5

For now, I’d play his game.

But in the end, I’d be the one to win.

13

SABRINA

I wasn’t sure if I was prepared for this.

Viktor had given me my first real mission, one that made my skin crawl the moment he spoke the words.

It was different from the cold, clinical operations I was used to.

This was personal, messy.

The target wasn’t some nameless, faceless figure in a far-off land.

It wasn’t a simple extraction or clean kill.

No.

Viktor had sent me to eliminate someone who had betrayed him—a former associate who had crossed a line.

The catch?

This man had a family.

A wife.

A daughter.

Viktor had given me the details, his voice smooth as silk as he outlined the assignment.

“Make it clean, Sabrina. I don’t want to hear about any complications,” he had said, his eyes narrowing as he watched me intently. “Do what you do best, but don’t leave a trace.”

The thought of a family in the mix clawed at my insides.

It wasn’t the first time I’d been ordered to take someone out, but it was the first time the victim’s life mattered to anyone.

Viktor didn’t care about the collateral damage.

He saw people like them as tools—expendable.

But me?

I wasn’t supposed to be like him.

Still, I knew the job.

I couldn’t hesitate.

If I wanted to survive in his world, I had no choice but to follow through.

The target’s house was nestled on the outskirts of a quiet neighborhood.

It was too peaceful, too normal.

A stark contrast to the chaos I was about to unleash.

The cold air bit at my skin as I made my way to the front door, my heart beating steadily in my chest.

I had been trained to shut off the noise in my mind.

The doubts.

The memories of my own past.

But now, as I stood there, I wondered if I was too far gone to come back.

Was there any part of me left that could still feel?

That could still care?

I shook the thoughts away and rang the doorbell.

When the door opened, I found myself staring into the face of the wife—the one person whose world I was about to destroy.

She looked so ordinary, so painfully human.

She was just a woman, probably just like my mother had been once.

I was trained to focus on the mission, to eliminate the target and leave no survivors.

But now, for the first time in years, I hesitated.

I couldn’t afford to second-guess myself.

Viktor’s voice echoed in my head: “No complications. Make it clean.”

So I did what I had to do.

The next few minutes were a blur.

I pushed past her into the house, knowing the target would be home any minute.

His daughter was playing in the living room, her innocent giggles piercing the silence.

I almost faltered.

But the daughter—she didn’t matter.

In Viktor’s eyes, neither of them did.

The man came in through the back door, looking surprised to see me.

I didn’t give him a chance to speak.

I moved fast, my hands steady as I pulled the silenced gun from my jacket and aimed it at his chest.

I watched the life leave his eyes in the same cold, detached way I had been taught.

The wife screamed.

But it didn’t matter.

 None of it mattered.

As I left the house, the guilt started creeping in, slow and insidious.

The daughter’s sobs echoed in my mind.

Was I the monster now?

Or was I just doing my job?

I hated Viktor for making me feel this way.

14

VIKTOR

I knew Sabrina would follow through.

I’d tested her enough to understand that she was cold, efficient, and unfeeling.

But what I hadn’t anticipated was how she would react afterward.

She didn’t know it yet, but she was mine now.

The mission was a test of more than just her loyalty—it was a test of her limits.

And I needed to see where they lay.

I watched her from my office, observing her movements through the surveillance cameras I’d had placed in her quarters and around the perimeter of the target’s house.