The Shadow Circle

Chapter-20

Five days left.

O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, USA.

"Black suits you," Elizaveta said nonchalantly as she tossed a black mountaineering jacket towards me. The thing itself was probably half my weight.

"Black suits everyone," I told her. At least we had similar tastes and she hadn't tried to stab me for...I checked my watch...the last five minutes.

"You're an idiot," she said.

"I'm sorry?"

"I said you're an idiot."

"I'm not the one who halves the average IQ of the room everytime I step in so..." I drawled.

"I may not be a science nerd like you, but I didn't go and indebt my life to an assassin who works for the biggest criminal organisation in the world," she said.

"I know you're a prone to illogical statements, but do you really think the rest of the world was trained by Vladimir Putin?" I asked.

"The rest of the world is pathetic," she said. "We don't follow those morals. We lead a different life."

"Then what did you do? Expect me to go super Saiyan and take down five mercenaries on my own?" I demanded.

"No, I suppose not. You're naïve though. Innocent. You should have made sure trusting Kai was the right choice. He's extremely manipulative and I should know that better than anyone."

I beg to disagree.

"His moral compass is a bit..."

"Differently wired?"

"Fucked up. Reminds me of Jack Sparrow's. Points to whatever he wants and its not always north."

Elizaveta laughed. What a strange sound! "Yeah. That's an accurate comparison."

She didn't seem to hate him as much as I assumed she did...

Hmm...

"Did he kill your mother?" I blurted.

Shit. Shit. Shit. Why did I say that?!

Elizaveta fell silent and I took a subtle step away from her.

"No. It was Dragomirov," she said quietly.

"So...black or brown?" I asked hastily, holding up two jackets, none of which were my size.

"He was abusive," she said. "My father."

Evidently, Elizaveta wasn't as easy to distract as I was.

"Eliza..."

"Anything for power, Kestrel. All of them are the same. Dragomirov, Nakamura, Nozava, Shah and even Kai," she said.

I didn't know how to reply to that. So I didn't.

"In this world, you'll always find some male bigot with world domination plans who thinks he's God or something," she said.

I laughed nervously. "Yeah, I'm noticing a trend there."

"Dragomirov was outright abusive. He used to lose his temper very fast. I was a different sort of girl growing up. I could recognize the difference between right and wrong. Even as a kid."

"Dragomirov didn't like that, because you're an heiress."

"Exactly. I refused to kill. I didn't know how. He killed my mother in a fit of temper. My mom was the only one who loved me, she was kind, despite everything she's been through. She loved me. He thought I would be the reason for the Dragomirov's decline because I was too soft."