Rori struggles a moment more before she stills and goes lax. Tatiana doesn’t ease up, waiting. “Let me go,” Rori gasps out.
Tatiana waits a moment, until she finally does, easing back, breathing hard.
I rush forward, helping Rori to her feet. Rori’s shaky, but she finally turns to Tatiana and stares at her. The animosity is still there, but the murderous rage seems to have lessened. Or she’s just fucking exhausted. Considering the way she’s leaning into me, I’d say that’s more the reason.
I hold her tight, but I don’t speak. She’s not done.
“You’re not my sister, Tatiana,” she rasps out, her voice husky from being in the chokehold. “No matter what he told you, that was never our relationship.”
Wait, sister? What?
“According to the fake birth certificate he had created the moment you married Mishka, he didn’t feel that way,” Tatiana shrugs. “But, no, we were never sisters. Actually, I hated you for a long time.”
“He sold me?—”
“Not because you weren’t there,” she interrupts curtly. She gives a humorless laugh. “You really think that much of yourself? I didn’t give a shit that you were gone. It let me spread my wings, finally, and it let me learn all the skills I needed to be who I am. I excelled without you holding me back. You wanted me to help you kill him then, but I had much more to learn. I needed to hone my craft and become the best he’s ever trained. Far better than you.”
“So, what, you wanted to prove that you were better than me? That was never a question. And don’t act like you didn’t want to kill him. You were all too happy to work and learn from me. You pestered me all the time to help you master things you lacked.”
“And it worked. I learned your moves and how to make them better. And then when he sent me out on assignments, I honed myself more. I worked to be the best because no man is ever going to control me the way he did. So here I am. The very thing he created, that you helped build, only better.”
“You want me to be happy about that?” Her nails dig into my wrist, and I hold her tighter, giving her more comfort.
“I want you to open your eyes. You are not the only one to suffer under his hands, Aurora. You are the only one who has been able to get away and live a normal life. While you were living your life, being normal, the rest of us, we did things that you have never had to fathom.”
“And you enjoyed every fucking second of it.”
She smirks. “You said yourself, I’m very good at what I do. And well, I’ve been able to put my skills to very good use.” But her expression cools. “And in that time, I’ve been working totake down your father, while you lived your life. While you forgot all about what you yearned to do. You left your actual siblings to suffer under his hands.”
Rori flinches, and I glare at Tatiana. She’s trying to hurt her. “It wasn’t Rori’s responsibility to rescue anyone. If you were so concerned, you should have stepped in.”
Tatiana ignores me. “I hated you for a long time,” Tatiana continues, watching Rori. “Until I saw the day you rescued that baby from the fucker she was sold to.” Rori’s head jerks as she stares at Tatiana, eyes widening. “Oh, yes, I saw that. You think I didn’t keep track of you? I had just come back from killing someone on your father’s hit list, and I was so angry that you were getting to live your life while I dealt with the filth. I tracked you down that night, and it wasn’t long before I realized what you were doing. You found him, you got the baby, and you killed him just the way he deserved. Actually, it really inspired me.” A cold smile pulls at her lips, a brightness in her eyes that makes my gut clench. “You could actually call it the day I realized that my skills weren’t just useful for hire, but for some good. The dick stuffed down his throat was a very nice touch; I hope you don’t mind that I’ve copied it.”
I stare at Rori in shock, and her face is unreadable. She did that? I’ve never been prouder.
And I definitely need to stay on her good side if she’s got that kind of anger and skill.
“He deserved it and more,” Rori finally rasps. “So, what, you watched me kill him and you didn’t hate me anymore?”
“Oh, no, I still hated you. It took many years and a lot of dead bodies to get that out of my system. Then I was interrupted one night while I was working by a noise, and well, I met Mila.” She gives Mila an annoyed glare. “And I realized then that teenagers never fucking listen.”
I look at Mila, who gives her a smirk, but her face is tight. Zakhar moves to her, pulling her tight into him. His expression is tortured. My chest pangs with sympathy. Knowing what his daughter suffered, I’m surprised he hasn’t gone on a murderous rampage long before this. I certainly would have.
“And then you met Ilya and, what, you just decided to stop?” The doubt in Rori’s voice is clear.
“More like I wanted to fuck his brains out, but he just had to try and capture me and ruin the moment.” Tatiana grins, glancing over at Ilya. “But it did clear a few things up for me.”
“And because of that, you started to look into Ilya a bit more?” I ask, trying to follow along with how this all ties together.
“Awww, he does have some brain cells still going on up there,” Tatiana coos. I glare at her. “That’s exactly it. I don’t just sleep with anyone. Makes the job kind of tricky. But much to my surprise, I started to dig and realized the connections. Not enough for me to make some decisions until we ran into each other a couple more times.” The heated look she gives Ilya makes me roll my eyes. Ilya’s own heated gaze stares back at her.
“Great, so you fucked him,” Rori snipes.
“Again, ewww,” Mila groans. “I really don’t need to know that.”
I have to agree with her.
“So you fucked me and used me to set your plan in motion,” Ilya finally states, his voice low, tight, but I can’t get a read on if he’s angry or impressed. Fuck, probably both.
