Chapter 14
Well, fuck me to Sunday.
When I set off to Seattle, I had no qualms with killing the twins. Why would I? They were, by definition, no different from Alexey. No different from their father.
But the way Nova speaks of them, the care they have shown the Angels, it sparks something inside the emotionally defective blood pump inside my chest. I’ll fight like hell to snuff out whatever this feeling is because I cannot afford to spare these brothers.
The cost is too great.
I have spent too many years training, waiting to end Alexey Romanova. I will not allow these devils to derail my work. What I’ve suffered for. The reason I am who I am.
So, despite their…dare I say, kind actions toward the Angels, they are still Mafiosos. I still need to take them out to return home and finish what I started the day Alexey killed my parents and took me for himself.
Besides, everything Nova told me could be a lie, a ruse to gain my trust, but even thinking that doesn’t feel right.
The Angels have a cozy set up, nothing close to the horrors I’ve seen. My mind conjured images of prison cells, emaciated women with shackles on their wrists…it’s what Alexey had taught me about how the Alessis cared for their women.
But it couldn’t be further from the truth. Nova…even Sasha was more than happy to be in the presence of the man who supposedly owns them.
My mind fucking boggles at the conundrum I’ve found myself in. Never have I been sent on a mission and questioned if I should complete it...not since…their mother.
It’s not what Owls do. The feather writes the name, my sword crosses it out.
Simple.
All the targets I’ve taken out have been vile men, even a few women.
They’ve deserved their fate.
Do the twins?
Did their mother?
If I spare them, I could never return home. An Owl completes her mission, or she dies trying.
For three years, guilt has clawed its way through me, shredding who I am into tiny morsels of who I could have been—a person capable of healing, of loving not only another but herself.
Those dreams, of being someone else, fell ill the moment Alexey Romanova took me as his own. They were completely eviscerated the day I killed Victoria Alessi.
If my heart finds the twins unworthy of my blades, what kind of monster will I become when those same blades are slick with their blood?
“Lucy?” Nova’s voice calls from outside my office door.
After I left Enzo in the basement of Cloud Nine, I drove his bold, blacked out Mustang back to the manor, using the GPS on my phone to find my way back.
I’ve been hiding in my little hole since I got back, expecting Enzo to come in like a bull in a China shop but he hasn’t.
“Come in.”
The door slowly opens and her bright face peeks through the crack. “I’m sneaking into the kitchen for lunch. Want some?”
My stomach growls at the mention of food and I wince, realizing I haven’t eaten all day. “Yes, please.”
Following her out, I peek down the hallways to see if I can spot the raging bull but he’s nowhere to be seen. Probably still licking his wounds…or planning nefarious things. And speaking of nefarious things, I can’t help but ask, “Have you and Enzo…you know…”
Nova’s head whips toward me as we begin to descend the steps to the kitchen. “Goodness no! Ew. He’s like a big brother to me.”
Which reminds me. “How old are you and is Nova your real name?” The file Rafael gave me listed Nova as being twenty-three but many times she seems much younger.
“Nova’s not my real name. But while I’m here, it’s all everyone will know me by. Angels are all given false names, so when we want out, Rafael and Enzo have an easier time hiding us from Dante and our clients. And I’m…seventeen.”
“Seventeen?” God, I knew she was young, but I didn’t think she was underaged.
“Yup, Raf and Enzo don’t like employing minors, but I can be convincing at times. I’ll be eighteen next month.”
“Well, happy early birthday.” Putting enthusiasm into my words seems horrifically impossible but I have to say it since I won’t be here in a month to wish her one.
A pit in my stomach forms like a sinkhole as her age and what she’s been through settles in my mind.
She’s only seventeen? And I know she’s been an Angel for at least a year.
According to her file, she worked in the club as a waitress a few months prior.
We enter the kitchen, and I take a seat at the island while Nova begins rifling through the pantry. She pulls out a pan and begins cooking something up but the only thing I know how to make is a mess, so I sit back and let her do her thing.
“So, you and Enzo are a no go…is he…with any of the other Angels?”
I honestly don’t know why I have a curiosity surrounding Enzo and where his dick has been, but I do, and I unfortunately have a mind that won’t let me think of anything else until its stupid curiosities have been satisfied.
“Oh no, the twins have a strict ‘no fucking the Angels’ policy. Enzo has a few girls and guys on call for him, people he has vetted and can trust. And I’ve never seen Rafael with anyone. I’m sure he’s not a virgin, I mean…” she pauses, licking something off her fingers, “look at the guy.”
I chuckle, seeing the longing in Nova’s stare. She may be young but anyone with hormones would dream up erotic fantasies about those twins.
“Oh shit, I totally forgot to ask… Do you like grilled cheese?”
“Grilled cheese?”
She flips something in the pan, which I can’t see clearly from where I’m sitting and peeks at me over her shoulder. “Don’t tell me you’ve never had grilled cheese?”
“Do you want me to lie?” I wince.
She places the golden sandwich thing on a plate and slides it toward me before starting another one. “My Ma used to make the best grilled cheese. The secret is using sourdough, mayo instead of butter, and blending cheddar cheese with Monterey jack.”
When Nova says Ma, I realize she does have a slight accent. Bostonian would be my guess. It’s diluted, but that one word gave her away.
She’s almost buoyant as she cooks, bouncing from one thing to the next until her sandwich is finished as well. When she finishes, she holds out the gooey creation to me, but I have no idea what the hell I’m supposed to do.
“Cheers,” she says, extending it toward me and I follow her lead, bumping my sandwich with hers.
Taking the first bite, the warmth and richness drown my taste buds, and I moan. “Holy shit,” I say with my mouth full. “It’s delicious.”
Nova beams with pride as she takes her second bite and I do the same, thinking of her mom making her this delicacy. How did a seventeen-year-old end up here?
“Can you tell me about your mom?”
Nova’s face falls a fraction before she perks up again.
“Ma was my best friend growing up. Her and my dad struggled with infertility, so they had me later in life and I was an only child, so I was a bit spoiled. But my dad died in a car accident when I was three, so it’s always been just us.
” She speaks softly, glancing around the kitchen.
“It was always her and I against the world. She was a nurse, worked night shift. I don’t know how she did it but… she did.”
“Where is she now?”
Her green irises meet mine and then dip down. “She’s sick. Early onset Alzheimer’s and dementia. She…rarely even remembers me.”
I can’t even imagine what it would feel like for your own mother to forget who you are. The closest person I have to family is Ilya and I’d lose my mind if he ever forgot me.
“You asked me once why I do what I do, if the money I make is worth it.” Grace and composure highlight her tone and it’s in these moments I see Nova’s maturity stretching far beyond seventeen years old.
“It’s for her. The money I make pays for the best Alzheimer’s facility in Boston, hell, the nation. ”
I wait a beat, watching her as I swallow a bite of grilled cheese. “I’m sorry you have to do this work to be able to afford decent care for her.”
She huffs. “It’s a little over thirty-thousand dollars a month.
And they don’t accept Medicare. There are other facilities, but she deserves the best, ya know?
Not long ago, I went to visit her and found out Rafael also pays for twenty-four-hour private caregivers for her.
She’s well taken care of, even if I did decide to leave here and it’s because of the twins. ”
“But if Rafael has promised to care for your mom, even if you weren’t an Angel…what other reason keeps you here?”
She’s quiet for a long moment before she levels her stare at me, considering. “I have a greater purpose than simply keeping Dante pleased. The twins are part of something big, something that could change so many lives for the better. And I’m part of it. There is so much you don’t know, Lucy—”
“Ladies,” Enzo’s voice fills the space as he saunters in. “Oh, grilled cheese.”
Leaning over my shoulder, his body presses into mine as he takes a bite of the sandwich I had been holding up. “That move you pulled earlier was very, very naughty, Lucy.” He mumbles over my shoulder, mouth full of my cheesy delicacy.
“Enzo! That was Lucy’s!” Nova screeches.
“Finders keepers.” He grins, finally backing away and going over to stand next to her. He leans forward, bracing himself on the counter. The veins littering the backs of his hands climb up his forearms and I wholeheartedly believe if a flying pig crashed through the windows, I wouldn’t notice.
Nova hip bumps him but the solid man doesn’t waver. “It wasn’t lost, ya big dummy. It was literally in her hand.”
“Tomato, potato. Or however the saying goes.”
Nova beams up at Enzo as she crosses her arms and puffs her chest out a bit. “Lucy’s never had grilled cheese before and mine are her favorite.”
“How can she have a favorite if yours is the only one she’s eaten, Nova Baby?”
Her shoulders deflate. “That’s not the point.”
Enzo’s gaze narrows on me, a plan forming behind those dark orbs. “Nova, love, list off your favorite foods?”
“Spaghetti.”