Page 73 of Ghost

She let out a strangled growl.“Fuck.You.”

“I would, but you’re too defiant for me.”

Mila dug her nails into his wrist, but his hand only tightened around her neck.He lowered his face so it was inches from hers.

“You shouldn’t have fucked the target.”

Cold sweat drenched her back.

She’d always thought when the time came, she’d be ready to meet her family, but over the last few days she’d learned she wasn’t.Not yet.She had unfinished business and a date in Mexico she couldn’t miss.

Mila let out a battle cry and jammed her fingers into his eye socket.

The man howled, pitching off her.She swung her legs out from under his, tore the knife from his hand, and swept it across his jugular.

Blood gushed from his throat, coating her arm and splattering her face.His eyes widened.The blood pooled around him as it continued to spray from his neck.

She scrambled backward, slipping on the warm, sticky liquid.A gag hit her palate as she watched his muscles go weak and his gaze lose focus and slide to the ceiling as if waiting for entry to heaven that would surely be denied.

Just like hers.

She rushed to the kitchen sink and flipped on the faucet.Her breath came out in rapid gasps and her hands trembled.Ice-cold water ran over her skin, the runoff crimson.

She had to get her shit together.Figure out what to do.Her brain went through the series of steps she’d been taught.

Go-bag.New phone.Run.

Keep running.

She dried her hands and sprinted to the bedroom to grab the bag that was loaded with cash, an encrypted phone, a fake ID, and several passports.She’d also take the bag full of clothes Ghost had bought her, and her laptop.

Everything she needed to start fresh.

She swept the go-bag from beneath the bed.After snatching her phone charger from the wall, she bolted from the room.Rearranging her bags on her shoulders, she picked up her phone from where it’d fallen during the struggle and then approached the man on the floor.

Carefully avoiding the streaks and pools of blood, she bent and pulled the balaclava from his face.He had a shaved head and gray-tinged olive skin.She snapped a picture and moved away.

Finally, she grabbed her purse and ran out of her apartment.She pulled up the text she’d sent to Ghost and tapped the call icon.

She knew she should toss this phone and enter his number into her spare, but she didn’t want to waste a single second.

Whoever had come for her would go after him too.If they hadn’t already.The line rang in her ear.Fear dulled her vision and made every sound echo.

Please, don’t be dead.Please, don’t be dead...

“Mila.”Ghost’s rumbling voice made her knees buckle.She hurried into the elevator and sank against the wall.

Thank god.

She punched the button for the ground floor.“They’re after us.”Her breathing was fast and hard, but she wasn’t physically fatigued.

“Where are you?”His sharp question made her tremble.

Not with fear.Not of him.But with relief.He was okay.Whoever had come for her—likely Trident—would suffer the consequences.

“Just leaving my place.”

“Are you hurt?”His voice was curt and icy.