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She shoved her half-eaten apple in my mouth. Standing up to pace, she said, “We need to play into Walter’s single weakness. His one blind spot.”
I hacked on the apple, miffed but amused, and chucked it in the trash. “He doesn’t have one. We’re up against a mountain. The Devils are down a man.” Saying that was like a knife twisting in my gut. “So it’s seven, including you and me, and you can count Carrie, against however many Wolverines your dad’s got stashed away. We got two pregnant women to protect. We’re not exactly a formidable force. How many men you think he’s got?”
Caroline stopped pacing to fix her already perfect hair. She was still keeping it up in a ponytail. “Almost thirty.”
“Damn.” I scrubbed at my jaw. My scruff was growing out thicker. I hadn’t shaved in two weeks now. “The trailer was the club’s safe place to hunker down. Bates tailed the Devils there and…” My voice choked a little, remembering Gabriel’s prone body. I forced it down. “Bates knows where it is, and now that he knows we’re even more vulnerable without Gabriel, he’s going to use that to his advantage.”
“If he hasn’t already,” she said darkly.
“No,” I said sharply. “Jackson would have found a way to contact me.”
Caroline was silent for a moment, then whispered, “Me.”
“Huh?”
“His weak spot.” She turned to me, and her eyes were blazing. “It’s me.”
I stared at her like she’d grown a second head—then laughed. She crossed her arms defensively when I tried to suppress my laughing fit. “Baby girl,” I tried to reason, “you’re delusional if you think I’m going to let you be bait for a psycho mob boss.”
“You’re delusional if you think you own me or get to decide what I can and can’t do,” she fired back.
My smile faded. I stood and tucked her into my arms without resistance. “You’re right. I don’t.” I rested my cheek on her head. After a second of stiffness, Caroline relaxed into me. “But you’ve gone through too many levels of hell to be a sacrifice.”
“But—”
“He left you in a room with a monster. He doesn’t give a damn about you, Caroline. I hate to tell you that, but I know it’s true. You must, too. You can’t give a damn about him, either.”
Caroline let out a shuddering exhale. “I know that. But he’ll still want me back.”
“How can you be so confident?”
She pulled away gently. “Because I know him. He wants me back so that he can punish me. Not you. He wants it for himself. He thinks he owns me.” She lifted her chin, and damn her confidence was sexy. “He always has. But not anymore. That’s why it’ll work. He’ll want to break me. He’ll leave the Devils alone if I’m the thing he has to focus on first.”
I didn’t like it. There were too many risks. Too many variables we couldn’t control. Caroline believed that we could create a situation where we did control all the variables.
But it would require help.
“If I entertain this idea,” I began slowly, “we need to get the Devils on board, and that’s a hell of a lot easier said than done.”
Caroline nodded. “I know. That’s why you have to convince them it’s your idea, not mine. We can make it seem like you do hate me and want to return me to Walter.”
That made me angry. “I don’t hate you. And I’m not going to lie to Jackson. That’ll only make things worse. What I hate is that I have to tell you that Black Jack isn’t going to want to follow a plan where you’re a variable at all. He doesn’t trust you. He isn’t going to put any of his men at risk?—”
“They’re all at risk anyway,” Caroline hissed.
I sat down hard on the edge of the bed. Why couldn’t we get on the same page?
“You said it yourself, Nate,” she said, crossing her arms again. “Walter knows the Devils are vulnerable right now. He could make a move any day. We need to make a move first, and if that involves being bait, fine. I’m willing to be that.”
I raked my hand through my hair but kept eye contact. She was too damn convincing. “And once he’s dead, you’ll be fine and come back to me.”
It wasn’t an argumentative point.
Caroline gave one sharp nod. “I’m a survivor. I’ll do whatever it takes.”
“You’re so badass, baby girl.”
“Damn right.”