The Thorned Rose

18

"You really are a damn good assassin," said Nadia as she poured tea into my mug. We were sat on her balcony, which had gorgeous views of London, having afternoon tea, as I had promised. The spread was beautiful, there were mini cupcakes, sausage rolls, sandwiches with their crusts cut off, scones and sweet pastries, like croissants and pain au chocolates. She poured tea out of a beautiful yellow teapot with blue flowers intricately painted on the side, into mugs of a similar style.

"You were right not to underestimate him, he was a good fighter," I said, sipping my tea. We talked for a while. She asked me about Rome, I told her about Rome, I asked her about the company, she told me about the company.

"You know, Nadia, I always have loyalties to you."

"I know, I saw the tape you send me of you being tortured, you refused to say my name, and I really respect you for that. I know I can trust you with anything."

"I will always still carry out jobs for you, big ones, like this, where you need me. I owe it to you."

She took my hand, and looked straight into my eyes, "no Savannah, I owe it to you. You introduced me to your father, you took me home on that playdate, and together you taught me everything you both knew. You made me into the person I am today. I will never forget that." I put my hand over hers, which was still holding my hand, and I smiled.

"I like talking, we used to be so close, but we have distanced. I have a big thing about trying to be tough. It is hard being a woman in this profession. One of the reasons women are such great assassins is because they are so underestimated, but it also means other assassins underestimate us too. It is, unfortunately, a man's world, but I am glad we can have chats like this."

"I know what you mean," I said, thinking back to what Loretta said to me before I left, empathising with her situation.

I told the Russos not to call me at any point, and to let me call them. I didn't want my job compromised in any shape or form, but I hadn't called them in a long time, and they knew I was supposed to have finished the job long by now, so they must be worrying, like little babies. I excused myself after afternoon tea to go to one of the quieter rooms and called the home phone number.

"Hello?" spoke Donna's voice.

"Hi Donna, it's Sav," I said back.

"Sav! Oh my God, we were so worried," I told you, "are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine Donna! I'm in London, meeting with a friend, I will fly back tomorrow, I just wanted to tell you all I was okay!" I heard Fabricio's voice in the background asking who was on the phone, and Donna reply saying that it was me. He asked if he could speak to me, but I had a feeling he was going to be angry at me or something, something I had very little time for, so I quickly said to Donna I had to go, and I hung up the phone.

"I heard about the turf war between Don Sandrino and the boss of bosses Domenico Pagnotta. Must be hard?" asked Nadia as we sat eating dinner.

"Yeah, it's hard for them, I don't really pay attention to the details though. I just do the cybersecurity and if they point at someone to kill, I'll kill them."

Nadia chuckled, such a rarity, "if you are head of their cybersecurity, no one is getting in there!"

"I hope not."

"Haris Velic was very, very pleased with your work in Bosnia. He, too, knows about the turf war in Italy, and knows that I have an assassin working there, he doesn't know it is you. He has said to me if they ever needed an ally in Bosnia, he would provide it, simply because you are connected in some way to the company. He is also trying to think of many ways to pay you back, as you refused money."