Mikhail

8

What had happened at Jack Gold's estate had been a ginormous lack of judgement and a costly mishap.

I was furious for the mission to have failed, all because of that devil of a man. He was truly the opposite of a good luck charm, but so far Mogilevich hadn't pursued war after being informed of me shooting one of theirs.

My father most certainly shouldn't and wouldn't need to know anything about this.

"I asked him on a date," Anastasia all but squealed, leaning closer over the table we had sat down to enjoy our teas at. My brows raised with surprise.

"Is that why he was M.I.A instead of doing his job?" I then narrowed my eyes at her in realisation, but her joy clouded her observation of it.

She laughed lightly and shrugged, "I guess so, yes. Everything turned out fine, right? And I have a date with destiny!"

"I could've died," I gritted out, frustrated at her obsession with Vinnie and how it had been the first step in the mission failing, "Mogilevich has the most annoying man working for him, but if it had been anyone other than him that found me..."

"But it wasn't," she was quick to assure me, sipping her tea, "and it won't happen again. Promise."

I shook my head at her with a deep exhale, knowing I should be more angry with Vinnie than her. He had left his post to speak with Anastasia. Of course it was at her request, but still.

He had completely missed the entourage of black SUVs Mogilevich and his men arrived in, and therefore had put me and the mission in grave danger.

It wasn't a good idea to start anything with coworkers, especially in our world. It wasn't just unprofessional, it put everyone under risk and made it close to impossible to think rationally under heavy stress.

I had seen how our short-lived relationship had affected him, and ended things the second his main objective had become protecting me instead of completing tasks. The same would now start with Anastasia, I was sure.

"He kissed me," I admitted to her, the words feeling incredibly uncomfortable and foreign leaving my lips for the first time since it had happened only a few days ago.

"Vinnie?" her eyes widened with panic.

"No," I snapped with a shake of my head, "that man. Mikhail."

"And he is...?" she furthered, panic replaced with an excited smile, unfazed by my venomous tone.

"Mogilevich's right-hand-man. He's the reason everything's been going so terribly lately," I explained, "he shows up everywhere. I can't even carry out a simple hit because of him."

"That sounds so romantic," she sighed dreamily, and I scoffed out a laugh. Her hopeless romanticism was the one thing I despised about her, even as she was my closest female friend.

"It definitely isn't. I have to kill him."

Her lips parted in preparation to say something, but then cut herself off. I motioned for her to spit it out, and her smile widened.

"Why hasn't he killed you?" she wondered curiously, "since he hasn't, he could be good to keep around."

"Absolutely not," I insisted firmly, trusting my judgement more than her romcom -influenced one, "he may not kill me, but he puts me in situations where I could easily be killed."

"Did you like the kiss, though?" she furthered with a suggestive wink.

"No," I lied, gladly leaving out the part where he had shot one of his own and blamed it on me.