Page 105 of Capuleto

"No! I only hid Yuri from you, nothing else. Someone has impersonated me to make them think it was me. I just want to know who it is and strangle that bitch with my own hands."

"Maybe your brother hired an actress, or a model, you look more like one than a mafia boss."

"Thanks for the compliment, can you try to find out who it is?"

"You know I’ll do whatever it takes. Can you give me information on your brother so I can follow him and see what I can do?"

"Of course. Thank you for everything, Andrey."

"Don't mention it."

Once I gave him everything I had on Yuri, my man left.

Adriano went out to play with the dogs and we spent the afternoon together, I even helped him with his math homework. When he finished, he looked at me hesitantly.

"Can you tell me about my father?"

"About Romeo? What do you want me to tell you?"

"No, the other one, your brother..."

That he showed interest in Yuri at that precise moment twisted my insides.

"You don't have to talk about him if you don't want to. Your father is R."

"But I want to. I’d like to know if he was as cool as you."

"You think I’m cool?" I asked, surprised.

"Oh, yes, not everyone can snap a hawk’s neck, kill demons, get their blood, make amulets for nightmares, and have such good aim, it’s cool. Besides, you’re very pretty and smart."

It was the second time I blushed in a day; I might have to see a doctor to check if I had some kind of lightbulb syndrome with all this blushing.

"What do you want me to tell you?"

I wasn’t going to avoid the conversation. Yuri was a bastard, but he was his father, and being bad people was in our DNA.

"I don't know, tell me about when you were little."

Okay, that I could do.

I limited myself to telling him anecdotes. Like when we went hunting with dad and were anointed with deer blood. The kid was delighted, I promised to take him someday, and when Ana María came to get him for dinner, he complained because he wanted to keep listening to Aunt Nikita.

Ana María watched us with maternal contentment, only dragging him away because she had his favorite dinner ready.

My phone rang, it was Romeo, calling from the hospital to tell me he’d be late and couldn’t make it to dinner with the Arasagastis. I told him not to worry, I’d call Andrea and reschedule. I decided to take a bath and get ready carefully, mentally rehearsing the conversation I would have with him.

Maybe Andrey’s idea of tying him to the bed wasn’t so bad...

I took a shower, dressed suggestively, in a jewel-toned outfit that left little to the imagination, and left the phone charging in the bedroom. I wouldn’t need it.

When I went downstairs, I asked Ana to leave. She raised her eyebrows at the outfit I had chosen.

“If you keep wearing such sexy things, we’ll soon have another bambino in this house,” Ana remarked.

“Whenever you want, I’ll lend it to you to go out,” I replied.

She laughed like crazy. “In that thing, I can only fit one leg, and I’d look like a stuffed sausage.” This time, I was the one who laughed. “But you, on the other hand, make me want to pass you through a metal detector and give you a thorough pat-down. I bet Romeo has no trouble drawing his baton.”

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