Page 5 of Capuleto

I emptied the glass in one go, and he refilled it.

"Sorry I drugged you. I couldn't stay in Santorini for too long in case someone saw me. Knowing how stubborn you are and that there was a chance you wouldn't follow Demi quietly, I preferred to make it easier to get you off the island as quickly as possible."

"No... I don't understand... Why? Why did you pretend to be dead?" Yuri took a gentle sip. Having him sitting there was like a damn dream.

"First of all, Kalinka, let me apologize to you." He put his glass on the table, did the same with mine to place it next to the other, and placed my hands between his. We could hear his men working on the stairs. "If it hadn't been absolutely necessary, Dad and I wouldn't have acted like this."

"Dad and you? But he did pass away, didn't he?" I wasn't sure of anything anymore.

"Unfortunately, yes, his death wasn't faked. It was an accident." I nodded, trying to listen to him instead of the thousands of hypotheses forming in my head. I needed to calm down.

"Alright," I stated neutrally, "explain to me why you are alive and I didn't know anything."

He let go of one of our hands while he entertained himself by stroking the other with his thumb.

"It all started a long time ago, you were still in high school, and I was in college. The 'Ndrangheta was taking over our territory on the Costa del Sol, and Putin was getting nervous, threatening Dad. If he didn't bounce back, he was going to replace him, you understand." I nodded. "We needed a plan to crush the Italians and take over the market, and your dear husband served it to us on a silver platter."

"Romeo?" Yuri nodded affirmatively.

"You didn't think our friendship was by chance, did you? Please, little sister, as smart as you are..." The skin on my chest, where my heart was beating, began to itch. "I thought you would have suspected. The revelation dried my mouth. "We had it planned to the last detail. That he would study chemistry and we would share a campus wasn't accidental either. It took me time to get to know him in detail, especially since I did it from a distance, staying under the radar. I used to go out with the girls he discarded after sleeping with them for a while. Your dear husband was always a womanizer. I got to know him so well it was scary," he laughed heartily. He grabbed his glass with his free hand, and I did the same, needing more vodka to digest all of it. "I knew he was loyal to his friends, that when he cared about you, he defended you to the death, that he was a visceral guy, a lover of motorcycles and beautiful women."

My head and chest were starting to hurt. I stopped his rant with a sharp hand gesture.

"Are you telling me you set a trap for him to become your friend? Is that what you're saying?"

"Of course!" I watched him incredulously. "A friendship between a Korolev and a Capulet? That hasn't been written yet. You know we're all about calculating everything. It had to seem real to avoid suspicion. We needed Romeo to be all in with me, and I achieved that."

"But what about the pharmaceutical company? He stole the idea from you!"

"Nah!" He waved his hand dismissively. "That idea was always his. It was a lie that he stole it from me."

"I don't understand." I was feeling more and more overwhelmed. I hated being lied to; and that's exactly what my father and brother had done.

"Dad and I needed to create the perfect storm. It was us who copied Romeo's idea, not the other way around. His values kept him from getting mad at me; on the contrary, it was easy to convince him that my intention was to unite us into one company to be stronger. But Massimo wasn't entirely on board. That distrustful bastard... he was a wise old dog. So we needed a plan B, which came in the form of a photograph."

"Photograph?" This damn puzzle was insane.

"Uh-huh. I already told you that Romeo was always led by his dick. And every time I showed him a picture of you, he drooled." My heart complained, sending a sharp pang. "The Chinese wanted in on the business, and the Costa del Sol wasn't a big enough pie to split among three."

"What do the Chinese have to do with this?" My mind made the missing connections, like those texts where only the vowels are given, and you know what it says even without all the consonants. "No! Cheng and you?!"

"Exactly." He pointed the finger holding the glass toward my face. "We're partners. We set up an ambush where I was supposed to fall, and I extracted a promise from Capulet that would stick in his mind."

"To take care of me..." I muttered.

"I see he's already told you the story... He didn't waste any time," he laughed. "With him feeling guilty about my death, and you poisoned to the core, the seed was already planted. You just needed the final touch. Without meaning to, Dad offered it to me. As you might guess, I have people infiltrated who kept me informed about the movements of your new family. I knew about the offer and that you were reluctant to sell, as was logical, so I gave you the nudge you needed to go further. On your own. What was the trigger, Nikita?"

"The Mentium," I responded almost like an automaton.

"That's right! Smart girl. Who could corrupt his own formula with total invisibility so that you would believe Romeo was behind it all?"

"You?!" I exclaimed, irritated beyond belief.

"Of course! Me! The one and only, Yuri Korolev, the V Vor Zakone of the most dangerous Bratva in St. Petersburg. And now, Kalinka," his lips touched my hand, "my favorite sister and I are going to take down those Capulets."

4

Where are you, Nikita?

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