." The distinction matters. I mean it. "There's a difference."
"Is there."
"If I intercept every threat before it reaches her, she’s going to become complacent. I can't run her operation for her. I won't." I lean forward. "And I can't tell her what to do with this. If I hand it to her with instructions, it's management. She has to make her own call."
Kirill is quiet.
"What do you think she does?" he asks.
I think about it.
"She gets angry," I say. "She thinks about her next move just like she has been since Yuri showed up. Before that. She chose to marry me because she recognized the strategy.”
He flashes a smile. “You respect her.”
“I do.”
I think he thought I would deny it.
"Do you trust her?" he asks.
Now that’s a difficult question. I rub my jaw and consider the answer.
I trust her to be exactly who she is. I trust her to make decisions that she thinks are right. I might not agree with those decisions. I have to be prepared to let her be wrong once in a while or this doesn't work. Any of it. The marriage, the alliance and whatever is building between us.
“As much as I trust any ally,” I answer.
He knows what that means. “And if you can no longer trust her?”
A feeling I’m unfamiliar with sours my stomach. Dread. Worry. Because if I can’t trust her, she cannot be my ally.
Or my wife.
And she’s already in my house. There’s only one way someone leaves my inner circle.
