Page 48 of Wasted Lust

“And that has nothing to do with you.”

“True. But your hostility towards me is misplaced. I’m not part of the problem. I’m part of the solution.”

“I don’t need your solution. My problems were solved a long time ago.”

“Is that why Nick Tate is on the hunt?”

“I have no idea. I haven’t talked to him in years. But I’m sure if he wanted to find me, he’d find a way.”

“That’s his number one priority at this very moment, Sasha. He’s looking for you. And he’s broken away from his handler in Central America. Matias is just now figuring it out, but Nick Tate was never part of his gang. He was always one of us.”

“Define us.”

“Company.”

Once again the word shuts me down.

“I have a simple request, that’s all. And I’ll get right to the point since you are so eager to leave. You can think about it overnight, but I need an answer in the morning.”

“I’m not staying here, so I’ll just give you my answer now. No.”

“Not even if it means you can prevent dozens, if not hundreds of other girls from having to navigate the world like you? Hmmm? You’re so selfish that you’d turn your back on your Company sisters who need help?”

My thwarted plans the day Jax found me at the airport hit me in the chest like a bullet. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

She gives me a funny look and I squirm in my seat. Shut the fuck up, Sasha.

She drags her stare from me and concentrates on filling a tea cup and adding two teeny-tiny spoonfuls of sugar. “I’m well-loved around here. I have over twenty-five saved souls on my list of accomplishments.”

“Excuse me?”

“All boys, so far. As you well know, they are much easier to save.” And then a small chuckle erupts from her lips and I get that chill again. “Jax might disagree, but his situation is unique.”

Jax? He said he wasn’t Company. If he lied to me—

“We did our best in that case. But the Company, as I’m sure you are aware, has legions of assassins on staff. You yourself are one of them.”

“I wasn’t. I have no number.”

“Zero? That’s a number, isn’t it? Last I checked.”

“Zero means nothing.”

“You’re wrong. Zero is the number that when added multiplies everything by ten. Add two, and you multiply by a hundred. Three, a thousand.”

“I get it, but it’s bullshit.”

“It’s not, Sasha. It’s the one thing they’ve tried that actually works.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Sleepers. The girls. The child killers. You were one of them. Your father didn’t follow protocol and that’s why you’re still alive, I think. But none of the others survived, aside from Harper Tate, and she barely counts, since the Admiral never seriously had her in the sleeper program to begin with. It was all for show. To make everything equal. You know, an example. None of the other Company girls had protection like the two of you did. But Nick, on the other hand, he was properly indoctrinated. He’s made quite a name for himself down there in Miami.”

“Miami?” Shit. I have no clue. I’m so out of my element here. I used to be the girl who knew everything but lately I feel like the last to know anything.

She waves a hand at me and takes a sip of her tea before setting her china cup down on its pretty matching saucer. “Never mind Nick for now. I can handle him. But the girls I’ve found, they are another matter. They are wild. Have you met any of them?”

“No,” I lie. “Just Harper.”