Chapter Forty-Two
In which this can’t get worse, right?
Iris…
The doctor's eyes are glowing with joy.
Rose is gripping my hand tight, and I'm losing the circulation in my fingers. That's okay, because her grip is the only thing keeping me from sliding off the table.
"Nurse, can you see if The Patroness is available?" He's giddy. "I have some good news for her."
"The Patroness?" Rose whispers. "Is that some fancy name for a madam? Fuck all these women in human trafficking! That's what this is, isn't it?"
I can feel my spine dissolving and I hold onto her tighter. "Yeah. I think so."
She grits her teeth against another sob and then we hear the sound of heels clicking down the hall. The doctor is vibrating in his eagerness and rushes to the door, bowing his head obsequiously. "Patroness, I have news that I think you will find very helpful. Iris Morozova is already pregnant."
She walks into the room and I can't stop it. I lean forward and vomit all over the closest thing. The doctor.
Justice Elana Carrington.
All the whining and fussing the doctor makes as he peels off his white coat doesn't register as she and I stare at each other. A long, vulpine grin spreads across her face, the skin stretched tight, looking like an animated skull.
"Usually, the girls don't come here already pregnant," she says. "How convenient."
Giving a final heave, I let out a wet sounding chuckle. Rose is trying to wipe the vomit off my face with her sleeve. "And here Andrey just suspected that you were selling women as housemaids, as horrifying as that was. You have a baby factory."
“She’s one of the justices," Rose says. "Holy fucking shit. I didn't think anyone could sink that low."
Elana - the bitch who is going to get her face torn off the second one of us can get our hands on her - is impeccably dressed in a dark green suit and low, sensible heels.
Her hair is pulled back in her standard chignon, and that mean little mouth and her eyes seem tighter, but by damn, this woman is so happy.
"You’re selling infants," I repeat. "You're lower than the shit on my shoe."
"No," Rose adds, because we can't stop ourselves. "She's the parasite eating the shit on your shoe. Well done, Your Honor."
"Dear, you don't seem to understand that we have many high-end clients, wealthy people, from good families.” She's using her gentle, yet authoritative tone that she uses in court and it's horrifying. "These girls are lucky that their children are going to have a happy, prosperous future."
She smiles, and the disconnect between her being a judge to whatever inhuman trash she's devolved into is blinding. "We give our girls the gift of giving back to the world with a healthy pregnancy. Several, in fact."
Rose makes a choked little noise like she might throw up, too.
"Upon occasion, young ladies are chosen specifically for their position in life.
" Elana cocks her head, smiling gently. "Mind, we do not do this often, it's much more complicated.
Families can make such a fuss. You, for instance.
The Morozov Bratva have so many enemies.
Imagine the joy of finding out that you could purchase a perfectly healthy Morozov infant.
As a matter of fact, if it's a boy, I'll charge double.
" Elana's not even agitated. She's not happy or sad or radiating evil. Her words are almost clinical.
"Imagine, raising the offspring of the enemy in your own household.
There are so many uses for a child like that.
We'll have to get started on Rose immediately, of course.
" She glances at my sister, who is sheet white and swaying.
"But I think you'll both be extremely popular. For as long as you last."
"You really hate Andrey that much?" Everything is surging through me. Terror, horror and disgust, murderous fury. I'm going to kill her.
Her face sharpens into something reptilian and she leans forward. "Yes, I hate that Bratva filth," she hisses. "Inserting himself into the most sacred of all judiciary realms? He's a common criminal!"
I can't help it. I'm laughing so hard that I can barely get the words out. "What the hell do you think you are, you delusional piece of shit?"
Elana blinks for a minute as if this has never occurred to her. "You're too stupid to understand the opportunity I'm giving these girls, the gift that I'm giving their children." She draws herself up, almost preening. "This is a sacred purpose."
There's nothing left in her but rot.
"It's like she doesn't know how brutal the Morozovs are," Rose says to me with a remarkably steady voice. "She doesn't realize they'll eventually find her, and probably sooner than later." She shakes her head at Elana. "They'll kill your entire family. Down to the last child."
Rose is lying, of course. The Morozov Bratva does not hurt women or children. But this bitch doesn't have to know that.
"Oh, I think that's doubtful," Elana says, examining her manicure to show us how not afraid she is.
She looks at the doctor, who's still trying to get my vomit off his shoes.
"You'll receive a bonus. Make these two ready for transport now.
We don't know how much information the Morozovs got from the tracking chips. The girls need to be moved."
She looks at me again and smiles, fondly. "Not in the same facility, mind. Separate them. I've waited so long to see the expression on Andrey's face when he discovers you're truly gone. This will destroy him."
I'm laughing. Not hysterically. It's just really, heartbreakingly hilarious. "You're wasting your time," I wheeze. "Andrey doesn't give a shit about me. But unfortunately for you, the rest of the family does."
She gives a little sniff and walks out and I'm still laughing like a lunatic and with a weird little gurgle, Rose starts laughing, too.