Page 141 of Capuleto
Cheng unfolded the sofa bed, and I laid Nikita on it. I asked her to dress my sister and take care of her wound while I returned to the shower. I needed to lather up and clear my head.
I had to come up with a new plan quickly before Romeo got the upper hand.
57
The Escape
Istill didn't understand how I had lost them. Well, I did understand, because I got the most cautious taxi driver on the entire Costa del Sol. I even threatened him with my gun to get out and give me his seat.
He almost wet himself. He agreed. The problem came in that damn impasse; it took only a few seconds, but it was enough for me to lose sight of them. I drove like a madman but was unable to locate them. Desperate, I headed back to my car and asked that son of Pakistan to get my vehicle out of the hospital in exchange for returning his taxi.
Minutes later, I was driving aimlessly.
It was maddening! That lunatic Yuri was capable of anything, and now he had my wife and my future child in his power.
I drove, replaying what had happened in my mind.
Andrey had to knock out Irene to silence her; her screams and kicks were going to raise the alarm. We lost precious minutes discreetly going down the main stairs to avoid the police. When I saw Yuri, he was already putting his sister into a waiting taxi.
I had asked the Russian to lock Irene in the trunk of his car and erase the hospital's security footage so the images wouldn't incriminate us. And to call Segarra to inform him of what had happened in case he needed to pull some strings. My job was to chase down the siblings, end Korolev, and get Nikita back. I could see from his expression that he didn't like the idea of me going alone, but he accepted it, making me promise not to harm Nikita.
I gave him my word, arguing that no matter how much of a traitor she might be, she was carrying my child. Andrey accepted and gave me the player with the recordings he had made so I could listen to them on the way.
As he told me, it was just a small sample. He had a lot of information stored in the cloud that he hadn't been able to fully review.
When I saw Yuri disappear before my eyes, I got into the next taxi in line and demanded the driver follow his colleague. I took the opportunity to order two of my men to go to the hospital immediately to guard Aleksa while I urged the Pakistani to go faster. I didn't trust that Yuri wouldn't send reinforcements to kill my friend after everything the Russian had done to save him.
As soon as Andrey deleted the security footage, he would take Irene to one of my hideouts to extract all the information he could from her. I gave him free rein to use whatever means he deemed necessary, and when I lost track of my brother-in-law and my wife, I called him again to have my traitorous ex-lover give up the possible locations where Yuri might have taken Nikita.
I couldn't stop thinking about putting a bullet in that bastard Korolev for all the harm he had caused me. I wanted to kill him with my own hands.
Andrey provided me with the address of Yuri's house, just in case that lunatic decided to go there. We couldn't rule anything out, no matter how absurd it seemed. I asked Piero to take several of my men there in case they encountered a welcoming committee. I doubted Korolev would go to the house, but they might find valuable information there. They had orders not to kill him unless absolutely necessary; I wanted to reserve that pleasure for myself.
As soon as they arrived on the street where the property was located, they were met with a police cordon blocking the way. The column of smoke rising in front of them, along with two fire trucks, spoke to the magnitude of the fire.
That bastard had ordered his property burned to prevent us from finding his whereabouts. If there was one thing I knew for sure, it was that I couldn't consider the Russian a fool.
On the way to Marbella, I listened to the audio Andrey had given me. It confirmed everything he had told me. Irene had been the mole from the beginning, Nikita had nothing to do with the explosion at the funeral, as my family had suggested. She was unaware of her brother's plans with Irene, and Korolev had sent two of his men to kill Aleksa that very night.
Nikita had been swearing up and down that she had never done anything against me, that she found out Yuri was alive when she woke up on his boat, and that she hadn't said anything because she was confused. She never imagined her brother would come back from the dead, nor did she expect to fall in love with me.
In the past few days, she had begged many times for me to listen to her. Of course, I listened, but I hadn't believed her. How could I after what I had found out?
Between the photos Segarra had given me, the pen drive with the video, and the audios, I was no longer so sure that the conclusions my father and I had drawn about Nikita were correct.
I thought about her face, her damned face moving away with Yuri's gun trained on her. The last thing she mouthed, looking into my eyes, was that she loved me. She didn't have to say it; everything had blown up, yet there was that declaration burning in my chest.
I pounded the steering wheel with all my rage. I needed to clear things up, to understand what was true and what was a lie. If I made a wrong decision, I would never forgive myself, and for that, I needed to talk to the person who knew Yuri best, besides Nikita: his mother.
I floored the accelerator until I reached my father's house, and as soon as I arrived, I demanded that he and Jelena come to the library.
58
The secret Weapon
S
eeing me so agitated, my father didn't hesitate to accept my request. San Juan, who was guarding the door, wanted to intervene on behalf of Don Giuliano, but my father stopped him, leaving him outside.