n

n

nAngelo huffed as he shut the door after Christian left. That moron didn't know what he was talking about. Sure, he talked a good game, but he thought Avery was a normal person. Not a villain. He would never accept her as she was if he knew the truth.

nThat foolish girl had to go and give her stupidly tender heart away to do-gooders all the time. First that hero. Then a lawyer.

nShe was playing a dangerous game and she knew it. That was why she didn't want Angelo to try and talk her out of it. She had already thought of everything and tried to justify it away like an idiot.

n

"You are the one hurting her right now though,

" Jorge piped up from his place on the couch.

"Amigo wasn't wrong about that.

"

nUgh. It was bad enough that Christian had to show up when he was over. Now he had to take his side? He should know better than anyone that Avery getting married was an incredibly dumb idea!

n

"Not you too,

" Angelo moaned.

n

"I'm not saying you have to be happy about it. I'm just saying you need to let Güera do her thing if you don't want to lose her forever. She's a stubborn one and a woman in love. That's a dangerous combination. She'll hold a grudge,

" Jorge said wisely.

nThat she would. She might be a peaceful person by nature but he knew she meant it when she said she wouldn't forgive him if he tried to talk her out of it.

nThat whole speech about how miserable she had been throughout the duration of their plan came out of nowhere. She had been perfectly fine until her fiancé came along, hadn't she? Though it was possible it had been building up for a long time. Or that Angelo was blind and didn't see what was right in front of him because he hadn't wanted to.

nHad Avery truly been suffering that long and putting on a brave face for him because he kept pushing her? He knew he could be gruff but it was only because he cared about their mission so much.

nThey had always had the sort of relationship that involved a lot of teasing and giving each other a hard time. When had she gotten so sensitive?

n

"What am I supposed to do? I can't watch her self-destruct!

" Angelo protested.

nJorge shrugged before looking at him seriously.

"You don't know for sure that things will go south. If everything goes according to plan he'll never find out and we'll all be regular citizens again within the next year.

"

n

"That's leaving an awful lot to chance!

"

n

"So what? Life is a gamble, Angelo. Güera's a big girl. It's her call whether she takes a chance or not.

"

n

"Jorge, you traitor,

" Angelo muttered.

"How am I supposed to argue with that?

"

n

"You're not. So will you make up with her already? The two of you have never gone this long without talking. It's unnatural. Let her be happy for now without worrying about her being miserable later. We don't know for sure that she will be but she's definitely miserable now if her fiancé got all up in arms about it,

" Jorge said matter-of-factly.

n

"…that is a point in his favor. But if he believes in her this much it's going to be worse if he does find out.

"

n

"Why not take things as they come? That seems to be what Güera's doing. Follow her lead.

"

n

"She's going to get hurt.

"

n

"Only if she gets caught. Nobody has busted her so far and she's been at this for three and a half years. Have a little faith in her, will you? She is your best friend.

"

nAngelo sighed. Avery WAS his best friend. His family. He could never miss her wedding even if he didn't agree with what she was doing. Jorge was right that he needed to end this cold war but that didn't mean he had to like it.

nWhat would he even say? She already knew why he thought this was a bad idea and that he didn't support what she was doing. Apologies were kind of useless when they wouldn't change anything.

nWhatever he said now wouldn't change what had been said. Or how he felt. Avery would know his feelings on the matter even if he tried to make things up to her.

nHow could he make things up to her? She knew he didn't support her marrying someone who would have been perfect for her if things were different. Christian kept up with her weird sense of humor and practically worshipped the ground she walked on. He was in for a rude awakening one of these days.

nShe WAS wonderful in her own way but she was also ready to tear the world down to build a new one. A lawyer wouldn't like that. People who work for

/around the law tend to support it.

nAvery might be a pain at times but she was one of the best people he knew. That goody-two-shoes fiancé of hers wouldn't be able to properly appreciate what he had if he found out the truth. He would turn on her in a heartbeat.

nAngelo knew this but he also knew he needed to apologize no matter how pointless it was.

"What would I even say?

"

n

"That you trust her judgment and that you're happy for her. It's the right thing to say even if you don't mean it,

" Jorge said wisely.

nHe didn't trust her judgment. That was the problem. The truly sad part of all of this was that he would be happy for her if the situation was different. Things were far too unstable right now. It was not the time to go falling in love and living happily ever after!

n

"…you're a lot smarter than I give you credit for,

" he muttered.

nHis cousin laughed.

"Thanks, Angelo! That might be the nicest thing you ever said to me.

"

n

"Oh, shut up.

"

nAngelo couldn't talk to Avery right now because she was working. He had an idea that might get through to her. She did find apology cakes funny so why not call one in for her to do? She would see it and know it was from him as soon as she saw the order form.

nHe called the bakery and asked if it was possible to get a rush on a basic cake with a message on it by the end of the day. Thankfully, it was early enough and they didn't have any other big orders going on. He didn't want to wait this one out a moment longer than necessary. Their fight had dragged out long enough.

nAngelo knew most of the people at the bakery by now but he didn't recognize the voice of the person on the phone. Must be the part-timer.

nHe made his order and said he would be over to pick it up around 4:45 PM. All he had to do now was wait. Jorge had been hanging out here since Maribel was having a spa day with her girlfriends and had nothing better to do. He had been trying to help Angelo come up with a plan using various bits and pieces of the information he had gotten both from that flash drive and from Leah Hunsacher when Christian showed up.

nThey got back to it once the drama was out of the way and the cake order was taken care of. They would need Avery to execute this plan so getting back on her good side was important.

nWith much difficulty they had narrowed down the laboratory where the mind control experiments were being conducted to three places. Avery was going to have to destroy all of them and around the same time kidnap all the scientists involved and move their families to safe locations so Hunsacher couldn't hurt them in retaliation.

nThis would require an awful lot of capital. That was where Leah came in. She was going to wirelessly transfer money to an untraceable offshore account and that was how they were going to pay for this whole venture.

nThe problem was that they were still working out logistics for such a massive undertaking. They would need to utilize as much of their network as possible to pull this off. Avery couldn't do it alone even if she was going to have to handle the destruction and some of the kidnapping.

nShe was only one person, albeit one in a super suit. She couldn't be in multiple places at once.

nThey really needed to find a way to replicate Levi's tech but it was one of a kind. They could use a whole army of Noxes. They would be able to topple Husacher's empire in less than a day with that kind of power and a well-executed plan.

nThe problem was that none of them were nanotechnologists and he had been the world's best. Angelo had taken over his father's role as tech support because he actually knew computers. Avery got saddled with the job of the muscle because the suit responded to her rather than because she knew anything about operating it. There had been a lot of trial and error in the early days with the suit.

n