The two ladies walked forward to the beach, where a female figure was standing staring at the ocean. Suddenly, two heavily armed teams surrounded them and pointed their guns at Nikita. She made a move to pull out her own gun and start a fight, but Alex stopped her and placed herself in front of her mentor so that the guns now pointed at her instead.
"Amanda. Tell your dogs to lower their weapons," she said, emotionless and fearless.
"Let's negotiate about that, Alex. They'll lower their guns if you stop calling me Amanda and start calling me as you must. Plus, you keep your dog on a leash so that I can hug you without her threatening me. Do we have a deal?"Amanda said, turning to face the girl.
"She isn't my dog, Amanda! And you don't have to worry about her reaction. No one is going to die here, neither you nor her. Now guns down please. If you honor our deal, I will honor it, too," the young Russian replied.
"Lower your guns and give us some space. NOW!"Amanda shouted to her followers. They obeyed her instantly. Amanda walked towards the two girls and hugged Alex with a feeling of relief.
Nikita wanted to vomit when she saw it. She just wanted to kill Amanda right there, right now, but she knew that she couldn't do it without losing Alex. And she had promised her that she was not going to do anything stupid.
"Now it's your turn, Alex. Say it out loud," Amanda ordered with pleasure. She knew that she was going to hurt Nikita one more time and she was glad about that.
Alex turned to Nikita and gave her an apologetic look. Then she whispered, still staring at Nikita, "Tиа, how are you?"
Nikita opened her eyes in surprise. Did Alex just call Amanda 'aunt'?
"Oh I am fine my darling. Just a little surprised that you brought Nikita with you to this place. I'm quite disappointed."
"I didn't bring her with me, Amanda. Sorry, I mean aunt. She didn't want me to be around you unprotected and she took the place of my bodyguard. I didn't try to change her mind because I know I would have failed," Alex said.
"Then I guess that she doesn't know what this place means to you. Nikita? Do you know why this is our place?"Amanda asked, softly enjoying to see Nikita worry.
"Well let me inform you…" Amanda started, just when Alex shouted "Stop it! Stop trying to hurt her!"
"It's not your choice to make Alex. We should ask Nikita if she wants to know. I think that that is fair enough. So Nikita, do you want to know the history of this place? I have to warn you, the truth will hurt," Amanda said and smiled widely.
Nikita was really confused. This meeting was crazy. Amanda was a relative of Alex. The history of this place could hurt her. She couldn't let Amanda get inside her mind, she couldn't let her win.
"Just spit it out, Amanda, " Nikita answered, keeping her voice windfall stable.
"It is the place of your betrayal, Nikita. When you had shot Alex, she was acting strange. She didn't talk to anyone. She was only training and fighting. I was really worried about her. You were her entire world but you lied to her, you destroyed everything she had, you betrayed her trust and you shot her. You caused her unbelievable pain. No one could approach her. She was full of anger and pain but she didn't let anyone in to help her face her feelings. One day we had a fight, we argued over you. I wanted you dead but Alex refused to take the kill mission, actually she threatened that she would put a bullet through my skull if I ordered your death. I was shocked. You had caused her so much pain and still she was protecting you. That day, when she left Division, I followed her here. She was sitting down, staring at the ocean, trying to handle her tears. I sat down near her and I told her that she had to let it go. When she didn't reply, I offered her an exit that she didn't take. I offered her drugs."
"You did what?" Nikita yelled in shock.
"Don't worry Nikita, she didn't have any. She took the bottle and threw it into the ocean. I looked at her, surprised. She was the strongest person I have ever met. I told her that the two of us had something in common: we had both been betrayed by you. I told her I could help her. The answer she gave me was really unexpected, though. She told me we were completely different persons and there was nothing I could do to help her. She said 'You choose to hate and look for revenge, I choose to love and forgive. I'm not here because I can't handle my feelings, Amanda. I'm here because I can't handle my worry for her. I can't forget what she did to me and my family but that doesn't change anything. I will always care about her, I will always love her and I will always protect her with my life. You and I have nothing in common, like it or not. I will get you that black-box but don't you ever think of killing her'.Then, your Russian friend left, leaving me stand here speechless. That is how much she loves you, this is what that place means to her. It stands for the battle inside of her and being shot by the woman she was willing to give her life for."
"Alex. I am so, so sorry," Nikita whispered, allowing some tears to fall from her eyes.
Alex didn't respond. She kept looking at Amanda.
"Now Alex, tell me. How are you these days? Are you feeling well?"Amanda asked, worried about Alex. "I got your medical results. Congrats."
"I feel exhausted Amanda. I haven't slept more than one hour every night since the day you released me and I am really tired of arguing with Sean. He thinks I'm cheating on him because I don't sleep with him. What do you expect me to do Amanda? I've been watching over Nikita's house all the time. I feel like a stalker. Seriously, you put a price on her head? You thought I wouldn't have found out, or that I would have left her unprotected and exposed?'' Alex shouted angrily to Amanda. "Withdraw that price and I'll be just fine!"
"What!?"Nikita asked. "She put a price on my head and you didn't tell me? You've been patrolling my house all these days? Why you didn't tell me?" Nikita was so upset. She couldn't believe Alex kept something like this from her.
"Can we argue about this later, please?"Alex asked her mentor. She gave her a warning look, then turned back to Amanda. "Amanda, just tell me what you want."
"Fine. Have you considered my offer, Alex?"Amanda asked and looked back to Alex so she could see her eyes. "Are you going to join me?"
"I have nothing to think about Amanda. You know my answer. As far as I'm concerned, you are a crazy bitch that wants to kill all my loved ones," Alex replied.
Amanda slapped Alex in the face hard. In reaction, Nikita pulled her gun and pointed it at Amanda's head. Alex saw the storm coming and quickly touched Nikita's gun to lower it.
"It's okay Nikita, you can lower the gun. Don't pull the trigger, no matter what. I mean it!" Then she turned to Amanda and said "You can slap me again and again if you want. You can torture me and try to kill me, but my answer won't change. I will never join you as long as you try to hurt them. They are my family."
Amanda was so angry, she couldn't control herself. She slapped Alex again. But this time, slapping her wasn't enough. So she took out her gun and hit Alex's face with it. Alex lost balance and fell to her knees, looking up at Amanda, her eyes expressing she wasn't going to change her mind. Nikita was just standing there, trying to control herself and not engage, as Alex had asked her to. Amanda lowered herself to Alex's eye level so she could face her.
"I am your family, Alex. I am the only family you have. This woman killed your Papa and caused you so much pain. I'm your family. I can promise you something, I will leave your baby out of this fight, but I will make you regret your choice. I will hunt you down and I will cause you so much pain, you can't even imagine it. I'll make you pay for turning your back to me. You just started a war with your aunt, baby girl. I'll make you kill Nikita and everyone else for me. If not, you're going to lose everything and you'll be begging me to kill you. It will be a really painful choice, I swear," Amanda said in a coldblooded way, thirsty for revenge and hurt by Alex's betrayal. Then she hit Alex's face one more time, knocking her out. She left the scene, leaving Nikita with an unconscious Alex