Chapter 5 - Ghosts in the Flesh
Nikolai’s weapon did not waver, but his fingers tightened against the textured grip of his semi-automatic. The air in the foyer seemed to drop below freezing. The moonlight illuminated the sharp contours of her face—the high cheekbones, the striking green eyes, the precise curve of her lips. She wore tactical black, her hair cropped shorter than he remembered, but it was undeniably Sarah.
""You died in Palermo,"" Nikolai said, his voice flat, stripped of all vulnerability. ""I identified the remains. I stood by the wreckage of that vehicle.""
""You identified dental records provided by an agency that wanted me gone, Nikolai,"" Sarah replied, descending the curved marble stairs with measured, deliberate steps. Her gun remained trained on Viktor, not on Nikolai. ""And you were all too eager to bury the past and crown yourself the sole ruler of the syndicate.""
Viktor didn't lower his weapon from Nikolai, but his eyes darted nervously between the two. ""Boss, she’s the one who breached the estate. She contacted me three days ago. She said if I didn't help her extract Mia, she'd leak the offshore shell companies to the federal task force.""
""You betrayed me for a threat of an audit?"" Nikolai asked coldly.
""No,"" Viktor countered, his voice cracking with desperation. ""I did it because she told me who really ordered the hit on her in Palermo. It wasn't the Morettis. It came from inside our own bank accounts.""
Sarah stopped four steps from the bottom, looking down at both men. ""The scrape on Mia's knee was an accident. I tried to pull her through the hedge near the greenhouse, but she panicked. She didn't recognize me. You made sure she would forget her own mother.""
""I protected her from the crossfire you invited into our lives,"" Nikolai snarled, his fury breaking through his rigid composure. ""You chose espionage over your child! You traded your family for immunity!""
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""I traded my life to keep her from being raised by a monster,"" Sarah fired back. ""And now, the men who paid for my execution are coming to clean up the loose ends. Both of you are targets tonight.""
Before Nikolai could demand an explanation, the sound of heavy rotors thrashed through the night sky directly above the mansion. High-intensity spotlights pierced through the glass skylight of the foyer, shattering the darkness into blinding white. The deafening shatter of glass followed as heavily armed mercenaries rappelled through the ceiling, weapons blazing in full automatic fire.
