Page 4 of Love and War

“Wait, what about them?” I asked, draining the rest of my wine. Salem shrugged her shoulders at my question, now refusing to look at me.

Tossing a napkin at her head, it bounced off as I said, “Salem, spill.”

She glanced between us before finally admitting, “We’ve hooked up a few times.”

Mila gasped. I don’t entirely know why Mila was surprised; I mean, I slightly was. But why was she? It had to happen at some point. Might as well be with the enforcer for the Russian Mafia.

“Oh my, okay, you have to start from the beginning.” Mila was too excited. It was uncomfortable.

“Uh, from the beginning?” she asked. Salem always hated too much communication. She was never good at it. Even as her best friend, I had to force her to tell me anything.

“Oh yes, definitely the beginning,” I agreed.

“We met four years ago,” Salem mumbled.

“Wait, four years ago?” Mila's voice filled with uncertainty. “Four years ago as in when…” She trailed off, glancing over at me. I hated that. There was something they were hiding.

“What am I missing?” I poured more wine into my cup. Salem probably thought she was being sleek, peeking over at Mila. But she was honestly terrible at trying to get things by me. I knew her better than she knew herself. Or so I thought. I suddenly felt like I didn’t know Salem all that well.

“I should probably start at the beginning first.” Mila sat back against the love seat on the floor. “Aziza, do you know anything about a man, no, a monster, named Matteo?” she asked.

“Not really. I mean, nothing besides that he’s the leader of the cartel. But he’s dead.” I knew most of what Salem did. It was only because I was the one who found Luca’s men. Where they were, where they lived, anything that needed to be known. I was able to hack into their systems, their offshore accounts. All of it. But she never told me the details. It was mainly because she thought I couldn't handle it. She might have her secrets, but so did I.

And I could handle it. More than she thought.

Mila brought my attention back to her when she began explaining everything. “Yeah, well, when I was sixteen, his nephew, who I had no idea were even related at all, raped me. I was a nobody at school really, the weird nerdy girl who was about to graduate school early. I turned seventeen and had been invited to a party and I don’t really know why, but I went. Long story short, I was raped. My life turned upside down. I barely did or went anywhere. I ended up getting a job at the local coffee shop we ran into each other at, and one night when I was walking home, I got kidnapped.” Mila swallowed more of her soda water. “Gabriel had told his uncle about me, but never said what he had done. So they, uh, th-thought I was a virgin when I was kidnapped. I was being groomed for Matteo to buy me. I was there for seventy-eight days. When they were bringing me for the transfer, I was um… re-kidnapped by Dimitri.” She chuckled.

“Wait, Dimitri, as in the asshole who’s always growling and in a pissed off mood?” I asked. I knew the basics of the Russian Mafia: Zane was their enforcer and Dimitri was the Pakhan. Their leader.

“Yeah, I don’t get involved in their business, but basically something with his ports was happening. He saw me and took me. It was rocky in the beginning, trust me, but when I finally trusted him, I asked if I could go home. I don’t know why I necessarily wanted to. I mean, I don’t really have parents. They passed away when I was a young foster care child. But anyway, Matteo found out, and he kidnapped me again.”

“Okay, so how does this tie together between y’all?” I asked, pointing between them.

“When I went to Boston, when you found them, I was being followed by someone. I thought it was one of Luca’s men, but it turned out to be Zane.” Salem shivered as though she was deep in thought.

“Wait, what?” Mila and I said at the same time. I don’t know if I was more surprised or hurt that she hadn’t told me about this. She had been holding onto this for four years.

“I was tracking Leonardo, and well, Zane was following me. I hit him with my bat I used to carry around and broke his nose.”

“Wait a damn minute. That was you!” Mila shot up to her knees. “Holy shit.” Mila could barely hold in her laughter.

“Yeah, it was me. I never leave anyone behind. But I couldn’t bring myself to kill him, so I left a note.”

I watched, waiting for Mila to finally get what Salem was saying without the words. Salem was known as Ghost in the underworld. Ghost was who she was when she killed the men she needed to.

Slowly Mila finally must have caught on because her eyes widened, blinking between us. “Y-you. You’re what they’ve been looking for. You-you’re Ghost.” Mila choked out a laugh.

“Yeah, I'm Ghost. I’m who Luca has Dimitri looking for. What Zane can’t find and what has them all worried.”

“That’s too good.” I forced a laugh out, one that I had perfected. “Okay, anyway, what else?”

“Yeah, well, after I knocked him out, I got kidnapped by Matteo and his men because Donato was having a meeting with him. It was the only way I could get close and, well, while I was there, Mila showed up.”

“You hated when I talked.”

“Yeah, I was there on a mission, not to become best buddies with someone. Anyway, I basically ended up killing everyone there besides a few people who Dimitri took care of.”

Mila and I were frowning at Salem, though I don’t know her reasoning, but mine? Salem didn’t tell me any of this. Which made me reason she was hiding much more from me. Giving me the bare minimum, which didn’t sit right with me. We were supposed to be a team. Sure, she didn’t know my full reason behind wanting to get rid of Luca. But she was still keeping secrets from me.

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