[ me? actually finishing the last chapter out of nowhere? it's more likely than you think ]
☆︎
YOU'RE A HARD WOMAN TO FIND, POPPET.
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Eleven Months Later
If Lemon thought his brother had a short fuse before the events on the train in Japan, boy, was Tangerine working fucking overtime to prove it could've been worse all these years. Months passed between that hectic night on the tracks, and no one heard or saw from Kliment Petrova.
Word traveled quickly, of course, that the White Death and two-thirds of his children were dead. And if that word didn't reach you right away, word that his youngest daughter disassembled the entire criminal empire in one night did reach you.
In an impressively short amount of time, Kliment Petrova dropped off the face of the earth, leaving behind a power vacuum for the next monster like her father to take over. Tangerine tried to find her — really fucking tried. But not even their handler who always seemed to have all the knowledge of the world at his fingertips knew how to help find her.
Lemon let Tangerine drive himself crazy for the first three months looking for her. He watched as his brother combed over files and maps, flew across the world to check past residencies the youngest Petrova child used to live at, hung around clubs she'd go to with her brother. But Kliment wasn't anywhere — at least not somewhere they could find on their own.
As the daughter of a man with so many enemies, it made sense, her having to disappear. It'd likely be years before she was truly safe, but for now, she had to lay low and blend in with the regular world. But her activities didn't include easy-to-track things such as posting to Instagram and doing things worthy of getting her name in the paper. Even the bank accounts she loaded with her dead father's money were using a fake name.
Eventually, the twins had to return to their contract work. At first, Tangerine was against it — after all, both of them nearly died a number of times on the last assignment. They'd never been so close to losing each other despite how dangerous their work was.
It wasn't until Lemon made the argument that while they were running around their dodgy playground, perhaps they'd find someone that knew about Kliment. Many of the White Death's men sought out work with other underground organizations, many of which they were often hired to infiltrate.
So, while going back to work, Tangerine held onto hope that he'd be able to track Kliment down one day. Because it didn't matter how many months passed — he couldn't get her off his mind.
He needed to hear those bratty remarks leave her mouth, see the way her eyes shined mischievously when making a teasing joke at his expense, feel those infuriating lips against his. If he knew that the bathroom would be the last time he got to kiss her, he would've done it a thousand more times.
