Chapter 2: Life Without You Is Really Boring

Emma's POV

I'm standing up, reaching into my purse to withdraw a document I've been carrying. Divorce papers.

"I've always kept these with me," I say quietly, "in case this day ever came."

Marcus's voice is strained when he speaks. "Emma... these past two years, your feelings for me..."

"It started as just part of the deal, but you turned out to be a pretty decent guy." I pause, meeting his eyes. "Marcus, if there had been another way, if I were just an ordinary person..." I stop myself. "But I'm not. I never was."

"So now you're..."

"I have to leave. Viktor's right. It's time to settle accounts."

Mr. Sterling's voice carries genuine concern. "Emma, with a hundred million dollar bounty... every assassin in the world will be hunting you."

"I know." I'm adjusting my sunglasses and scarf one final time. "But there's still 24 hours. This is my world. I've been running for two years. Time to face what I am."

I place the divorce papers on the desk and slip off my wedding ring, gently placing it in Marcus's palm. His eyes are filling with tears, but he doesn't try to stop me.

"Thank you for giving me two years of peace," I tell him.

"Emma... please be careful."

I turn toward the door, my steps firm and decisive. As I push open the mansion's front door, the night wind catches my scarf and makes it flutter.

The streets are busy with people going about their normal lives, but I know that from this moment on, every pair of eyes could belong to an enemy. But I'm not afraid. I am Swans, even if I'm only one person now.

"Swans..." I whisper to myself. "It's been a long time since anyone called me that."

And then I disappear into the night.

I slide into the first taxi I can find. The driver's checking me out through the rearview mirror, and I can practically see dollar signs in his eyes.

"The bounty doesn't go live for another 24 hours," I tell him, flipping a gold coin onto the passenger seat. "Kill me now and you won't see a dime."

I give him an address and sink back into the seat. City lights blur past the window, and suddenly I'm four years in the past, back to where everything started.

Four years ago, when I opened my eyes in that crappy motel, I thought I was dreaming. My previous life felt so real. I remembered dying in that hospital bed, my kids crying, that final sense of peace.

But when I walked outside that motel room, the first thing I saw told me this wasn't any dream.

Some guy was shooting another guy in broad daylight. Right there on the street. And people just walked by like it was Tuesday morning coffee.

My old life was safe as houses for seventy-something years. Only thing I regretted was how boring it all was. Never got to feel my heart really race. When I died and woke up here, it was like someone finally listened to my prayers.

Back then, I figured this was just a city with bad crime stats.

The memory shifts. I'm walking down that alley again, second day in this weird new world. I was looking for someone to ask basic questions about how things worked. That's when I heard breathing from the shadows.

I hesitated maybe two seconds before going in.

"Who's out there?" Sharp voice, alert despite sounding half-dead.

"Hey, no trouble here," I called back. "Just checking if you're okay."

Deep in that alley was a woman covered in blood, barely hanging on, pointing a gun straight at me. Her eyes looked like a cornered animal, but she was breathing so shallow I thought she might just stop.

I wasn't scared. Maybe my safe old life had killed my danger sense. Maybe being reborn gave me some kind of stupid courage. I walked right up and crouched down.

"You need help," I said.

She passed out, gun slipping from her fingers.

I remember that night in the motel when she finally came to. She tried bolting immediately, but I grabbed her arm and started firing off questions that probably sounded insane.

"Why doesn't killing people seem illegal here? Where the hell are the cops?"

She looked at me like I was some kind of space case. "You really want to know this shit? Normal people run the other way."

"This beats the hell out of bungee jumping!" I told her. "I want in!"

That's when she laid it out for me. "This world has underground assassins living right alongside regular folks. We got our own rules, our own money, our own safe spots. You kill someone, you got two choices. Become an assassin or go to prison."

My eyes lit up like Christmas morning. This world full of danger and adrenaline! Wasn't this exactly what I'd been missing my whole boring previous life?

"The assassin world isn't some theme park," she said coldly.

"Yeah, but it's gotta beat grocery shopping and waiting to die," I shot back.

I thought about it all night. My old life's safety versus this new life's possibilities. Plus there was something about this mystery woman. By morning, I'd made up my mind.

"I want to become an assassin," I announced.

"You're out of your damn mind. You've probably never even held a gun."

"So teach me. I'm a quick study."

She stared at me forever, like she was looking at someone already dead. Finally shook her head with this bitter smile. "Fine. But we need a code name."

"Swans mate for life," she explained. "If we're gonna survive this brutal world, we need to be like swans. Together through everything, never apart."

"Swans. I like it."

Back then, I really believed we'd never be apart.

Those next two years flash by in my memory. Training in abandoned warehouses and empty lots. Under Raven's brutal instruction, I learned to shoot, to fight, to kill.

Bit by bit, she told me her story.

She'd been some German crime family's daughter. When Viktor's people came knocking about partnering in the drug trade, her family said no. So Viktor's crew wiped them all out.

"That night, Viktor's men killed everyone. Dad, mom, my little brother. Everyone. I was the only one who got away."

"So that's why you only go after drug dealers."

"This isn't justice. It's payback."

We had the perfect system. I'd work out front, drawing all the attention, while she handled things from the shadows. Everyone thought "Swans" was just me working alone.

For two years, we chipped away at Viktor's empire like ants taking down an elephant. Every successful hit, I could see that revenge fire burning brighter in Raven's eyes.

But we were making Viktor's family nervous. Especially when they started gunning for a High Table seat. We became their biggest headache.

Then came that night two years ago. The night everything went to hell.

That final mission felt wrong from minute one. Too easy, like walking into a trap. But Raven insisted we go through with it. Said it might be our shot to completely destroy Viktor's operation.

When I realized we were surrounded, enemies everywhere and no way out, I knew Viktor had set us up perfectly.

I reached for the bomb on my belt, ready to take everyone with me. At least Raven would make it out alive.

But just as I was about to trigger it, this massive explosion erupted from below.

Raven was in the basement. She'd made the choice before I could.

The blast launched me through the air and I hit that freezing river. When I woke up on the bank, the world had gone dead quiet.

One message on my phone: "Emma, going on ahead. Don't miss me. Find someone decent to marry and live good for both of us."

I held that phone and cried the whole damn night. After that, "Swans" didn't exist anymore. Just Emma Sterling, trying to live normal.

The taxi jerks to a stop, snapping me back to now. Night's gotten deeper, and I wipe my eyes before putting the sunglasses back on.

Two years. I thought I'd gotten past that kind of pain. But with Viktor back, it's all flooding back like a busted dam.

Two years without Raven has been long enough. If this is our shot to meet again, then bring on the storm.

I look ahead, and for the first time in two years, I'm actually smiling. "Time to find you, Raven. Life without you is really boring."