Page 74 of Koroleva

Ana María took charge. She brought calm and told me to be patient. She made me reflect on the drama the kid was going through. He had just lost his mother in a traumatic way, those who were his grandparents seemed relieved not to have to take care of him, and overnight, he found himself in a house that wasn't his, without his school friends, surrounded by a bunch of strangers.

Those were tough days. Very tough. Especially when he would wake up at midnight crying and screaming until he was hoarse. It broke my heart. He wouldn’t let me hug him, filling me with punches, so I just sat there, on the mattress, to show him that I wasn’t going to walk out of his life. Such a small body shouldn't have to carry so much suffering.

I thought about taking him to a psychologist to find the root of his nightmares and help him adjust, but my sister volunteered. She had studied psychology for a couple of years before dropping out because she said the acrylic nails were calling her. She ended up doing a course and now ran her own salon in Marbella, frequented by the crème de la crème of the city.

At first, she came every afternoon. Adriano was quiet but reacted better to her than to me. My sister said it was just a matter of time before he opened up and that it would be good for him to adopt an animal, specifically a dog. There were studies showing that children with problems responded very well to the unconditional love of dogs. I agreed that if anything, Adri needed unconditional love.

I took him to the shelter, and the girl advised me to let the boy choose from several dogs she considered suitable. However, Adri ignored this and went straight for the huge dog that was in a cage. It was love at first sight, my son opened the gate despite the girl from the shelter and my own astonishment, and Brutus bowled him over, smothering him with slobber and paws.

I almost pulled out my gun right there and shot the animal, thinking it was attacking him. I reached for the back of my belt, and then, a miracle happened. I heard him laugh. It was the first time I heard that sound coming from his lips.

There was no argument when he said the chosen one was that sixty-kilogram Rottweiler.

I was finishing adjusting my suit when Nikita appeared in the garage.

She went straight to the Bugatti. My jaw dropped seeing her, but I said nothing about it. I wasn't going to ask her where she would go because the car had a tracking device; as soon as she left the garage, I would ask one of my men to follow her.

30

On the run

I‘m angry, pissed off, an I can only think about bad things. Damn Capulet, son of a bitch, asshole!!

He had drugged my man! He made him confess my intentions by injecting him with pentothal! That was foul play! Very dirty! And now he expected me to go motorcycle riding with him? For what? To play happy family or to keep me under control?

Lucky that Andrey didn't tell him my intention was to kill him and wipe out his whole family, although he came to that conclusion on his own. He didn’t need to be very smart; I would have thought the same, although I don’t know if I would have taken it as lightly as he did.

The fact that Romeo knew my intentions left me walking a tightrope, or in other words, exposed, with my ass in the wind, and that gave him an advantage.

He was as bastardly and cunning as me, though more twisted, because I wouldn’t have hesitated to put a bullet between his eyes. He, on the other hand, wanted to push me to the limit, to launch a macabre game against me. I saw it in his eyes; he wanted to be the hunter and me the prey.

What I couldn’t understand was why he wanted to make me believe he wasn't responsible. To keep me off guard? To make me lower my defenses? Or because he wanted a battle of wits? I myself had participated in one of the most macabre games of the year, a few months ago, in which my uncle lost his life.

People like us have different limits than most. We thrive on strong emotions, and I feared my husband felt the same way. Did he want a long haul? Well, he was going to get it, and when I reached the finish line proving my suspicions, I would enjoy slowly killing him with my own hands.

I pressed the accelerator of the Divo and pushed it to nearly 200 km/h. For the past ten minutes, I had the feeling that I was being followed. A black car that I didn’t recognize was trailing behind me. It kept me in sight, overtaking whenever I did. Either it was a fool who wanted to test his strength against the wonder I was driving, or someone was on my tail.

"Alright, bastard, let's see if you're really following me or if it's just my paranoia from the argument with my beloved husband."

Given Romeo's behavior, I wouldn't have been surprised if he had sent one of his men to spy on me.

I sped up on the curve to overtake the Peugeot 206 that was going at 20 km/h. People like that should have their licenses revoked, as they cause accidents with their excessive caution. It was probably being driven by some damn old man from the post-war era.

I steered the Bugatti to the left and my stomach turned. I reacted just in time, before the oncoming truck could crush me. It honked as if there was no tomorrow, throwing a bunch of

insults and obscene gestures at me.

Damn! I almost crashed! My heart was about to burst out of my chest and a slight tremor ran through my right hand, gripping the steering wheel.

My mind raced.

What if Romeo wanted me to have an accident? What if he wanted to kill me before I could kill him? He had the perfect alibi; he was with the damn kid and I had taken off with his car. Plus, I was a woman... Some men thought that we exhibited a strange kind of gender disability when driving, when it was clear that we drove much better than them.

The sun hit me right in the eyes, and I didn't have glasses to shield them, I hadn't thought to put them in my bag. My heart rate was on the verge of collapse and my adrenaline was spiking, I swerved again and this time I managed to overtake without a problem, as did the car that was tailing me and getting closer to my tail.

But what car was it? I couldn't make out the make because of the excess light that made my eyes tear up. I hit the blue leather steering wheel. I loved the sun, but not like this. I had to speed up more. I pressed down on the sole of my shoe and an explosion made me scream and almost lose control of the vehicle. I let out a curse in Russian when I heard a bang.

But what the hell! Someone had shot at me and the rear window of the car shattered. Romeo would be furious. Wait! Maybe that was exactly what he intended.

---