Page 52 of Koroleva

"You have to," he insisted. "They can't see us together, not like this."

I knew what he meant. Few people were aware that Yuri and I were still friends, only Aleksa and Basile, in whom we trusted blindly.

For others, we were bitter enemies who had learned to tolerate each other; we respected each other but there was no friendship between us.

"Shit!" I spat out, recognizing he was right. He squeezed my hand.

"Everything will be fine, but if things go south..."

"They won't go south." His skin was getting paler. "We'll get out of this, and I'll tell Basile to take you to the clinic. You should have listened to me when I said to bring your men too," I grumbled.

"I've been a fool. I admit it. There's no turning back now, so I need you to listen. If things go south... promise me, you'll take care of Nikita." His request caught me by surprise.

"Your sister?" I asked, puzzled.

"She's been training all her life by my side; I don't have any other brothers. So, she's the most likely to take my place, unless she’s denied her rightful place because she's a woman." My head was spinning.

"Are you asking me to marry your sister?"

"Exactly. I wouldn't ask if I didn't think you could make her happy."

"Your father and mine would totally oppose it, just like when we tried to merge our companies."

"It's different." Yuri coughed again, giving me another bad premonition.

"Drop it. Your sister isn’t even here now; she lives in Saint Petersburg."

"That doesn't matter. If you do it right, she will accept. Remember the photos I've shown you? She's beautiful, very smart, she's my female version."

"Stop thinking about nonsense and save your strength," I urged him.

"For me, it's not nonsense. You don't know what it's like to be a woman in our world, if I die..." he paused, and my throat tightened. "Promise me." His brow furrowed. Yuri was stubborn when he set his mind to something. "If I have to go, I want to know that she will be protected, and there's no better man on Earth than you. I need to go in peace, and I will only do so if you promise you’ll do everything in your power to make Nikita your wife." It was a strange promise. I didn’t even know if I would ever meet her, or if our families would accept something like that. But if that vow was what my best friend needed to hear to be at peace, I would make it.

"Alright."

"Do I have your word?" he reiterated.

"You know you do." I wasn't going to let him die, and therefore, I would never have to marry her.

"Okay, then get out and kill that son of a bitch for me." I struggled with whether to leave him or not. I wasn’t entirely convinced, but if I stayed by Yuri's side, we were done for. I needed to move fast. He shook his gun to make me leave. "Go! Do it! It's your duty!" With all the pain in my heart, I nodded; As much as it pained me, Yuri was right.

"I'm going, but aim well and don't let them kill you, you know we have plans for our retirement." My friend offered me a warm smile and nodded.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world, brother." Hearing him use that term squeezed my heart.

I kissed him on the forehead, we embraced, and with his blood staining my hand, along with a promise I never expected to have to fulfill, I set out to find the bastard who wanted to annihilate us.

22

Trick or treat

As Andrey told me, Jonás Sánchez was at the gates of Korpe, my laboratories.

He was standing in front of one of the trees at the entrance, with his back to us, talking to one of the workers who seemed quite uncomfortable with the journalist's harassment.

As Andrey mentioned, Jonás Sánchez was at the gates of Korpe, my laboratories. He was standing in front of one of the trees at the entrance, with his back to us, talking to one of the workers who seemed quite uncomfortable under the journalist's scrutiny.

We approached them from the right. The body language of both spoke volumes about the situation. While the journalist adopted a very assertive stance, the lab technicians was nervous and evasive. He fidgeted a lot, rubbing his hands together, and turned his head, startled, when he caught sight of me.

---