Page 96 of Ghost

It’d been months since Mila saw her.Irinia preferred to spend most of her time in Russia, but she traveled to oversee their US operation several times a year.Boris lived in Reno, Nevada, but had workers like Mila stationed everywhere.

Irinia walked up to the table but didn’t sit.She pursed her lips.Disdain wrote a novel on her weathered face.“Stupid girl,” she spat.“Falling for a target.Pathetic.”

Mila clenched her fists.“You’re the only one who’s pathetic.Why are you hanging on to me so tightly?”

“I’ve always wanted what’s best for you—”

Mila scoffed.Tears, hot and ready, rushed to her eyes.“What’s best?You took me from my family when I was nine years old!You’re delusional.”

Irinia shook her head and looked away.“You will never understand the sacrifices I made.Your family was poor.Do you know your mother cleaned the studio at night to pay for your classes?You’d have had the same fate as your mother if it weren’t for me.”

Mila’s lip trembled.“My family loved me.Something you took away.You turned me into a murderer.”

Irinia’s mouth twisted with mockery.“You can’t turn someone into a murderer,Malyshka.”She spat the name Alexei had fondly called her.“You might not see it, but I did.A calculated competitor, tireless, smart.All I did was lead you into your destiny.You were made to kill.”

A chill swept over Mila’s skin.“That’s not true.I hadn’t even known violence until you took me.Until I witnessed your men kill.You’re a monster.”

“If I’m a monster, what do you think Alexei was?”Irinia’s voice boomed through the wooden building.“It was his idea, you know.”Ice coated her taunting words.

“You’re lying.”

Irinia shrugged.“Don’t believe me but it’s true.He saw you dancing, said you moved like a killer.His instinct was on point.It took him months to convince me to see what he saw.”

The tears were like acid rain on her cheeks.Mila shuddered.Alexei was the only person she’d warmed up to in those horrible years—and Irinia wanted to tarnish that.To steal from her the few fond memories of the moments in which she’d seen Alexei’s kind heart.

Mila leaned forward, her legs shaking but not from fear anymore.Not even from adrenaline.Right now, she was the cold-blooded murderer Irinia had created.“I.Will.Kill.You.Then I’ll be free of you.”

Irinia squinted.“Oh, dear girl.You’ll never be free.”She slipped her hands into the pockets of her puffy black winter coat.“You’ll be punished for your transgressions.Neo was one example.”

Mila stiffened.“What’d you do to him?”

Irinia chuckled.“He was too soft.He should’ve called me immediately when you didn’t confirm the target’s death.”She shrugged.“He knew the rules.”

Fury increased her body temperature.“You—”

“Do you like the space?You know Boris, always grabbing property for training wherever he can.”

Mila blinked, stunned by the sudden change in the conversation.

“It’s not really designed for training, though.We don’t have that kind of equipment here.This is more or less a reprogramming facility.”A sinister smile crinkled the thin skin around her eyes.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You’ve been away from us too long.You’ve lost touch with our roots and the foundation we built your values on.”A sad, distant look crossed Irinia’s face.“Of course, it was hard once you got older.We realized that if you didn’t have some semblance of your own life, you could, well, turn.I just didn’t expect that your programming would slip so easily—and for a man, ha!Such a disappointment.”

Frustration rattled inside Mila.“You’re not making sense.”

“You’re going to stay here for the next eight to ten months.Boris will be here shortly to start the reprogramming.While we wait for him, we’lldeprogram.”

Anxiety filled Mila’s gut.She shook her head, unable to grasp the woman’s meaning but knowing with every cell of her being that Irinia was planning something sadistic.

She pulled a phone from her pocket, dialed a number, and pressed it to her ear.“Yes, you can come to the barn now.We’re ready to get started.”Irinia’s eyes sparked with malice.

The blood drained from Mila’s face, leaving numbness in its wake.

***

Denis withered andtwisted.More blood pooled on Ghost’s floor.Sweat drenched the asshole’s collar.