Chapter thirty-seven

Jack and Irina glanced at each other, their expressions mirroring the other's despair. An entire conversation took place in the silence between them.

Shoot her?

No.

What?

Don't know.

"You did nothing when Nadia died," Irina said. "You could have sent a doctor to help me. We could have saved her."

"Nadia? Is that what you called her?" Elena turned back to face Irina, a sneer marring her features. "I did you a favour. She would have killed Sydney."

"You're insane," Jack said.

Elena ignored him. "It's prophesied, Irishka. You would have lost both your daughters in the end."

"I don't believe in your prophecies." Irina studied her sister, confused. Elena said Nadia would have killed Sydney, but she hadn't known at that point that Sydney was the so-called Chosen One. There was a look in Elena's eyes that scared Irina; she didn't know this woman who had let her suffer in prison for seven months, who had let her lose a child in order to break her, who wanted to steal her other child. She thought it was entirely possible that Elena had lost her mind.

"You can't fight your fate, Irina. You should know that. You were always such a big believer in destiny."

"Not anymore. You make your own destiny."

Elena smiled. "Do you really want to fight me, Ira? Do you want to lose another baby?"

Irina's blood ran cold and she instinctively covered her belly with her hand.

"I know more than you think. Now, let me leave with Sydney, and I'll leave you and Jack and this child alone. You'll never hear from me again." She aimed her gun at Irina again. "Fight me, and I will kill you."

Irina looked at Sydney, who had gone into a state of shock. Her eyes were glazed over, and she stood motionless. Irina glanced at Jack, whose gun was still fixed on Elena. She closed her eyes, breathed deeply, then opened them, suddenly, strangely calm. She bowed her head in defeat. "Alright. You win."

Ignoring Jack's sharp, indrawn breath, she held out her arms. "Sister."

Elena's smile was triumphant as she crossed the room to embrace Irina. "You do believe."

"Yes." Irina let the knife slip out of her sleeve and plunged it into Elena's back. "But not in Rambaldi. I believe in family."

"Ira, you don't – don't know what you're giving up—" Elena dropped to her knees, leaning against Irina, who slowly sank to the floor as well.

"Oh, Lenochka." She pulled her sister closer, awkwardly cradling her on her lap. She smoothed Elena's hair away from her face, then kissed her forehead.

"Rishka—"

"Shh." She hummed a Russian lullaby their mother had taught them, stroking Elena's cheek until her eyes fluttered closed and her breathing stilled. Even then, she held her sister close, and when the lullaby ended, bent over Elena's body and whispered, too low for Jack or Sydney to hear, "Ia tebya lyublyu."

Her grief was too deep for tears and she couldn't even move until Jack knelt at her side and pulled her away from Elena. She didn't hear what he said to her, and it was only Sydney's "Mommy?" that brought her back to herself.

She reached for Sydney, and realized with a start that her hands were covered in Elena's blood.

Sydney didn't seem to care. She flung herself into Irina's arms and held tightly to her.

"Sweetheart, it's okay. It's over now." She looked at Jack, and mouthed, Andrei?

He closed his eyes, and shook his head.

Still holding Sydney, she reached for Jack. He put his arms around both of them.

"I'm sorry, Irina."

She couldn't respond.

-- Three girls chase a boy in the snow. "You can't catch me," he shouts. The eldest girl throws a snowball at him, and he collapses, giggling. "Not fair, Lenochka!" --

-- "I think this assignment is stupid," Sasha says. "Worse than that, it's – it's – they're turning you into a whore! I can't believe Papa is letting you accept it."

"She's serving her country," Elena says. "That's all that matters." –

-- "My little witch." Cuvee grips her wrists so tightly that he leaves bruises. "Miss me?" –

"Irina."

She blinked, her thoughts returning to the present.

"Irina, we need to get out of here."

"Yes," she nodded, and allowed Jack to help her to her feet. He picked Sydney up, and the three of them left the kitchen. Irina paused at the doorway and glanced back at her sister and the man she'd once considered a friend. It felt like a million years ago. Never had she imagined that it would come to this.

She turned and went to the bedroom to pack.