His hands shake as he closes his medical bag, and I know he’s thinking the same thing I am.
Those weren’t random associations. Those were the responses of someone who’s been trained to see the world in terms of threats and targets.
“Could we speak privately for a moment?” Orlov gestures toward my office.
“Of course. Katya, why don’t you get dressed? We’ll be right back.”
She nods and heads toward the bedroom.
“Her responses confirm everything we already know,” Orlov declares once we’re alone in my office with the door closed behind us.
“Which is?”
“She’s a trained operative whose conditioning is breaking through faster than we anticipated.” He sets his medical bag down hard enough to make the contents rattle. “Those reflexes, the word associations, the way she positions herself… it’s all textbook intelligence training.”
“Can you slow it down somehow? Medication, therapy, something?”
“With what? Sedatives? Memory suppressants? Dmitri, we’re not talking about erasing a bad breakup. This woman’s personality was built around being a weapon.”
“I just need a few more weeks.”
“For what? To fall deeper into whatever fantasy you’re constructing?” He stops pacing and fixes me with a hard stare. “This has to end.”
“When I say it ends.”
“What about the ethics of what we’re doing? I took an oath to do no harm, and what we’re doing to that woman…” He gestures toward the bedroom. “This is psychological torture.”
“You’ve been bending your ethics for the Kozlov family for twenty years. Don’t suddenly grow a conscience now.”
Orlov’s face hardens. “Patching up bullet wounds is helping people survive. This is something else entirely.”
“This is business.”
“No, this is obsession. And it’s going to get you killed when she remembers what you did to her.” He picks up his medical bag. “She’s not a pet, Dmitri. She won’t stay tame just because you want her to.”
My phone buzzes on the desk.
Alexei:Need to talk. FSB activity is ramping up. They’re asking about her by name now.
“I have to take this,” I tell Orlov as I glance at the screen.
“What should I tell her about the test results?”
“Tell her she’s healing well. Normal recovery. Whatever keeps her stable for now.”
Alexei’s second text is more urgent:Viktor’s people asking questions. Getting close.
Orlov stares at me like I’ve lost my mind, which maybe I have. A month ago, the plan was simple: Make Alexandra Volkova fall in love with me, then destroy her. Show her what it feels like to have someone she trusts betray her.
Now, watching Katya struggle with an identity I’ve fabricated, simple revenge doesn’t seem so simple.
The woman coming back isn’t the operative I swore to break. She’s not the enemy I built this plan around.
She’s something else.
The closer she gets to human, the harder it is to remember why I want her destroyed.
“Dmitri, you need to think about what you’re doing. Your real motivations.”
