All By Design: A Nikolai Lantsov Series

Chapter Twelve: if you fail to plan, you plan to fail

this chapter's song: mastermind

You honestly thought that this was going to be the end. You could feel all of your pieces falling apart by the minute. After everything, how could something as simple as a rumor could break you? Perhaps it's because it's not a rumor at all. Truth cuts like a blade, tearing apart your carefully stitched seams and revealing all the realities you'd rather keep hidden.

And in the middle of your storm, despite the dark skies and shrieking wind, Nikolai has the audacity to smile, to pull you out of it. He has an idea, you know that just as surely as breathing. The chain reaction is going off in his head, and although both of you have been suffering this entire time, he has the way out.

Of course he does. How could Nikolai ever stumble across a problem and not be able to reckon his way out of it? This is precisely how he works best. You knew that when you met him back in Zoya's office for the first official time, you knew it when you were drunk and he was disarmingly sober at someone else's party, and you knew it when you were both kids who should have seen that running was the only way to ever stay truly free.

As he speaks, it occurs to you that this is what it's like to look upon Nikolai as an outsider. His eyes blaze with the fire of revenge, and you swear you can see his mind moving towards a thousand threads per minute. This is why everyone in this damned place is scared of him, because they know Nikolai could ruin anyone in a heartbeat if he so desired.

Nikolai lays out his plan reasonably but with great panache. When he starts to lose track of the groundwork he's laid, you add details that keep the plot on topic. The hours spin by, but none of that matters, because finally, finally, both of you know exactly what you have to do.

At the end of this great meeting of masterminds, you and Nikolai walk away with hearts considerably lightened. You have calls to make; so does he. Zoya is clued in instantly, and she agrees to meet with Tolya and Tamar so they can handle their parts of the plan. When you tell Zoya that Aleksander was the one to let spill the secret, you don't have to see her in person to feel her rage. After that, it's simple to convince her to join your side; all you have to do is ask. Zoya wants him gone just as much as you do, if not far, far more.

Two days later, you're holding a strategy session in your living room. Three faces just as resolute as yours look back at you around your table. Nikolai is down the hall, on the phone for what must be the hundredth time since the great realization. Anything for the chance to finally seize your lives back with all the thrill of an army general leading a conquest.

Zoya Nazyalensky looks ready to kill. Her jaw is locked, her expression murderous. She has been suffering in silence for far too long, trying to convince herself that she's making a difference even as she watches friend after friend led astray. At last, she has her chance to strike, and Zoya is not willing to sacrifice it for anything.

Alina Starkov has been waiting for a chance like this for a very long time. She had been hoping that you would come around to her side, and although she didn't want it to happen like this, few people get to pick the prettiness of their unravelings. All you get to do is find the best way to put your pieces back together, and if this is how Aleksander is finally taken down, well, she's not about to argue about it.

Genya Safin is still a stranger to you still. You never met her before today, but already you can tell that she's going to be a very good friend. She has the sort of sharpness that takes years of careful honing. She had wondered if you were to be trusted, but after hearty recommendations from Zoya and Alina both, she's on board with the whole idea.

All four of you are discussing next moves now. You'll need all of them to make this work, but you have no doubt of their loyalties. Everyone here wants Aleksander dead and buried. Tolya and Tamar would usually be included in this discussion, but they're racing to accomplish another goal in the grand scheme, so they won't be included in this particular meeting of the minds.