Page 81 of Shattered Empire (Shattered World)

“She didn’t actually fire you,” I pointed out.

“Well, she sure as hell thinks she did,” Vas grumbled. “All because I won’t tell her where Dima is. Something about trust. Okay, maybe there are a few other reasons, but still. I’ve never been fired before.”

“I heard McDonald’s is offering a fairly competitive wage,” Dima crowed. “You’d look so cute in that uniform. Maybe even Wendy’s. We could dye your hair and give you pigtails.”

“Hm, I could also smash your face in and make you look like that man from the Goonies.”

“Hey,” Dima gasped. “Don’t knock Sloth. He was the best part of the movie.”

“Children,” Kenzi groaned. “Can we please get back on point?”

“Since when does Nikita get to butt in on conversations?”

“Jesus,” I groaned. “We’ll be there in about ten minutes. Make sure everything is ready.”

“Got it, boss.” Vas paused before hanging up. “Are you going to see Ava or…”

Was I?

I hadn’t thought that far ahead yet. My mind had been focused on things other than how I was going to approach Ava about the fact that I had been alive this whole time and hunting down Kirill.

She was going to be pissed.

I wanted nothing more than to take her.

Make her mine all over again.

But something was stopping me, and I didn’t know what it was.

“We’ll talk about that later.”

“Sure thing.” The line clicked off, and he was gone. A wave of regret hit, crashing me against the jagged rocks of the shore.

“Really?” Kenzi raised a brow at me from across the helicopter. “We’ll talk about that later?”

I sighed.

“Are you saying that you know exactly how you’re going to approach her and spill your guts about being an assassin?”

Kenzi shrugged. “It’s not that hard.”

“Yeah?” I asked. “Go ahead. Tell me how you plan to explain all that before she goes in for the kill.”

She snorted but then bit her lip nervously.

“Exactly.” I pointed my finger at her. “Don’t pull that holier than thou shit without thinking it through yourself.”

“What does it matter how we tell her?” she questioned me. “Either way, she’s going to see it as a huge betrayal.”

“Probably run off to Daddy’s,” Dima piped up.

“And that’s after she guts you,” Maksim snorted.

“We’re all fucking comedians today,” I groaned. “Why don’t we all sit silently and think our private thoughts?”

Andrei snorted. “This is certainly going to be the best vacation I’ve had in a while.”

Great.

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