I hate hearing Nadia so upset, it damn near tears my heart to shreds, but I have to keep up the pretence that I’m dead for a while longer. Lucky for all of us, I thought to wear a bulletproof vest before coming over here. Karen knew about it, so I wasn't surprised when she turned the gun on me. She knew it would help things along, and that it would get her the information she needed, without actually having to hurt me... well not too badly anyway, so I can’t blame her. I just hope and pray that she gets what she needs.

Only now I can hear Dimitri threatening Nadia, and I’m not sure what to do about it. I don't know whether I should give it up now and kill the fucker. I want to surprise him at precisely the right time. If only I was sure when that was.

“After you’re dead,” I hear him say nastily, “I can take Officer Whitfield here to my uncle’s home where her daughter has been very well looked after. That will be her reward for sticking with me until the bitter end.”

At least she knows where Lisa is now—that’s one good thing. A Novikov uncle shouldn’t be too hard to find, there can’t be many of them.

“Thank you, Dimitri,” I hear Karen reply calmly, and I open my eyes slightly. I need to know what she’s doing, what’s going on, so I just need them open a sliver for that.

But as soon as I do that, everything changes all over again.

The first thing I see is Karen spinning on her heels and firing a shot into Aidan, which unfortunately sees coming so he jumps out of the way. The bullet does graze his arm, which slows him down for just a few seconds.

This is it, the moment to take him down. He’s injured, distracted, it needs to be now.

I leap up, shocking everyone, and charge full speed at Aiden, knocking him backwards until he slams into the wall and knocking the wind out of him. I move my right arm back so I can punch him with all my might. My hand connects with his jaw with a sickening thump, I can’t help but feel sad that our relationship has come to this. The man is my mentor, the one who brought me to this country, the person that I’ve always looked up to... and now we are in a fight to the death.

“You bastard,” he spits out, allowing blood to flail everywhere. “What the fuck are you doing? You’re supposed to be loyal to me, to the organization. You agreed to a lifelong dedication or have you forgotten that already? Just for some random chick... you can have any woman you want, you know that, right?”

I take a step back, allowing that to sink for a second and as I do I spot Dimitri running from the room with the contract in his hand. For a split second I’m torn—do I finish things off here, or go and get that fucker? Dimitri is the head of everything after all... but Karen makes my decision easy for me by tearing after him with a gun in her hand. I don't like the thought of her going out there by herself, facing the man that’s put her through so much torture, but I’m also aware that she’s a trained police officer, and that she’s dealt with stressful situations such as this one before.

“I guess it’s just me and you, kid,” Aidan snarks, which makes me wonder where Nadia is. I assume she’s made her escape. And even if I don’t know where she is, I believe she’s safe. She must have gotten out while I was playing dead. That means I can throw all my energy into this fight with Aidan without fear. She isn’t here to see me, or to get hurt. It’s going to be okay...

Something hard smacks me upside the head. I stagger around the room, feeling totally dazed and confused.

“You need to stop this now,” Aidan warns me. “I told you that before. You work for me, you’re a part of my organization, and this is something I cannot tolerate.”

“Oh yeah?” I ask, rubbing my injured head. “So what exactly are you suggesting?”

“Kill Nadia,” he shrugs his shoulders as if what he’s just suggested means nothing. “Kill her and prove your loyalty to me, then things can go back to normal. I won’t even make you stay with us for life. We will simply carry on as we were, before all of this happened.”

I step back and nod, as if this is something that I’m actually considering, but inside my mind is whirring. I want to ask him if he’s fucking serious, if he actually thinks that I’m going to go through all of this just to kill Nadia? What the hell would be the point of that?

Then, just as his guard slips because he assumes that I’m on his side, I race back to him and I force him to the ground. He tussles against me, trying to fight with all of his might, but the gunshot pain is radiating through him. I can see it on his face, and it’s slowing him down.

White hot anger combined with the adrenaline transforms me into a fighting machine. More powerful than I’ve ever been before, I’m overcome by the urge to wrap my hands around Aidan’s throat and choke the life out of him. It’s a sick, twisted thought, so instead of allowing myself to do what I want to do, I kneel across his chest and onto his arms, before reaching down and pulling his second gun from his belt—the one I’ve seen there many a time before. Until now, it’s always made me feel safe and secure, knowing that my boss always has a second way to back me up, but now it sends terror bolting through me.

A greedy man is a dangerous man, I’ve always thought that. I just never thought that it would apply to me and the people in my life. I always assumed we had our heads screwed on better than that.

“I know you don't understand this,” I tell him, panting from our struggle. “But Nadia has altered my life. I know you won’t get it, and you certainly won’t approve, but I would do anything for her. I’m not going to kill her.”

“But you’ll kill me?” he gasps, consciousness starting to slip away from him. “The man who brought you to America and gave you a chance?”

“I appreciate everything that you’ve done for me. I do,” I tell him honestly. “But you brought me into a cold, cruel world. You brought me to a place where betrayal is the norm, and crime is a way of life. I don't want that anymore, I want something more.”

“You won’t be able to do anything else,” he sneers at me, using his last breath to insult me. “You’re just a poor boy from the streets of Moscow. This is all you’re good for.”

I could argue. I could tell him I will defy expectations and make something of my life, but there’s no point. His opinion won’t be swayed, and he won’t be around to see it anyway. Unfortunately, because of his actions, and because I don't want to spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder, I have to do what I need to do.

With an intense sadness in my heart, I close my eyes, put the gun to his head, and listen as the loud blast rings out...

“Noooo!”

There’s no time to dwell on what I’ve done because another piercing scream rings from outside, and I already know it’s Nadia. She might have gotten out of the house, but it doesn’t sound like she’s escaped.

She needs me.

I jump up, tossing Aidan’s body to one side, and I run from the building to the driveway, where I can instantly see Dimitri, waving his gun like a mad man at Nadia and Karen. He’s screaming at them like a lunatic.

My heart rate slows and a strong sense of calm overcomes me as I realize this is the place where I’m best, the moment where I can put all the skills that I’ve learned from working at the agency to good use.

Clean kills. That’s what I do, and that’s what I need to do here. We might not have all the answers, but I feel like we have enough now. It’s time to put an end to this situation.

But as I lift the gun, Dimitri takes hold of Nadia and positions her body in front of him like a shield.

Fuck, this is going to be more complicated that I thought.

I step forward, into the light so he can see me and drop my gun in front of me in a gesture of peace. “Okay, Dimitri,” I say in a business-like tone of voice. “Time to stop playing here, don’t you agree? I think we’ve all gone a little crazy, we’ve all done some things that we regret, some shocking things, and it’s time to move on.” I glance over to Nadia, widening my eyes, hoping that she’ll get my meaning, but she’s giving me a blank look back.

“Fuck off,” Dimitri spits back at me. “This has nothing to do with you. You shouldn’t even be here.”

“None of us should be here,” I reply, glancing to Nadia’s pocket where I’m sure the taser is hidden. Thankfully this time, she seems to get it. “But this iss where we are.” I watch her discreetly reach for it, so I use this moment to keep on talking, just to keep him distracted while she works. “I might as well tell you that Aidan is dead inside, and I would hate for the same thing to happen to you.”

His expression is stunned, and I have his full attention. “You don’t need to end up in the grave too, not after you’ve worked so hard...”

At that moment, I see Nadia separate herself from him then slam the taser into his side, She must have hit the button hard, because he falls to the ground momentarily paralyzed.

As soon as his body stops jerking from the electrical charge, I pounce on him, keeping him pinned to the ground.

“One of you call the cops,” I yell as Dimitri shudders beneath me, succumbing to the shocks that have just burst through his body. “Let’s get this fucker justice.”

I would prefer him to be dead, but this is the best way all round. Dimitri will unravel everything... he’ll get Nadia off the hook for a crime she didn’t commit, he’ll likely be blamed for killing Aiden too, and we’ll be able to find out for sure where he has Lisa—in case he was lying before.

I might want to put this fucker out of his misery, but a life time of incarceration will have to do.