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.”
