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idiot,” Gash snaps.
    So they’ve been watching me. How else could they know about my adventure with the Tomzcak sisters? The thought of it pisses me off.
    “Get out of my house,” I say in measured words, “or Burkenstein might find himself minus two employees this night.”
    “Keep your eye on the goal and your hands off the goods, Belikov,” Gash snaps, pointing a thick finger at me.
    I scoff a light laugh. “I neither want nor need a keeper. Send that message back to Rudolph. If he wants his female assassin to be trained properly, then he plays by my time and my rules.”
    “Nobody tells the boss what to do. Just ask Gemma,” Gash replies, turning around and following Sparky as they head out my front door.
    “Of course.” I smile just before slamming the door in his face. I make a mental note to change the lock to a deadbolt, and to find the right color scarf to use when I strangle the life out of Rudolph’s faithless assistant.
    Thinking of the way Gemma was treated gets me heated and strengthens my resolve. Both Gemma and Alestasia Broussard are only one of many innocents who have suffered at the hands of Vladimir and his minions. Because of his twisted ambitions, my friends and family have suffered, and I can no longer return home to Mother Russia without fear of being hunted down. I betrayed my family and lost my brother.
    Heading toward my bedroom, I check underneath my pillows, feeling for the cheese cutter—a palm-sized knife that never leaves my side—making sure the handle lies in a position where I can easily access it. Finally, I flop my body down, an aggressive energy stimulating my aching muscles, and close my eyes. Alese’s face drifts into the darkness, a light shining over my black heart. Her face haunts me more and more each day. I cannot allow myself to become distracted this way.
    Clenching my fists, I force my thoughts back to the vengeance resting inside of my heart. Focus, Kolya. She’s the key to getting what you crave so greatly .
    I will take Burkenstein out.
    Revenge against Vladimir lies just within my reach. I can taste it, can feel it throughout my body. The thought of snuffing out the life of the man who threw me into the darkness arouses me in ways no sexual encounter can mimic.
    I close my eyes and dream of nothing.

CHAPTER 10
    ~Alese~
    Back in the training room, I flip him over and he lands on his ass at least three times or more. The somber music he plays each time we train has finally taken a toll on me. Today it’s Berlioz, and I can’t help thinking of that old Julia Roberts movie where I first heard this song playing. Sleeping with the Enemy , I believe it was called. How appropriate. Either I fight and live up to his standards—stringent and demanding as they might be—or I keep suffering through his dark music each time we train.
    “All right. You win. I call mercy,” he gasps out as I twist his arm behind his back while he’s on the floor.
    “No mercy. I don’t go easy on my victims. I am not going to be kind,” I murmur in his ear, mocking the way he treated me on the first night of our training a couple weeks ago.
    “You are a natural, little dove.”
    He’s right. Fighting this way comes just as easily to me as eating a bowl of rice, and I don’t get it. Sure, I have large chunks of my life I don’t remember, and sometimes the places I see in history books—the crazy-strange locations like Turkey, Switzerland, and Romania—all seem familiar to me, but none of that stirs my confusion up more than the speed of which I’ve learned Nikolai’s techniques. Nevertheless, I take full advantage of my gift.
    “Feel like begging for your life? I’ve got an even better idea. How about we kill that depressing music you’ve got going on over there. Only then will I consider allowing you to live.”
    A deep, throaty laugh escapes his lips, and his face remains hidden by that luscious golden hair of his, so basically, I have no idea what he’s conjuring up