Chapter 2
RORI
Being on the same plane as one of the deadliest assassins in the world should probably scare the shit out of me. Instead, it just irritates me. Or, rather, she irritates me.
If there is one thing about Tatiana—again, not her real name, but what else am I supposed to call her since I don’t know what she actually goes by now—it’s that she’s a fucking psycho. Some might say that about me because of my upbringing, but this woman, she’s a whole other level.
Maybe it’s because I know what she’s been through that I don’t hate her.
That I understand on a deeper level, or maybe that’s what keeps me from fearing her.
I’m not as good as her, especially with her ability to blend in so well or become anyone she needs to be, but I’m up there in my skills. I can hold my own.
Fuck, seeing her in my room was enough of a shock.
Staring at her, looking identical to Amara, it was a jolt to the fucking system.
I felt fear then, but not for me. For everyone else.
Could I keep her from killing them all? Was she there to just kill me?
I didn’t think she would kill Amara, or even Gia, Lucy, or Sienna since they were her direct family, but everyone else was fair game.
Then the fear spiked when Alonzo came to the door, opening it without knocking.
Tatiana moved so fast it was a blur, back into the shadows, becoming one herself.
I could feel her annoyance and anger the longer Alonzo stayed, trying to talk and explain.
Tried to goad me into giving him the reactions I did.
I’m still not sure how I managed to keep him from noticing that Hades was out cold, or just how close to death he was. Maybe it was my incredible acting skills. Well, not really. My anger at him was real enough. He hurt me. He cut me deep in a way a man hasn’t been able to do in a very long time.
Mishka’s face flashes in my mind, blurry with time and fading memory, but clear enough, the pang of regret is still there. I haven’t thought about him in a long time. Guilt stirs. I’d like to say that it was avoidance, but it was simply time and practicality. Mishka would understand.
At least, I’d like to think that. Sixteen, plus married was fucking hard enough as it was. I was still a child, and he was older than me by a few years. Still, he treated me like a best friend.
When he was killed, it broke something inside me.
The stability, as tenuous as it was, was gone, yanked away from under me so fast I didn’t know how to handle it.
Widow at eighteen. The only thing that saved me from a worse fate was that I wasn’t pregnant, and we had no children.
A fact that Timur lamented constantly, but nothing could be done.
Still, as horrible a time in my life that was, it was nothing like what Alonzo did. At least, not in the sense of breaking my heart.
There’s no point in dwelling on it.
Alonzo made his position clear, and I have to accept that.
Him coming after me means nothing. It’s simply that he wants answers and to prove he was right.
I’ll only be going from one fire to another.
I’ll have to answer to the Carusos and Nico, and something tells me they won’t be so understanding. Nico especially.
Well, it’s not a worry for me now. I’m either going to end up dead or married to a man who hates me. I’ve always known he blames me for Mishka’s death, even being so young. He felt that I weakened his brother, distracted him. Maybe I did.
The only reason the hitman got him so easily was that Mishka was out getting something for me before he came home from the club with his men. They were celebrating another large shipment, and I had been having terrible period cramps, and he promised to bring me home my favorite ice cream.
Unknowing that a hitman was after him and it put him in the direct line of fire. Simeon clarified I was to blame, despite not knowing me. That I should have sucked it up instead of putting Mishka in danger.
He’s right, and I’ve accepted that guilt. I don’t know if Simeon will see it that way. Hell, he might refuse to marry me outright and just kill me. If I get that far. Tatiana’s earlier words echo in my head.
They called my father, which means Timur plans to make an example of me.
Will Simeon be there to watch? I don’t know anything about him, other than seeing him in passing once or twice when I was newly married to Mishka, but he had his own home to run by then.
Being a few years Mishka’s senior, he kept to himself and did his own thing.
It didn’t stop him from making his thoughts clear on blaming me, but that’s no real surprise to me.
A beep on the laptop in front of me jolts me out of my thoughts.
I suppress a groan. Damn it, Alonzo. Why couldn’t you listen to me?
I take in his and Hades’s placement at the airport in New York City. The same one that we used to bring Amara and Lazaro back from Arizona. Maybe he’s not going to follow us, though. Maybe the family has decided to return to Sicily.
The sharp pain in my chest steals my breath. I fight back the tears that burn the back of my throat. At least if he’s going there, he’s taking Hades with him. Maybe Alonzo and his men can train him, teach him a few things, keep his skills up.
Fuck, I think leaving my dog is more painful than seeing the betrayal on everyone’s faces.
Including Sienna’s. Hades won’t understand.
My final command was to go to Alonzo and to listen.
I can only hope that he’ll obey Alonzo and not lose his shit.
I won’t be the reason that he dies, though.
Because that is exactly what Timur would do.
This is for the best.
I force myself to look away from the screen. Tatiana did it to taunt me, to remind me that nothing and no one is beyond her reach. I wouldn’t be surprised if the tracking devices she put on Alonzo and Hades aren’t explosives. The moment they come within range, she could detonate them.
It’s not her normal style, but at this point, I won’t put anything past her.
Instead of sitting here and wallowing, figure your shit out.
I’m walking back into enemy territory, and I need to be ready. I don’t know what Tatiana’s plan entails, but whatever it is, it’s time for me to be ready. The kind of ready that I haven’t been in a long time.
I look around the plane. It’s just as large as the Carusos’, but it’s also more lavish. It drips in expensive leather, high-end amenities like mini fridges, a self-serve mini bar, and even a workspace for whoever owns this thing.
My mind flashes to Tatiana taunting someone she called “Pet” during her phone call. Whoever she stole the plane from isn’t someone I want to meet. Ever.
Still, if they’re someone even remotely related to the Belovs, then this place has to be packed.
I spend the next half hour searching the plane, uncovering hidden stashes of guns, knives, a few brass knuckles, and even one garrote cleverly hidden behind one of the plush leather couches toward the back of the plane. I pocket everything I can before I make my way to my seat.
The bedroom door opens, and Tatiana emerges with a smug, satisfied smile, her dark eyes bright with excitement. It sets me on edge. What the hell is she up to now?
She doesn’t even glance at the knife in my hand, or the sharpening stone I managed to find as well.
Either she’s confident that I won’t use it to try to kill her, or she really doesn’t care.
She grabs the computer to check it, then rolls her eyes.
“I don’t know whether to find it sweet that he thinks he’s going to catch up to us, or that he thinks he knows where we’re going.
” She looks at me as if exasperated. “Men are idiots.”
I narrow my eyes. “Which personality am I talking to right now?”
She grins, unfazed.
“The one who finds this little back and forth between us amusing. For now anyway.” There, right there, was the dangerous flash in her eyes.
The kind that has my grip on the knife tightening just a fraction.
Hopefully not enough for her to notice. “But you have to agree that men are stupid. I mean, that one, he broke your heart, and here he is running after you? Doesn’t he realize that you don’t want anything to do with him now?
” I remain silent, giving nothing away. She watches me and then lets out an annoyed sound.
“And you say I’m nuts. You still love him after everything? ”
Why lie about it? She’s going to figure it out herself. “Not all of us can turn off our feelings at whim.”
“A horrible trait in humans nowadays. Especially the emotions that get in the way. Alright, tell me why him?”
“You don’t give a fuck about any of it, and I’m not giving you information on me to use later.”
“Rori, I have all the information that I need. You being in love with the giant ape of a man isn’t anything new to me.
Besides, I have plans for you, and that doesn’t involve killing you.
Not unless you get in my way. Then, I don’t have to explain what happens when someone gets in my way.
” Again, another flash of darkness crosses her face.
Then it smoothes out, and she smirks, looking at me expectantly.
“It doesn’t matter what I saw in him; it’s over. I told him not to follow, and he’s the one who decided to. I want to know what your plan is. I’m not going into this shit blind. Especially not something that involves Timur or Simeon.”
“You’ll see it soon enough.”
I glare. “Look, I get that you like to be a giant pain in the fucking ass, but you want my help? Then I need details.”
“And you’ll get them when I’m ready to give them to you. Drop it.”
My jaw clenches as I swallow back the demands. I need to pick my battles, and this isn’t one of them that I’m willing to push on yet. We stare at each other in silence, the tension growing thick.
Finally, Tatiana gestures for me to continue talking.
When I don’t say anything, she mutters something I can’t make out.
“Are you going to tell me what the deal is with your giant lover boy? Sounds like I missed the good shit before I managed to get there, but I certainly got a few good shows with how much you two love to yell at each other. Oh, and your knife-throwing was pitiful. You didn’t even nick him. ”
Guess that narrows down the timeline of how long she was watching us. A shiver moves down my spine at just how easily she slipped under our radar. Not even Hades alerted me.
“I wasn’t trying to actually get him. That would have caused all kinds of problems with the Carusos and Nico Armani. Not exactly something I want to explain that I know how to do or that I know how to kill a man with one flick of my wrist.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” She shakes her head. “You’re slipping, Rayea.”
I have to hold back any reaction to her using my birth name. She’s just trying to get a rise out of me. Nonchalant, I reply, “I’m not that girl anymore, Tatiana.” She smirks at my use of her name. “I don’t need to practice my skills all the time.”
“And that is why you and I are so different. You can never practice too much. It makes things so much quicker when you need to kill someone. Hell, I could probably make Hollywood jealous with all the things I can actually do, not just whatever bullshit stunts they try to do.”
“Don’t you get tired of it?” The question slips out, but I don’t want to take it back. Her expression tenses just the slightest bit, but she doesn’t answer, just watches me—assessing.
“What else do you think I should do? This is who they made me to be. Who you and your father made me to be.”
I stiffen at her insinuation. “I never did shit to you. That was all him. All the people who sent you to him.”
A slight incline of her head, but it’s by no means an exoneration, just acceptance of my statement.
“You’re the one who showed me how to be who I am, Aurora.
Or wasn’t it you who took me under your wing all those years ago?
You were the one who taught me the tricks of the trade that set the building blocks of who I’ve become. ”
Guilt and disgust roll in my belly. “I was doing what I had to do to survive, not because I wanted you to become what you are.”
“And yet here I am. Oh, I don’t blame you, not really, but I won’t let you rationalize away who and what you are.
You can take on whatever name you want, whatever persona you want, just like me, but you can’t erase your past or the parts you played in other people’s lives.
Maybe that’s why I have a softer spot for you and haven’t killed you like I did all the others in that school. ”
“What?” I frown, not understanding.
Her smile is cold, lethal. “You really didn’t think that I was going to let any of them go free after the things they did, did you?
The boys were the worst. Oh, sure, you were spared from the worst of it just because of who your father was, and you went home with him every night, but the rest of us weren’t so lucky.
Before I got smart, before I got fast, shit happened, and they paid for it. ”
Horror fills me, realizing exactly what she’s insinuating.
“Then they deserved to die,” I tell her simply. “Did you make it as painful as possible?”
She doesn’t answer, but she doesn’t need to. She wouldn’t just deliver an execution to someone who wronged her. They would have died a bloody and terribly long death.
She gets to her feet, clearly done with the conversation. “We land in four hours at our secondary destination. I suggest you get some rest and be ready. I have no time to waste.”
As she walks back toward the bedroom, I can’t help but ask her, “Are you going to tell me what your actual name is?”
She glances at me over her shoulder, her expression cold and every bit as lethal.
I have to force myself to stay still, to not show any reaction.
The assassin is back and she’s not happy with my question.
“Don’t push it, Aurora.” Then she’s gone, the faint sound of the lock clicking into place reaching me.
I let out a drawn-out exhale. Damn it. Well, we have time. Whatever she has planned, I need to be ready. If it’s my shot at freedom, even for a short time, then I’m going to take it and wring every last drop I can out of it.
I pick up the stone, getting back to work on sharpening the knives beside me. I try to block out her words, but they keep echoing over and over in my head.
You were the one who taught me the tricks of the trade that set the building blocks of who I’ve become.
The horrors of that time in my life are hard to keep at bay, and it feels like I’m going right back into them without a way to stop it.
It might be time for Aurora O’Brien to cease existing and for Rayea Antonova to surface if I want to get out of this alive.