“Things have changed. We need to talk.”
He releases me, and I sit back, staring at him. “What things?”
Leaning forward, he pulls open a drawer and takes out a large envelope. “Open it.” He hands it to me. I take the few papers from the envelope and discard it on the desk. There seem to be duplicates of everything, one in Russian and one in English. My gaze flies over the words, trying to absorb them as fast as I can.
“This is just the orphanage records.”
He removes the top pages until I come to another one. It’s a death certificate for Una Vasiliev, my sister. My heart plummets in my chest, the absolute demise of hope like a gaping, open void inside me.
He removes another page. This one is a photocopy of a passport, the picture of a face I would know anywhere, even though she looks older and different. Eyes the color of Amethyst stare out of the paper at me, but they lack any of the warmth I once knew. The passport name reads Una Ivanov.
“I don’t understand.”
“I found out who you are. I know why Nero wants you.” I feel like I can’t breathe, as though everything pauses for a moment as I wait for his next words.
“Is Una dead?” I ask, almost scared to have it confirmed.
“No. Your sister has been looking for you. She wants you back.” She’s alive. After all this time. A smile breaks over my face, and a swell of emotion so foreign to me swells in my chest.
“She’s alive,” I breathe. Rafael’s face is set in a stony, unreadable mask. I wait a moment. “Aren’t you happy for me?”
“Anna, your sister is Una Ivanov, the prized assassin of the bratva, ‘daughter’ to Nikolai Ivanov. Nero bought you to bribe her into killing for him because he’s a fucking idiot.” He shakes his head. “But now the job is done.”
Sudden realization washes over me. “You’re sending me back to her.” I used to dream of seeing my sister, but now…I don’t know her. She’s a stranger to me and a killer. I want to see her, but the thought of leaving Rafael to go to her…
“That’s why I’m leaving. Nero doesn’t know where Una is anymore. She left.”
“And went where?”
“Her killing all of his targets has drawn attention. Someone put a hit out on her. He thinks she might be coming for you.”
I frown. “She won’t hurt me.”
“No, she won’t hurt you.”
“Why would she—“
He sits back and drags both hands through his hair. “She’s not the sister you remember, Anna, any more than you are as you were. Some call her the kiss of death, others the angel of death, and some even just death itself. She can get to anyone, anywhere. Your sister is arguably one of the best assassins in the world. And when she comes for you, because she will come, she will kill anyone she deems responsible for keeping you from her.” I don’t know what to say. What can I say? This is…surreal. “If I knew where she was, I’d take you to her, but I don’t. I could get you to Nero…”
“But you didn’t keep me from her. Nero did. You kept me safe.”
“She’s not the type to ask questions before she shoots. Nero warned me. She is coming, and she will kill me if she can.”
No, not him. I shake my head. “She can’t.”
“Nero asked for you. It seems he isn’t done with Una, and he thinks you’ll lure her to him.” His fingers sweep over my jaw. “I told him he couldn’t have you.”
“You…what? Why?”
He stares at me with so much intensity I can’t look away. “Because you are not a fucking possession. Because I won’t let him use you, and because you are mine.”
“You want to own me?” I breathe, my heart letting out a strangled fear filled beat.
“No. I want to love you.” Five words that tilt my entire world on its axis. I can feel little pieces of myself splintering and cracking under them, my once solid walls weakening and trembling in his wake. Strange how in a mere second, everything you thought you wanted can change and something you never even considered becomes a rabid kind of craving. “But I’m giving you a choice.” His eyes trace every inch of my face as though he’s committing it to memory. “Choose, avecita. Do you want to go to Nero where she will find you, or do you want to come with me?”
24
Anna
“Choose, avecita. Do you want to go to Nero where Una will find you, or do you want to come with me?” Rafael’s coal black eyes study me intently, and the very walls themselves seem to hold their breath, waiting on my answer.
A whirlwind of thoughts rushes through my mind in a blur, too fast for me to grasp a hold of. My sister is alive. She’s a killer. And she’s looking for me. We were just children when we were taken from each other—sold, mistreated. What would we be now if we hadn’t been separated? Certainly not an assassin and a whore.