“Yes,” she said, more quietly this time.“I always thought that no matter how shitty the world became, at least we had each other.”
Shit.Why did she tell him something so vulnerable?The words had just slipped out by accident.
A flicker of something crossed his expression.It was interest, maybe, or recognition.It was gone too quickly for her to name.
“What about you?”she asked before she could stop herself.“Your father?”
The question hung between them.For a moment, Lena thought he wouldn’t answer.That she had overstepped, that she had asked something she wasn’t meant to.
“He was a cold bastard,” Maksim stated, his tone flat.
Lena blinked, as she hadn’t expected honesty, not like that.Her first instinct was to think,so are you.The thought came sharp and immediate, almost reflexive.Luckily, she didn’t say it.
Hell, she didn’t dare.Instead, she watched him more carefully now, searching for cracks in the armor he wore so effortlessly.
There was nothing obvious.No grief or bitterness openly displayed, merely that same controlled stillness he carried like a second skin.Yet, something lingered beneath it.
“He raised us to be useful,” Maksim continued after a moment, almost absently.“Nothing more.”
Lena’s chest tightened.Maksim was her enemy, and she felt sympathy for him.Useful, not loved, protected, or respected.
She looked down at her plate, appetite fading slightly as the word settled into her.Her father had never been much of anything by the world’s standards.
He wasn’t wealthy, didn’t wield any power or influence, but he made her feel like she was the most important thing in the world to him. The contrast sat heavy in her chest.
“Your father would worry about you then?”he asked.
“No, he’s gone.”She didn’t soften it, or elaborate.Lena didn’t want to give him anything he could use.
Maksim nodded once.
“Sorry to hear that,” he said.“It must be lonely.”
The words landed strangely.It was not mocking or empty, but as if he really meant his apology.
Lena looked down at her plate, and at the food she was eating in a stranger’s safehouse.It was a reminder that the man across from her could have killed her and didn’t.The question was why?
