The Mission

Chapter 10

"My mandarin is a bit off but I'm working on it." I said laughing.

"That's interesting. So, what do you do Sophie?"

"Ah ah." I said as I played with the rim of my wine glass. "We just met. It wouldn't be wise to give away details about my life that way." He smiled and continued eating. Soon enough, right on cue, the drugs we put in his drink started working and he had to excuse himself. Luckily, he left his phone so I turned on the copying device and I let it do it's job. With the amount of stool softeners in his drink, he would be in there for quite sometime.

"So, she speaks Italian, Russian and Mandarin? Interesting."

"Can we have this conversation after we leave? It would be weird if people see me talking to nobody."

"But I'm in your ear."

"But they don't know that."

"Look, get what we need and get the hell out of there."

"Well, the transfer is almost complete, so calm down."

"He's coming, the transfer is now complete so you can leave." I ignored him as Bradley returned to the table.

"So sorry about that. My body seems to be going through the motions today."

"It's all natural."

"Yeah. Look, I'm sick of this place and my hotel is just a stone throw away, this might be me being too forward but do you mind joining me?" Now, do I want to sleep with him? Nope! But do I want to get Karrion angry? Yes. So am I willing to risk going with him just to piss Karrion off? Hell yes!

"Don't you dare Sophie! I will go in there, guns blazing!" All his words went to dust in my ear.

"Me encantaría." (I would love to) I said smiling.

"And she speaks Spanish too! Beautiful. Shall we?" He paid the bill and we headed out, hand in hand. It was cold tonight and I cozied up to him. But then, an all too familiar figure blocked our path.

"Let her go before I end you." Well, my plan worked.

"Excuse me, who are you? And do you know who I am?" Oh, Bradley is pushing his luck. Karrion just kept on staring at our intertwined hands.

"Believe me, you really don't want to know who I am. Let her go and maybe I'll spare you."

"Maybe I should go. I'm not going to deal with any of this." I pulled my hand from Bradley's, went to one of Karrion's guards, collected the car key from him, got in and drove off. He ruined my mission and embarrassed me! Technically, it was my fault but what happened to trust?! Leo would've never done this!

"Pull over and get out of that car Sophie! Now!" I removed the ear plug and threw it outside the window of the car. To hell with this! I pulled up to the front door of the manor and I literally ran into the house. I ignored all the stares from the guards and just entered the elevator that took me to the room floor. I went into the room and I sat down on the bed and less than five minutes after I got there, Karrion walked into the room.

"What the hell was that?! I gave you strict orders!!!"

"And I disobeyed them! I'm not your wife or girlfriend or child or sibling! Why should I listen to anything you say?!"

"Because I own you!" His words struck me. I stepped away from the bed area because I couldn't stand to be around him.

"You don't own me! I'm not property! I'm leaving and you...you can go to hell and rot there for all I care!"

"Where would you go? You could've driven to the airport but instead, you came back here! Why?! If I'm so terrible and you hate me so much, why come back here?! Why not run?!" I stayed quiet because I had no answer. Or maybe I did but I was too scared to say it because that would make it real for me. "Answer me Sophie! Why come back here?! Why wait for me to come back and yell at you?! Admit it flower, in your sick and twisted mind, you love me! You feed off my so called 'toxicity'! I am everything Leo isn't and you love that! Admit it!"

"Fine! Yes! I came back here because for some odd reason, I can't seem to see myself without you! But as you can see, you terrify me! Your thirst for blood scares me to death and yes, you are everything Leo isn't but that isn't all good. Leo might be a lot of things but he definitely isn't terrifying." I leaned against the wall and just slumped to the ground. I wasn't crying or anything, I was just tired.

He stared at me for a while before taking his jacket off and then his shirt. He then walked to where I was and sat on the ground.

"It's freezing in here. Put something on before you catch a cold." He looked at me and just smiled.

"You're angry at me and you still care about me enough to worry about me catching a cold. It's one of the many things I love about you flower. You care about people."

"Yeah. Look, I don't hate you Karrion. It's just.. I'm scared of being around you because I'm scared of falling for you." It took a lot to say that. I've never been one for feelings and all but with Karrion, it comes so easily. And that's what scares me.

"Bel fiore." (Beautiful flower) I smiled at his words. "Mio padre mi diceva sempre che non c'è profitto senza rischi. Sei un rischio che sono disposto a correre ma io sono un rischio che sei disposto a correre?" (My father would always tell me that there's no profit without risks. You are a risk I'm willing to take but am I a risk you're willing to take?)

His Italian rolled right off his tongue. His accent was soft and fluent and rather mesmerising. I was Italian but his words hit me like an unknown language.

"Forse, ma solo se prometti di non urlarmi mai più contro. Non sono un bambino." (Maybe, but only if you promise never to shout at me again. I'm not a child.) He laughed softly as he pulled me to his chest. His body had this warmth and I loved it. I could get used to this.

"I promise. But if you ever pull a stunt like the one you just pulled, my shouting will be the least of your worries." It's crazy how cliche the stories of the bad guy is. He's awful and all and then he finds a girl who is innocent and truly sees him for who he is. Is that always the case? No. Is this one of those cases? Nope. I'm far from innocent and yes, I can see the good in him but I also see the bad. I see the best of both worlds by just looking into his eyes. And yet, I still can't figure him out.

"Tell me something bel fiore, who are you? I don't want to read a file or something, I want to hear from you."

"That's a good question. Unfortunately, it's a question that I'm still finding the answer to."

"Ok. How did you get here? How did you learn to take a bullet out of someone? Or how to deal with blood loss? There are so many questions."

"How did I get here? Well, my father worked with the CIA for years and when he came to Italy for an undercover assignment, he met my mother. He was of Italian descent but his mother moved him to the states when he was about to start college. His assignments didn't always go well. Some days, he would come home with gun shot wounds, or stab wounds, other days, he would be beaten to a pulp. My mom hated all of it. And soon enough, she acted out when she left. Soon after, my father died and my uncle took me in. He was working for the organisation with Leo's father and soon enough, he introduced me to the boss. And that's that."

"I'm sorry about your dad."

"Yeah..me too."

"Ok. Second question."

"When my mom got tired of dealing with my dad and his job, she left us. So, my dad had to teach me how to help him if the need arose. And it did, multiple times. So, I became flawless in the art of removing bullets."

"Wow. And the blood loss?"

"So, on my first trial, I nicked his flesh and he lost a ton of blood. He freaked out and gave me a list of things to get from the pantry while he tried to stitch the wound. Ever since, I kept the list in my head, just in case."