Page 175 of Capuleto

I should stay quiet just because I'm a woman.

Call me a bitch because I speak my mind.

I guess it's easier for you to take.

If I sat back and smiled.

As expected, what happened with the Chinese woman reached Papa Jing's ears. In a display of resources that the president of the government would envy, he appeared at the hospital. What he didn't expect was my bodyguards greeting him at the door. I had asked my men to guard Cheng because I feared what might happen. Jing got angry and demanded to speak with his cub.

She herself came out to meet him when she heard his voice on the other side. As soon as she opened the door, there was a challenge of dark looks, and after that, she greeted him and allowed him to come in; only he, his men had to wait outside. For the first time, Jing listened to his daughter, never having seen her so sure and willing to fulfill what she said. They talked for hours, and he did not deny her the value she had in his ranks. Cheng took the opportunity to tell him about Huang's betrayal, Yuri's plans, and the invaluable help I had been to her.

If the Chinese woman's father had one thing, it was that he was a man of his word. He promised to negotiate, given that his daughter was still alive because of me. I passed the baton to Massimo and agreed that my father-in-law would lead the negotiation to talk about the Costa del Sol territory.

Jing relented a bit on the decision for his daughter to marry the man he had chosen. He offered Cheng the option to return with him, get to know him, and if after a few months she still felt the same, he would leave the candidate out of the equation.

She came to visit us on the last day. She thanked me and said that whenever I needed her, she would be there for me. I also offered her my friendship and best wishes, deep down hoping she could find happiness similar to mine.

I didn't realize how much I had missed Adriano's hug until he melted into me. His small, convulsing body clung so tightly that it was impossible to detach him.

"Finally, you're here!" he exclaimed with a trembling voice.

After the show of affection, it was his father's turn to receive a good hug from him. Romeo and I considered the possibility of telling him the truth; I wasn't thrilled about the idea of lying to him, but I also didn't want to cause him unnecessary suffering. Telling him that Yuri had returned from the dead, didn't want to know him, and his sole intention was to end all the Capulets wasn't going to bring him any good. Sometimes telling the truth wasn't necessary. We would do it when he was older and had a much stronger emotional armor.

"Thank goodness you haven't turned into zombies because you don't crave my brain, right?"

"Zombies? Where's that coming from?"

"Aunt Juliet told me you caught a mutant virus in the hospital, which is why I couldn't visit you, because it was very contagious and you were isolated. The same thing happened to Mystique! She caught one that mutated nineteen times a day, which is why she has blue hair and yellow eyes."

"Well, you see that Aunt Nikita is still the same, and so am I."

"Not exactly the same," I interrupted, "I'm carrying a baby in my belly." I wanted to share the news with Adriano, hoping that the idea of having a sibling would make him happy. He looked at my belly incredulously and inspected it.

"There's nothing in there. Do you mean you ate it?"

"No! How could I eat a baby?" I exclaimed.

"Polar bears sometimes eat their own cubs when food is scarce. I saw it in a documentary."

"I'm not a polar bear, and the hospital had enough food." R chuckled softly, and I wanted to wipe the smile off his face. "It was your father who put that baby there."

"And how did you do it?" he asked curiously. He raised his chin confidently.

"With plenty of magic dust," he summed up. My cheeks turned red.

"Really?" R nodded. "Wow, I thought you did it by putting your penis in her vagina, releasing your seed so it could travel to her egg." My now-fiancé almost choked.

"What happened to the pollen and the bees?" he asked, choking.

"That was last semester. I didn't know there was another option besides the penis. The teacher didn't explain that; maybe she doesn't know."

"Does she have kids?" I cut in.

"Yes."

"Then she definitely knows."

"Oh, I thought if I explained it to her, she might raise my grade."

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