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I shook my head. “I knew almost nothing about your past when I took this job.”
“Well then, you also didn’t know that my father started stealing from the mob. He was as bad to them as he was to us, so of course we didn’t ask twice when he disappeared. Even as a little girl, I knew that hard times were coming, and we had to be smart if we wanted to survive.” Mila stopped briefly, shaking her head as if to dispel a scary memory. “But Andrei somehow pulled it off, worked his way up within the ranks of the mob to where we didn’t have to feel hungry or cold ever again. Or where I was at risk of being sold to a brothel. So you can only imagine that I was grateful for whatever he did, never asked for details. But then—”
Her voice broke off.
“But then you started to put two and two together.”
Mila nodded. “Strange figures started lingering around the streets watching our house. Those trips we went on always ended with the death of a high-profile person on the news. The walls of my world started closing in.”
“But he managed to make you stay.”
Mila sighed deeply, another round of tears rolling down her face. I wanted nothing more than to take her into my arms, kiss her, tell her that I still loved her and always would.
“He did. Four years ago, I confronted him, my bags packed, a cab waiting outside. Andrei begged me to at least hear him out. He promised that he wasn’t hurting good people. That I would be allowed to go to university, have friends. All I had to promise was to stay close to him for my own safety. And to never talk about his work again. Not to him, not to anybody else.”
“For what it’s worth, he didn’t lie about that.”
Mila looked up, her tear-filled eyes watching me.
“His victims were all involved in human trafficking of the most disgusting kind. He must be taking jobs exclusively for perverts.”
A flicker of relief flashed in Mila’s teary eyes. I kinda hated myself for what I’d have to say next. But it had to be said.
“But Mila, it still doesn’t make it right.”
Mila threw her head into her hands. “And why not? The world is better off without them. Women and children have been saved now that those men are gone.”
“Maybe,” I said, stepping a little closer. She let it happen. “But we can’t all start killing people, not even monsters like them. There’s a system of laws for that, and a jury and a fair trial. What if one of his victims was innocent?”
Mila’s face jerked up to look at me in horror.
“He also put you in danger with this line of work. I understand that he had to do what he had to do to keep you safe back then. But it’s only a matter of time until others find out his identity, and you’re only one car bomb away from becoming a minor casualty to his enemies.”
Her pretty chin rose in pride and defiance. “So what? What do you care?”
It took me four steps to be right in front of her and grab her arms.
“I won’t let anybody hurt you, not even your own brother.”
Her eyes widened. Ashamed, I instantly let go of her and stepped back.
“I’m sorry. It’s just...I can’t bear the thought of you getting hurt. It keeps me up at night, drives me mad.”
Our gazes met, hers studying mine, though I was still so ashamed, I almost couldn’t look at her. But I owed her that much.
Suddenly, the icy distance in her eyes softened, and she glanced at Thor, who was now purring next to my feet.
“Was Thor really a stray you took in?” she asked, her voice almost kind again. It was such a sudden change of conversation and tone, it took me a moment to find the right words to such a simple question.
“Yes.”
“And the gardening? Is that really your hobby?”
“Yes, as unmanly and boring as it might seem to some.”
Mila nodded, then sat on one of the old, wooden hallway chairs that had been there since I could remember.
“So you were told to take down an assassin with the promise it would help your station?”
