“He offered to buy me pie,” Dimitri continues, a faint smile on the corners of his mouth.
“He bought me a cup of coffee,” Mac interjects. “Did he take you to a terrible diner, too?”
“Da. It was very bad pie—too sweet.”
I laugh. “What can I say? American diners fascinate me. And pie is supposed to be sweet, by the way.”
Dimitri’s lips twitch. “Over terrible pie, he told me of this job, and he told me his handler would pay handsomely for the same work I was already doing—and that they would create a new identity for me. But what convinced me was the offer of a team. At this point he had already recruited you,” he adds, nodding at Mac.
Mac and I exchange a look. “I didn’t know that,” I say. I’m oddly touched.
But Dimitri shrugs dismissively and starts cutting off a new bite of his chicken breast. “I was used to theBratva, where everything is done with a partner or in a small group. I missed having someone to look at my back—”
“Watch your back,” Nicole corrects.
He nods at her, and I’m so taken aback by the lack of a defensive, knee-jerkthat is what I saidthat I almost miss the next bit. “I did not like being alone. I knew there was a possibility that this team would be bad, but I joined and found it was not so bad. We work well together. Wewatcheach other’s backs. It has the camaraderie I wanted in theBratva, with an additional benefit that no one is trying to kill me for my position.”
Dimitri takes another bite, apparently done with his story. All eyes turn to me, clearly expecting me to go next.
I consider each person in turn and settle on Madison.
Yesterday, Madison offered me an alternative outcome I hadn’t dared hope for. I always assumed that when I told Mac and Dimitri the truth about my beginning, it wouldn’t matter because the ending had already been written. I always assumed it would drive us apart, which wouldn’t matter because the jobwould be finished. It would hurt, but ending up sad and alone would be no more than what I deserved.
But yesterday, I showed her the deepest, ugliest, most shameful parts of me, and she showed me acceptance. Perhaps it’s not too much to hope that they might do the same.
My heart thuds hard and heavy in my chest, and an odd flipping sensation forms behind my navel. It’s time to come clean.
“I’ve been keeping something from you all.”
The silence of the room is palpable. There’s an expectation in the air—a nervous energy as they wait for my story after such an ominous lead in. I try to start, only to have the words fail me. “It’s difficult to know where to begin,” I say ruefully, wishing suddenly I hadn’t set the tone so dramatically.
Suddenly, I feel Madison’s hand in mine. I look down at it, then smile gratefully at her. She’s doing for me what I did for her—anchoring me. Giving me something to hold onto.
Boosted by her support, I begin. Having told the story once already, the words flow more easily this time. No one speaks until I get to the end. Until I get to the part where I reveal how I assembled our trio.
“Wait, so the General never…” Mac realizes with a hard edge to his voice. “It wasyouwho recruited us. Not him.”
I nod.
“Why?” Mac asks, rubbing the back of his neck.
“I knew I needed a team to help maintain my position in the forum and help me take down the General when the time came. I wanted to keep the team small and tight—one person to handle the digital and research, one to be the feet on the ground, and one to offer support from afar. I found Mac’s name first in a data breach of some confidential government files.”
“What files?” he asks, voice low.
“Files that made me think you might be amenable to returning to a life of violence on your own terms,” I reply vaguely.
His eyes narrow, and I know he knows what’s going unsaid. But I’m not about to air his dirty laundry in front of everyone. Those files with the Army therapist were meant to stay locked away and redacted.
“I wasn’t responsible for the leak. And I burned every trace,” I tell him seriously.
Scowling, he nods, a reticent gratitude for allowing his deepest shame to remain buried until he’s ready to face it. Lord knows I put my own off for long enough—now is the time for my reckoning, not his.
“I got Dimitri’s name from someone in the hitman forum—likely someone from his oldBratva. They were looking for him. He had the right skill set and temperament to be the man on the ground, and once I learned about why he had to flee Russia… well, I took a chance. And I’m very glad I did.”
The silence that follows grinds me down. Eleanor is staring at Mac, face full of concern, and he rubs his eyes harshly. Nicole and Dimitri are solemn, but Nicole is also holding Dimitri’s hand under the table like Madison is holding mine.
“I kept your names off the General’s radar. You’ve never worked for him—you’ve been working for me all along. And perhaps I should have told you earlier, but… I couldn’t tell you.”
