To my surprise, she whirled on me, looking pissed. “Don’t act like you’re any better, Arko! My brothers have every right to hate you.”
The anger I’d been suppressing all day flared.
“I never claimed to be better,” I snapped. “But I also never threatened to hurt your family.”
“No, you just took me from them,” she shot back. “Don’t tell me you expected my family to be grateful to you for today.”
“Your brothers aren’t innocent victims here, Beatrice! They’ve been at war with my family for years,” I defended myself. “They started it, and they always take it further than it needs to go with their threats.”
“They didn’t mean what they said about your sisters,” she insisted. “They were just trying to hurt you.”
“How can you even defend them?” I scoffed. “You heard them. They meant every word until you called them out.”
“They didn’t mean it, okay? But you can’t be that daft to not see where they’re coming from! You took their sister, so they threatened to take yours. Could you say you’d have chosen another alternative if someone took Anja and Alena?”
Somewhere, in a small corner of my heart, I felt the rightness in what she said. But my anger was like a furnace, blocking out all rational thought. “I disagree.” I shook my head obstinately.
She shook her head, looking disappointed. “If that’s what you still think, then I guess there’s nothing I can say to change your mind.”
Chapter 16 - Beatrice
“Here, try this.” Anja shoved a container of pad Thai right under my nose. “Arko says it’s too much spice, but I’m telling you, it’s the best Thai food out there.”
Anja, Alena, and I were sprawled across my bed, digging into far too much take-out and just generally catching up. In other words, gossiping. I’d got some pizza, while Alena ordered in sushi, and as for Anja?
She ordered Thai for an army.
I took a bite of the noodles straight out of the container and instantly regretted trusting Anja in the first place. “Oh my god!” I squealed, as tears sprang to my eyes.
“Water.” I waved my hand over my burning face and tongue. “Water!”
Alena laughed, not sounding sympathetic at all, and handed me a glass. “Weakling. You and my brother belong together.”
Well, I didn’t know about that. I was still unsure what this thing with Arko was, especially after the argument we had yesterday. Sometimes, I thought Arko and I would never see eye to eye, and I wondered whether two people could belong together when they were always on opposing ends.
But then again, opposites attract, right? So I downed the water and tried to catch a breath, not bothering to correct Alena.
“Where is he, anyway?” Anja asked, replacing that trauma-inducing pad Thai in my hand with a plate of sushi. “Our dear brother.”
“Out,” I shrugged. “For work.”
“Ooh…mysterious.” Alena wiggled her eyebrows at me.
“I guess he has to keep his secrets, with the kinds of things he does,” I said, with a little more bite in my tone than intended.
Alena and Anja exchanged concerned looks, then Alena looked at me. “Just what kind of things do you think he’s up to, huh?” Her voice was gentle, almost teasing, but I heard the undercurrent of caution, almost like I’d stepped on her toes.
“Oh, I don’t know.” I didn’t really want to talk about Arko. It had been such fun, catching up and bonding with the girls and forgetting about Arko for a while. “All I’m saying is, he’s in the Bratva, right? He probably does unspeakable things on a daily basis that could land him in prison.”
“You know,” Anja said kindly, setting her food aside to sit up straighter. “He’s not all that much of a monster. I mean, I get it. The way he brought you here was wrong. We’ve told him that.”
“You have?” I asked, surprised.
“Of course,” Anja nodded. “We’re his sisters, not his yes-women. But there’s more to him than what you’ve seen.”
“Really?” I asked, skeptically as I put aside my own plate to lean back against the headboard.
“Uh-huh.” Alena twirled a strand of hair around her finger. “Even at work, he keeps everything secret, especially all the good stuff he does. I don’t know what his deal is, but he likes being seen as someone dangerous even though he’s a total softie at heart.”
