26. Boxing

                                    

                                          

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Elena remembers getting pushed down by her stepmother to the hardwood floor of their newly built estate outside the Esid capital, and she remembers the exact pain that shot up from her side to her arm. Hitting that wooden floor with full force, watching her stepmother stare down at her like it didn't matter much, made her understand what it means to be born a woman here.
Whether she stays on the ground, or gets up, she's in danger either way. Staying down means letting her push her again, letting others hurt her, leaving her safety up to others' kindness and help. But fighting back means that there is a chance of losing, and losing is almost always more violent than simply giving up.
She had to make a choice that day, the first time she was pushed down. A choice between getting up and fighting back, or laying there and not doing anything. Her choice would come to define her relationship with her stepmother, her relationship with her family and her relationship with life in general. The choice she made that day made her the person she is.
She stood up, and she pushed her back.
But choosing to fight back is not a simple choice. It comes with consequences. Once you pick up your boxing gloves and learn how to fight, you can never put them down again, you can never stop fighting. The better you become at defending yourself, the more violence will find you.
Elena knew that every day after her choice of standing up, would be a fight for survival, in one way or another. But it was better than letting her fate be controlled by someone else, letting her safety be in others' hands. So, she picked up her boxing gloves, both figuratively and literally, and learned how to fight. How to defend herself, and how to fight back.
Not just against her stepmother, but against anyone in her way. If her brothers would ever hit her, she would hit them back harder. If a trained assassin would come to get her, she'd kill them before they'd kill her. She was ready for anything, because that day, she chose to put her life in her own hands. And that is a heavy responsibility. One that she sometimes forgets, when business and papers and numbers take over her brain. But one that she rarely is allowed to forget for long.
"This meeting better not take long." Today is one of those days. One of the days where she almost forgets how to fight. She tries to rub the tiredness out of her eyes, and grumbles as her feet drag across the concrete floor. She's lost count over how many hours she's been awake, but honestly it doesn't matter anymore. She's managed to squash as many news articles and as much buzz as possible over her company's failure, and gathered enough small to mid-sized investment projects to at least dampen the criticism. As long as Vera manages to get that huge project from Elsi before the month is over, everything is going to be fine.
Right now though, things are still shit. Other than damage control, she also has to keep her father happy to avoid him switching sides over to her brother, and by extension, all the executives over at VOID Group. That's where she's headed now. A meeting, for damage control. A few convincing words, smoothly placed threats and propositions for the future should smoothen things over with them, so that they won't feel obligated to vote for her brother once the vote actually takes place.
Elena is tired, though, and she hasn't been home in days. She's hardly in the mood for pleasing the upper management at VOID Group right now, but she finds herself walking towards her car in the underground VOID Investment company parking lot, followed by three bodyguards, two of whom are Doscorian.
Elena turns to look at them as they walk, remembering that she is usually only followed by Cyrus and not any guards. "Once we get to VOID Group, you three stay by the car. I don't need others noticing the increased security, it just projects weakness." If they see her like this at VOID Group, it definitely won't help her 'everything is fine' point to get across to the members of the board.