Chapter 6 - Pearl

The crack of the gunshot fills the room, echoing off the dark grey cement walls. The recoil sends a small jolt through my arm.

I keep my finger wrapped around the trigger, prepared to fire another round of shots. I take a deep breath in, firing again in rapid succession after the first shot. Two more whiz through the air. The bullets slam directly into the center of the paper target, piercing through where the human's heart would be. Grinning, I flick the safety on the gun and set it on the shelf before pushing my goggles up on my head to get a better look at the shots. I press the red button to pull the target in. When it hangs in front of me, I can see the three bullets are perfectly aligned all centered for a kill shot.

Static flies from my hair as I remove the earmuffs, setting them beside the gun. Those rounds would stop a man dead in his tracks, but one day my aim may not be good enough. Over the past few years, I've spent countless hours in the shooting range practicing my shots, maintaining my stance, and holding the gun for as long as it's required.

I've fired one bullet after another, emptied magazine after magazine with the hope that one day I'm going to be able to kill the bastard who killed my father.

"Well done," a familiar voice says, the sound of clapping coming from behind me. Expensive dress shoes tap against the floor. "I didn't know you were going to be here today. It's good to see that you're getting into the practice again. Your shooting was getting a little rusty."

"It's never been rusty a day in my life. Not since you took care of me and gave me my first gun, at least."

Nicolo leans against the wall behind me, tucking his hands into the pockets of his black slacks. "Seven years is a long time. When I first found you, you were terrified of holding that gun. Now look at you. I would say that you're a better shot than some of the men that work for me. Hell, you could even compete with me for the best shot one of these days. You're a natural."

"I don't think there's anything natural about it."

"Would you rather be weak, unable to stand up for yourself? Unable to fight when the time arose? Do you want to be taken for somebody who can be easily taken advantage of?"

"You know that I don't. You know I've done everything I can to train for this. Everything you've ever asked of me has been achieved."

"I know that you've been obedient and filled my requests, and it makes me proud. You've become a prodigy. If you were a man, you'd have a real chance at taking over the world."

I press my lips together, the line drawing back memories from the other night. Maxim had promised me the world if that was what I asked for.

These days I am wondering what it was with powerful men promising anything and everything to a woman. Why did they think that was all a woman wanted?

There were a million other things I wanted. Revenge, money, power. True love one day. Never have to look at a fucking gun again.

"Pearl, you've done well in your time here. When Aaron died, I wasn't certain that you were going to be able to pull yourself together but look at how far you've come. Our plan is coming along better than I ever could have thought. You just need to work on your shooting a little bit more. You're good, but you're angry and you need to be calm."

"My shooting is fine, and of course I'm angry. Every time I come to the range; I think of killing Maxim. Today, the target was his heart. Tomorrow when I come for a little more practice the target will be his head. One day the target will be his cock."

Nicolo winces. "Pearl, have you ever considered that a man doesn't want to hear you're going to shoot another man in the balls?"

"Are you worried, Nicolo?"

"Maybe I should have trained this sass right out of you too."

"Your life would be far less entertaining if you had. Just think of how boring it would be sitting around waiting for somebody to make a joke. None of the men who work for you have a sense of humor. Not one that's been evolved beyond fourth grade."

"Set another target."

I do as he says, pulling down the first target and putting up a fresh one in its place. I hit the button, sending the paper back out down the range before pulling over my earmuffs and glasses once more.

The empty magazine hits the counter in front of me and I load a new one before flicking off the safety. As I aim at the head of the mock person in front of me, all I can see is Maxim Orlov's perfect face.

It's infuriating that he's both attractive and a ruthless monster.

Killing him would be easier if I didn't have to look into his whisky-colored eyes which set me on fire every time I steal a glance.

Or those tattoos. A woman could get lost trying to find them all. I'd only gotten a glimpse of them the other night, but I am sure they cover his torso.

A man with inked skin is my undoing. I imagine tracing my fingertip over every line all the way down to … well, that will never happen.

Squeezing the trigger, I grin, bullets sinking right into the space between his eyes. He would have no clue what was coming.

When I finally have Maxim in my sights, he's going to underestimate me. So many men do. They think that I'm nothing but a beautiful young woman. A good entertainment.

He'll never see that I'm his biggest threat in disguise.

As I fire the last round straight into where the target man's cock would be, Nicolo makes a strangled noise in the back of his throat.

"You really didn't have to do that."

"But I did." I give him a satisfied smirk.

"Argh, God help you, Pearl. Other than that, though, your shots are good, and they'll kill. But you're getting ahead of yourself. You keep thinking about killing him the moment you have him alone, but there's a bigger plan at play. We must be wise about this."

"We've been trying to get closer to him for seven years."

"No, what we've been doing since the day I took you in, is training you and waiting for our moment. We've been teaching you skills and waiting for the time we could send you after him. The revenge is going to be that much sweeter when you know you've been planning it since the day your father died."

"We're going to make him suffer before I kill him. That's what you said. I just want him dead. I don't want to waste time with torture."

Nicolo pushes off the wall, looming over me, his face an expression of fury that I've only ever seen several times before with other men. "You're going to do as I say, Pearl. If you go rogue on this mission, I won't hesitate to lock you away until you finally learn your lesson. I tolerate a lot from you. But I won't tolerate this."

"Okay, okay. I'll stick to the plan."

"See that you do." He takes a step back, the anger melting away from his body. His eyes no longer flash that deadly look I've gotten so used to. "Now, tell me about your date with him the other night."

"He still doesn't know who I truly am. He doesn't know that we're coming after him or wanting to kill him. To be honest, I don't know if he even knows I'm an escort. I've been operating under the assumption that he does, but I haven't confirmed anything. I left him guessing, a lot."

"Confirm nothing. There's no reason that he needs to know what you do for work. Either that or you tell him. Make him believe that he's on the chase. That he's the man with a chance at rescuing you from such a hard life. He'll like that."

"He's already sniffing around and promising a better life. I've got no interest in settling down with a man like him, but he seems to think that he can change me. I think he's got it in his head that if he takes me away and shows me what life could be like—not as if I don't already know thanks to your kindness—then perhaps I might decide to be his."

"I knew I should have returned to New York sooner. Hook, line, and sinker, well done, my dear."

"With a bounty on your head, that wouldn't have been a good idea." I pull in the new silhouette of a man and take it down, rolling it up and setting it to the side. "I didn't need you here either way. I've been following your every directive. You were needed overseas. Keeping rich men who think more with their dick than they do with their brains has been a child's play. I can manage them on my own."

Nicolo chuckles, beaming with pride unlike any I've ever seen from him before. "There are times when I think you're just as bloodthirsty as the rest of us. Ruthless with your attention, quite frankly."

"I only am what you've trained me to be."

"You are. Where is he planning to take you?"

"He wants to fly me to Russia. For a week or so I believe. We didn't talk much about the details during dinner. He kept asking what I thought about going, and I told him I would think about it, but I didn't confirm."

"You'll send him a message and tell him that you'd be happy to go on a vacation with him to Russia."

"He's dangerous."

"So are you. Don't start questioning yourself now, Pearl."

"Do you honestly believe that I can handle myself against him and his men? If he finds out who I am or why I'm with him, he's going to kill me."

"He's not going to find out who you are. You've been practicing lying to men for years. It should be nothing to keep your identity a secret while you're there."

"And say that it is. Do I kill him in Russia with no plan to get out of the country? People will be tracking me the moment they find out he's dead."

"No, you're not going to kill him. You're going to get as much information as you can and then after that, we'll decide when and how to kill him."

"You know that he only has interest in having sex with me. I know the only reason he's offering to bring me to Russia is because he thinks it's going to get me to spread my legs for him. I doubt he's going to talk much."

"Maybe I should put you in etiquette classes instead of letting you hang around with the men at the shooting range. You might have learned a little more how to talk like a lady rather than a damned sailor.

"Now you're pretending to be the well-meaning uncle?"

"I don't pretend. I only want what's best for you. That's all I've wanted since I took you into my care, you know that."

Guilt gnaws at my chest, and a sick feeling sends my stomach spinning. Nicolo is one of the only people who knew Dad the way I knew him. He's the only one who cared enough to look after me. After all he's done for me, he deserves more than me questioning his intentions.

"I'm sorry, I know I've been a little on edge since the date with him. I didn't think we were going to get this close so soon. I didn't expect him to be interested in me. I thought we would have a couple more years before I could ever get the chance to get to him."

"Our opportunity is forming now. But you can't sleep with him. Maxim loves to be a player. He wants what he can't have, and right now that's you. You must keep him interested in wanting you. The second he has had you he'll lose interest."

"I'm aware of that. I have no plan to give him what he wants." I try to sound resolute and convincing. But deep inside there is turmoil. The thrill of luring this man, reeling him in, and the fear that I might find myself succumbing to his charm at the same time.

Nicolo claps his hands, shaking his head. His dark hair scatters across his forehead before he pushes it back. "I rely on you to do your job."

"You do want me to go with him to Russia then?" I sigh.

"It's going to be a risk, but it's one we need to take."

I store the gun back in the locker on the wall. "We've been working long and hard on this and I don't want to mess this plan up. Will I be able to contact you if something starts going wrong while I'm over there?"

"Yes. If you suspect the mission starts going sideways, get a message to me. You know how."

"Okay. I'll do it. I'll go to Russia. I'll string him along and keep his interest, and I'll keep him close until you give the word."

Nicolo leads the way out to the parking lot. "Good girl. I promise he'll pay for the crimes he's committed against your family. But we need the right timing."

"Well, I hope that the right timing comes sooner rather than later. He can't continue to walk this earth and hurt people the same way he's hurt my family."

"He won't." Nicolo stops beside a little red sports car. He pulls out the keys and tosses them to me. "This is your reward for a job well done with the date. Keep up the excellent work in Russia and there will be a vacation home with your name waiting for you. Just pick the country."

"I've always wanted to spend some time in Turkey. "

"Done." He leans forward and presses a kiss to my temple before ruffling my hair the way he used to when I was a child. "Remember Pearl, nobody can know about our arrangement, and not a single soul ever finds out about the plan."

"I remember."

He gives me one last look before walking away, disappearing to the other side of the parking lot, and getting into an SUV waiting for him.

I take a deep breath, keys jiggling in my hands as they jitter with nerves.

Well Russia, here I come.