Misha frowned slightly.
“If someone was watching patterns,” she continued, “they’d notice your coveragelooksdoubled — but your accountability is split. That’s where mistakes happen.”
Misha looked slowly toward me.
I lifted a shoulder and nodded once. “She’s right.”
Danil exhaled through his nose. “Motherfucker.”
Addy shrugged and went back to cutting another cinnamon roll. “Just seemed inefficient.”
Misha stared at her for a moment. “Maybe we should let you run operations.”
Addy laughed immediately. “Oh God, no! There are a million reasons why that’s a bad idea. I’m fine right where I am.”
But I could see the calculation in her eyes, her ability to recognize patterns, and the way her mind naturally dissected and reassembled problems into cleaner structures.
She thought she was simply listening while I read reports aloud and she stirred batter or kneaded dough, unaware that her half-attentive glances and casual questions were actually catching mistakes, gaps, and misalignments in our operations.
Unaware that what she was doing — what she did every day — was strategy.
The kind of strategy most men in this world never learned.
Misha and Danil finished their pastries, exchanged a quick nod with me, and headed back toward the door.
Danil paused before leaving. “You baking again tomorrow?”
Addy gestured at the mixing bowl. “Yup. I’ll be here.”
The door shut behind them, silence settling into the kitchen again as I strolled closer.
“You’ve turned my soldiers into sugar addicts.”
She shrugged, shooting me a mischievous little grin. “It’s called improving morale.”
“You also reorganized the dock security schedule before breakfast.”
“That was a fluke.”
“Was it?”
“Maybe don’t leave stuff out if you don’t want me looking at it.” She glanced at me sideways and scrunched her nose up. “Why are you staring at me?”
“I’m thinking.”
Addy snorted. “That’s rarely comforting.”
I leaned against the counter beside her, lowering my voice slightly. “You see patterns other people miss.”
“Yeah, most people just call it overthinking.”
“No.No.” I shook my head slowly. “You calculate.”
Addy looked up at me then, studying my expression like she was trying to decide whether I was serious.
“You’re the criminal mastermind here.”
I felt the corner of my mouth twitch. “And yet you’re the one who prevented a war between us and Rafael’s Familia.”