Their Rivalry

44

Trust is a dangerous game.

London, England ~ Ava's POV

Everyone was seated around the large executive table in the conference hall but Vladimir. This should have gotten me worried because he could have been plotting our murders. The only thing that had kept my thoughts from straying was that he'd gotten multiple opportunities to take anyone of us out, but hadn't.

I wasn't slow to notice that he and Henry had become close again, and I wasn't sure if it was safe to assume that my brother had come to trust Vladimir.

Isabella had been staring at me the entire time from the corner of her eyes. I think she was expecting me to bolt out of here only to press my dagger against the throat of the possible traitor. She had stressed earlier on that trust was key if whatever we would plan was to work. Apparently, if we were divided like the Americans wanted, it would be easy for them to take us out one by one.

"He's on his way." Eli informed.

Only then did I remember that I had tasked Eli to keep tabs on him. That meant Vlad hadn't been up to anything shady at all, or else Eli would've prompted us.

After he arrived, Henry and Eli left us, shutting the door after them. They'd stand in front of the doors as guards. Since they weren't supposed to be involved, they didn't need to hear much of anything.

"Why is he here again?" Miguel whispered rhetorically, but Isabella answered anyway.

"Because we need him."

Vlad took the seat Henry had occupied right beside me. Miguel's gaze narrowed at him, and Isabella only rolled her eyes at the situation. Someone needed to do something, the tension was thickening quickly.

"Alright, what we have here is the new inner gang. Ava continues to call the shots, Miguel remains as the second-in-command, I'm obviously the third-in-command here, and Vladimir, you're the hacker."

The look on Vlad's face after Bella's short but spontaneous speech said everything. He did not like the downgrade one bit. Isabella had shared the positions according to ranks. She was trying to be fair.

"Okay, so is everyone alright with their new jurisdictions?" She enquired.

"No." Miguel and Vlad said simultaneously.

Bella and I looked at each other for a brief moment. For Vladimir, we understood, but Miguel?

"I'd like to switch positions with Vladimir." This was Miguel talking, and I forced myself to gulp down some water to avoid exclaiming, 'what?!'

"Sure then." Bella agreed in a heartbeat. It made me certain that this was how she'd wanted it to be all along.

"We need a name." Vladimir spoke up, "To make communication easier, and also to avoid silly slip ups."

"Vlad's right on that one." Miguel said, turning to me, "So what's it going to be, Boss?" He smirked; having finally met the stink eye I had been giving him.

There was a mixture of nationalities here, but we could all speak a wide range of languages. I had to think deeply about this. It was a known fact that Americans found it difficult to speak and understand Russian. That could be an advantage. Then again, if what I had in mind didn't sound good in Russian, we weren't using it.

"Repeat 'Hell on Earth' in your language one after the other." I said, propping my head up on my hand.

"Ад на Земле."

"Nope." I stated bluntly.

"Inferno sulla Terra."

"Maybe." My gaze finally fell on Miguel.