Five months later.
Ignoring the curious glances from other agents as they whisper to each other I push the door open to Marissa's office without even bothering to knock, I'm furious with her.
"What the hell?" I call out, slamming the papers onto the desk. Marissa raises her eyebrows looking at me.
We aren't meant to even raise our voice above a certain pitch to her but I'm far beyond caring. Almost dying tends to put quite a few things into perspective. If I don't come at her with everything then I'll have nothing.
"You didn't clear me for field work?" I ask her, gesturing to the papers with a massive red cross on them.
Four months ago the doctors cleared me to return to my job, I told them I worked for the FBI which was close enough. I've been out of action for months so I spent the last eight weeks building up my strength so I'd come back even better than before.
And yet Marissa denied access for me to continue fieldwork. Instead, she offered I move into one of the other categories, which would have to be prostitution because I have no connections to the government. Or I could be at the desk doing paperwork.
"Yes, I did. I think you'd be better suited there." She replies calmly, raising her eyes to meet mine. I'm glad she's so calm because I'm furious.
"I'm the best damn assassin here and you know that everyone knows it. And you want me sitting behind a desk?" I fire back, fury consuming me.
"You were the best damn assassin and then you got yourself stabbed by Nikolai Romanov."
That name.
God, a fresh wave of fury rolls over me and I take a step closer to Marissa's desk. Yanking my shirt sleeve up I show her the lotus symbol burned into my wrist. It looks as fresh as the day it happened three years ago.
"Do you see that? That is the price I paid to not be a prostitute, this is the mark of an assassin not an office worker or a whore." I pause briefly, untucking my shirt and revealing the scar on my stomach left behind by Nikolai's blade.
It was small, only about three inches long and it had already faded to a muted purple colour. However, the doctors told me it would eventually fade to a white line. It would never truly go away, I'd carry this scar with me for the rest of my life.
"And this? This is the mark of someone who made a mistake. I have a permanent reminder on my body for the rest of my life of the one time I messed up. And the next time I see Nikolai Romanov because I intend to find him, I will personally deliver his head to you in a bag."
Marissa purses her lips as she rises from her table, she might fire me. Though you don't exactly fire unstable assassins. They get shot. Or blackmailed into silence.
She had nothing to use against me, I'd made sure of that the moment I got here. So I would meet my end staring down the barrel of her gun. That is, if, she decides to fire me.
"The anger you carry about what happened to you, does it make you a better assassin?"
I shook my head, keeping my eyes fixed on her face, "No, it makes me the worse kind."
Marissa's mouth curled into a small smile at my words. It's easy to forget what she once was when you watch her sit behind a desk and sort through paperwork and casualties and business deals. Iris's father was the one to found Lotus and Marissa was the first assassin he ever hired.
She was incredible at what she did, I'd heard the stories. She never came remotely close to being caught and her body count was over a hundred. She finally retired thirty years after starting when she was fifty.
You can't take that many lives for as long as she did and be completely sound of mind.
Others would argue the worst kind of assassin was one who used active emotions to motivate them for the job. It made them impulsive, unnecessarily violent and at risk of imploding at any moment.
But I knew Marissa would enjoy an assassin like that, she was just the right amount of unhinged. Besides, despite what she thought that wasn't what I was like. My anger was poisonous to only one man, as he was the centre of it. I had other people and other doses of good emotions to ground me. I wouldn't go off the rails, I'd reign it in until I met my target.
The worst part of what Nikolai had done wasn't the fact he'd stabbed me mid-kiss, though that had hurt both my stomach and my heart. No, I could have gotten over that, hell I was close to doing the same thing. The worst part is that he'd walked away, leaving me on the floor to die.
When he owed me, I'd saved his life when Lotus caught him only because I couldn't bear to see him suffer. I'd foolishly deluded myself into thinking he cared for me in the same curious way I did for him. But he didn't, he gutted me and walked away to leave me to die.
"Very well, I'll re-sign your papers. Find Rex and tell her to give you Angelina's case. God knows she isn't qualified to do things like that."
I nodded and quickly left the room, a smile painted on my lips.
************************************************************************************
It was almost five pm, I sat quietly on the rocking chair located in Jack's living room, his body was in front of me.
I'd made sure to get in earlier than his intended assassin and fire a bullet into his head, his forehead to be particular. From the back he looked like he was sitting on his couch, watching the five o'clock news. That's how his intended assassin was meant to find him.
And then he was meant to torture him for information regarding some government matter, I killed him first to be petty. Though I was here for a reason, the clock moved to read five pm and I rose from the chair and walked into the downstairs bathroom, hidden behind a wall of impressive historical artefacts.
I waited, quietly and then felt every sense heighten when I watched the door open quietly. My breath caught in my throat as I glanced at Nikolai. He didn't notice me, too focused on his victim.
He grabbed Jack's shoulder and held a knife to his throat, he must have been cold to the touch because Nikolai immediately pushed him forward and silently watched his body fall limply on the floor.
He had about two seconds to think about how that happened before I fired a shot into the back of his neck.
He dropped immediately.
YOU ARE READING
Deadly Desires
Romance"You didn't let him kill me? Isn't that what you've always wanted?" Ivy spat at me, she could pretend to be angry all she wanted but I knew she was scared. I imagined she's never been so close to death, her dark red hair was plastered to her chest a...
