Chapter 1
Realization
Valentina's POV
I ran in direction of the gunfire. Rifle on my back, knives on my belt and two pythons hooked to my belt. I saw three men there. One with blue eyes and a very large gun. A Mexican man with two automatics. And one with black hair. I couldn't see his face but he was well armed.
"Where are we?"
This blue eyed man was Russian. The man with black hair turned and my eyes went wide.
"No…"
"Maybe she knows."
I looked into his eyes.
Royce's POV
She looked a lot like someone I'd known, but her eyes and hair were wrong. I took a step forward and she pulled two guns.
"You wanna lower the weapons?"
"I don't think so." she said.
"Do you know where we are?" The Mexican asked.
"Maybe the Amazon, but I'm not a hundred percent sure."
She looked away from me and took a deep breath.
"I saw more parachutes."
"Where?"
"Why?"
I stepped forward.
"So I can find out who threw me out of a fucking airplane."
She smirked.
"Nice language in front of your-"
She cut herself off and I raised my brows.
"In front of my what?"
"In front of a seventeen year old."
"Did you say seventeen!?"
"Did I stutter?" she asked.
She was armed extremely well.
"What's your name?"
"Valentina."
"You wanna show us where the parachutes came from, Valentina?"
The way she looked at me made me uncomfortable. She nodded to the left and we followed her. I knew her! Somehow I know I knew her. One thing was certain, she definitely knew me.
"So you remember a plane tough guy?" she asked.
"I woke up in freefall. And you?"
"Same."
"What are you?"
"Bounty hunter."
"What's a seventeen year old girl doing working as a bounty hunter? Shouldn't you be in school?"
"I don't have a choice."
"What? Does your mother make you do this?"
Before my mind could even register what happened I was on the ground with a knife to my throat. Nikolai raised his gun but Cuchillo pushed it down.
"My mama had to raise me on her own because my bastard father left her! He shot her and left her. She ran away from the life she led and raised me in a small town in the mountains. She taught me everything I know. She was a brave and strong woman. I do what I do so she could get the medical care she needed. It wasn't enough."
She took the knife away and I slowly stood up.
It can't be! It's impossible!
But as I looked at her, standing there, strong and unafraid….I denied it. Even though her eyes were a dead give away…still I denied it. Cuchillo and Nikolai were looking between us. I stared into her eyes and I saw anger and pain, and a small bit of happiness.
No. She couldn't be.