Chapter 97 Chapter Ninety-six
ARA
“We'll use Ara as bait.” Nadia repeated herself without blinking.
“Me, as bait?” I asked, suddenly regretting why I'd convinced Thayne we could let Nadia help us.
What was I—a fisherman’s worm, wriggling on a hook, waiting to be swallowed?
Nadia let out a short, humorless laugh, as if anything about this conversation could possibly be funny.
“What?” she said, spreading her hands. “I told you I’d help you kill two birds with one stone. But stones don’t throw themselves. We need to draw them out, and the only thing our fathers want badly enough to drop their guards is you.”
She said it so matter-of-factly, like she was discussing logistics instead of dangling a pregnant woman in front of two of the most ruthless men I'd ever come across
I felt Thayne’s hand flex against the back of my neck. His hold on me was possessive, protective, and vibrating with barely leashed violence.
I didn’t look at him yet. I couldn’t. If I saw the storm in his eyes, I might lose the thin thread of control I was clinging to.
Instead, I leaned forward, my elbows on the table, and met Nadia’s gaze head-on.
“So your grand plan is to tie me to a chair in the middle of nowhere and hope they both show up with flowers and apologies?” My tone was dry, because I wasn't pretending to be okay with her idea of using me as bait.
“Because that worked out so well for you with the fake pregnancy, didn’t it?” I asked her.
A flicker of something, it looked like anger or shame, crossed her face, but she smoothed it away quickly.
“This isn’t about hope,” she said. “It’s about certainty. We choose the location. We control the sight lines. We decide when and how they come. You’re not helpless bait, you’re the lure we set in a trap we built.”
Thayne’s voice cut through the room like a blade.
“She’s not a fucking lure.”
Everyone went still, even the air seemed to thin out at the sound of Thayne's low growl.
He stepped fully beside me now, his hand sliding from my neck to my shoulder, his fingers curling in a way that felt both comforting and dangerous to anyone who tried to move the wrong way.
“This feels a lot like you want to use us to take out the two men who are giving you a hard time,” Thayne said, his voice deceptively soft with the kind of quiet that preceded a detonation.
He leaned forward, his palms flat on the table, every inch of him radiating threat and danger. “You know not to toy with me. You know better than to suggest we use my pregnant wife as bait.”
Nadia didn’t back down, but her eyes flashed with frustration.
“You need to stop being so over-possessive and let her decide for herself,” she fired back, gesturing sharply toward me. “She’s right here in the room with us. Your overprotectiveness is beginning to irritate me.”
The temperature in the room plummeted.
Thayne straightened slowly, rolling his shoulders like a predator loosening for the kill. The guards nearest Nadia shifted, their hands already inching toward their weapons.
Thayne took one deliberate step toward her.
“I’m possessive,” he said coolly, “because she’s mine. Because she’s carrying my children. And because the last time someone thought they could use her as leverage, I buried them.”
He was talking about Darius. I wondered if Nadia knew all the details.
He let that hang for a beat, then continued. “But don’t mistake protection for control. I don’t speak for her. I never have.”
His gaze cut to me, and my heart warmed at his fierce and unwavering love for me, but underneath it all, I saw the plea he’d never voice aloud: Say no. Tell her to find another way.
I pushed back my chair and stood. Everyone’s attention snapped to me.
“I’m not a chess piece,” I said, looking straight at Nadia. “And I’m not helpless. I’ve been running, hiding, and fighting for a long time. And I’m tired of it.”
I stepped closer to the table, placing my hand flat on the map.
“If being bait ends this, if it gets Sasha back, if it keeps my babies from growing up looking over their shoulders…… then I’ll do it.”
Thayne’s jaw flexed, but he stayed silent, his eyes burning into me.
I turned to him fully. “I’m not asking your permission, Thayne. I’m telling you I’m in. But on one condition.” My eyes slid to Nadia who blinked when I said the last part.
I let my gaze drift to Thayne and held his stare. “Thayne will design this entire operation. Every sniper, every escape route, and every second of timing. If I’m the bait, then Thayne will be the one holding the rod. No compromises.”
The muscle in his cheek ticked once more. Then he exhaled, the fight draining out of him in a single breath.
“Fine,” he sighed. “But if I smell even a hint of double-cross—” his gaze slid to Nadia, “I’ll end everyone in this room before I let them touch her.”
“One more thing,” I added, my voice cutting through the heavy silence.
Nadia rolled her eyes, already bracing for whatever demand was coming.
I needed to say this out loud, not just for her, but for myself. To remind every person in this room that we weren’t pawns. We were the ones setting the board.
Even if Nadia had ulterior motives buried beneath her offer of help, we would see them coming. We would be ready.
“Nadia will be the second bait.”
The room stilled again. Thayne’s hand tightened fractionally on my shoulder, curiosity sharpening his stare.
Nadia’s expression froze. “Excuse me?”
“We’re both pregnant,” I continued calmly.
“With the right make up and clothing, from a distance, you can be my stunt double. All we have to do is get you a wig, my clothes and give you a makeover so you could pass for me.” I let the corner of my mouth lift, just enough to show teeth.
“That way we confuse them completely. Two targets, one location. They won’t know which one is real until it’s too late. We split their focus, thin out their forces, and strike when they’re scrambling to figure it out.”
Nadia’s face went flat, shock bleeding into something colder.
“You want me,” she said slowly, “to stand in the open and wait for my own father to take a shot at me?”
I didn’t blink.
“I want you to prove you’re really on our side. You said you’re done with him. You said you want him ended. Here’s your chance to show it.”
Thayne’s low chuckle rumbled beside me, dark approval threading through it.
Nadia stared at me for a long beat, color rising in her cheeks.
Then she exhaled sharply through her nose.
“Fine,” she bit out. “I’ll be your damn decoy.”
She leaned in, her eyes narrowing in displeasure.
“But if we’re both out there, Slade, your snipers better be the best in the world. Because if I take a bullet meant for her, I swear I’ll —”
Thayne didn't even let her finish. “They are the best,” he said. “And they’ll be taking orders from me. One wrong move from anyone, your father, mine, or even you…. and the only person bleeding will be the one who deserves it.”
The tension in the room shifted. It wasn't gone, only redirected elsewhere.
Nadia straightened, rolling her shoulders like she was stepping into armor.
“Then let’s make sure both those bastards show up,” she said. “And let’s make sure neither of them walks away.”
If she was putting on a show to deceive us into thinking she was on our side, then I had to admit she was even more of a better actress than Madison.
I had the feeling she had a game of her own, but I couldn't tell Thayne yet, not when I didn't have solid proof. Not when I'd been the one to convince him to accept her help.