Page 157 of Capuleto

"They must have had the place under surveillance. As soon as I entered, reached the downstairs area, and Massimo's thugs attacked."

"One thing I don't understand. How did you get Huang to invite you downstairs?"

"I'm a resourceful man, hard to believe you don't know that. Relax a bit, will you? So many questions are boring, besides, you don't have to worry about him anymore. He's dead," he replied without giving the answer Cheng seemed to already know. If he went downstairs, it was because he was betraying her. "It was an act of goodwill. I hope it pleases you. I also brought a good handful of dead bodies for my Kalinka," he whispered with a lethal smile on his mouth.

"Ready?" I placed my left hand on his thigh and joined the two portions of flesh. Yuri pressed his lips together.

"I was born ready. Go ahead!"

I plunged the needle into the flesh and pierced it. I would have preferred to do it with a dagger, to be honest. My brother had annihilated all the good feelings I had for him.

His fingers clenched, and he huffed, pushing the Grey Goose bottle to his lips again.

"Am I hurting you?" I didn't want him to perceive that his suffering relieved me.

"It's not pleasant, but go on." I tightened the thread and prepared to make the next stitches.

When I finished, Yuri seemed satisfied with my work.

"Wonderful. I have another gift. I've been saving it until you were more recovered."

He stood up, buttoned his pants, and handed me a couple of pills.

"What is this?"

"The solution to your problem. Take them."

The pills fell into my palm with the same weight as a sentence. Yuri handed me the bottle.

"Let's celebrate its death," he whispered, caressing my belly. I couldn't control the disgust I felt at his touch. I stepped back.

"What's wrong, Kalinka?" he asked, puzzled. "Don't tell me you want to bring this abomination of nature into the world. You never wanted to be a mother, much less to our greatest enemy."

"It's not about that," I feigned.

I never wanted to be a mother, that's true.

I wasn't thrilled about my belly reaching the size of a watermelon, having stretch marks, or cracked nipples; not to mention the part about raising a child, which made me itch.

However, that baby had become my driving force these days. I found myself imagining what his face would be like, if he would be as handsome a boy as Romeo or if he would take after my family. I also wondered how Adriano would take the news. Would he be excited to share the house and attention with that tiny, crying being?

A Romeo embracing fatherhood was another image my brain insisted on showing. I kept seeing him smiling, cradling the baby on his chest until he fell asleep.

His eyes would seek mine, he would smile at me, and then his grin would turn into hatred. The hatred I had so carefully cultivated.

If R let us leave the hospital, it was because that creature was growing inside me. Not because he felt love. I had single-handedly annihilated that emotion, and now I regretted it.

I had never been a woman to grovel for anything or anyone, but for Romeo, I would.

I longed for a life with my husband, sharing trips, laughter, work, and sex marathons. God, how I missed him in bed!

Maybe I had been wrong, and after all, it wasn't such a bad idea to unite our power.

The history of humanity was full of wars and great alliances; maybe I could make him forgive me over time, no one could outdo me in stubbornness.

"Kalinka," Yuri urged, pushing my hand to my lips. I stopped the motion.

"I prefer to abort in a clinic. I'm only a little over a month pregnant, and I've just had a serious infection. It wouldn't be wise to do this."

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