Page 85 of Merciless Union
“How? Look around. We’re in the middle of nowhere, with no car, no phone, nothing. You don’t even have shoes on. We’re stuck here even if we get untied. Just lambs waiting for the wolf to come back and devour us.”
I stop moving, staring at her. “Are you always this cynical?”
“Why would I be anything else?”
“I don’t know. I guess I just thought that the Ice Princess of the Bratva would try harder to escape, is all. I never took you for one to just sit back and accept your fate.”
She chuckles without any humor to it. “Then you don’t know me at all. I’ve never fought against the system I’ve been placed in. I never fought against my father when he controlled every ounce of my life. I’ve never fought against how people see me. In fact, I revel in it. Sometimes, anyway.”
“So that’s just it. You’ve never fought against the status quo so you’re not even going to fight now?”
“I’m sure my brother will come save us eventually.”
“You just said that Stepan will probably kill him!”
She shoots me a look. “No, I said Stepan will probably only come back if he’s killed my brother. If my brother kills him, then I’m sure Maxim will show up and save us.”
“What if he can’t find the cabin? We’re just doomed to die out here?”
She shrugs. “Maybe that’s our fate.”
I stare at her. “Do you care about anything?”
Elena sighs, dropping her head back. “Of course I fucking care about things, Arina. I care about a lot of things. But I’ve learned over the course of my lifetime that it’s useless to fight. It’s just a surefire way to feel disappointed.” She meets my gaze, rolling her eyes. “Don’t look at me with pity. I don’t want it.”
“Sorry.” I sigh. “Elena, I don’t know much about your life but from what you and Kira have said, I’m sorry that your father treated you all so terribly. But that doesn’t mean we should just give up. I understand that you’re worried about feeling disappointed. And I am too. In fact, your own brother has disappointed me on so many occasions but I still stood up for myself. I never backed down. We can’t back down now. We need to get out of these ropes and find a way to escape.”
“How?”
“Stop asking me that and help me think of an escape plan!”
“Stop shouting at me!”
“I wouldn’t shout at you if you weren’t acting so useless!”
“I’m not useless. You’re just a bitch,” she snaps back.
I go silent, then laughter bubbles out of me. Elena looks at me like I’m crazy but my laughter doesn’t stop.
“What’s so funny?” she demands.
I shake my head, quieting my laughter. “It’s just… that’s your comeback. It was so lame.”
Elena continues to stare at me until her own lips quirk into a smile and she starts to laugh. “Yeah, it was pretty lame. I’m actually a little disappointed in myself.”
Our eyes meet and our laughter picks back up. We keep on laughing until gradually, we both calm down.
“You know, I can’t remember the last time I’ve laughed like that,” Elena says.
“Maxim said something similar to me. We went on a date and just started laughing. It was the first time I had ever heard him laugh.”
“I’ve never heard him laugh,” Elena admits. She looks at me. “The fact that you got him to means something.” She pauses, taking in a deep inhale. “You know, maybe you’re not so bad for him after all. If you can make him laugh, that must mean he’s happy with you. And my brother deserves to be happy.”
“So do you,” I say quietly.
She blinks, smiling slightly, before she sits up straighter. “I do, don’t I?”
“Maybe we can start by trying to get out of here. Take that first step in fighting back.”
