Page 142 of Capuleto

My mother-in-law appeared like one of those old Hollywood actresses, wrapped in a feathered satin robe and with an expression of surprise.

"Has something happened to Nikita?" she asked, descending the stairs.

"We'd better go into the office; this conversation is delicate."

She clutched her chest, visibly affected. My father guided her, placing his left hand on her waist. Once inside, he asked her to sit in one of the chairs while he poured three glasses of whiskey.

"Yuri is alive."

I dropped the bomb without hesitation, watching her expression closely. Her face could have been faked, but not the pallor that spread over it.

"What?!" she exclaimed, distressed. Jelena looked at me as if I had sprouted three heads. Could it be that her infamous son had kept all the women in the family in the dark about his plans?

My father offered us the glasses, and she emptied hers instantly. I asked her not to interrupt my story, knowing my father wouldn't, so I could study her body language. There were things you couldn't fake. My father was an expert in that.

When I finished, dropping the final bombshells about Nikita's pregnancy, Yuri's threat to kill her if I didn't let them escape, and my subsequent loss during the taxi chase, Mother Koroleva's expression was a sight to behold.

"It can't be! It can't be!" she exclaimed, downing her second glass of liquor and standing up. "How could he do this to us?!"

She paced back and forth like a caged lioness.

"Tell me you know where your son might be hiding!" I exclaimed, exasperated.

Jelena Koroleva, usually cold, distant, and haughty, had an expression unlike any I had ever seen before.

"How would I know if I didn't even know he was alive?!"

"Has he not tried to see you in these two years?" She looked at me, horrified.

"No! Never! I mourned his loss more than anyone! I never knew he was still alive! I don't know how to take all this, honestly." She was angry, hurt, and then she seemed to realize something. She turned her gaze to my father.

"Is that why Irisha and I have had bodyguards in recent days? Did you know my son was alive and suspected that Nikita was behind everything bad happening to your family?" she accused my father. He rewarded her with a forced smile.

"I only found out very recently. I won't deny that recent events have led us to keep an eye on you. You can't blame me for being cautious."

"For God's sake! We've been sleeping together!"

"Pleasure has nothing to do with this."

"Clearly, men will screw anything, even a wasp's nest," she accused. Then she looked at me with all the venom she could muster.

"One thing I'll tell you, Romeo Capulet, the women in this family can be many things: cold, mean, ruthless, calculating, but if you manage to make one of us give you her soul, it's forever.

"Maybe my daughter wanted to destroy your family before she met you, even during. However, everything changed when her heart started beating for you. I know my daughter perfectly, and I know she has fallen in love with the man she thought was her enemy. If it weren't so, I guarantee you'd already be dead.

"She might have been confused when Yuri appeared on her horizon. I can't even imagine how she must have felt; she always adored Yuri. She even married you to avenge his death, but she didn't count on her mind and heart being torn."

"I'm not so sure she changed her mind," I complained. She laughed sardonically.

"That's because you feel hurt by her. Let me tell you something. You have no idea what it's like for women in the Bratva in Russia. There, we're just vases, ornaments at the service of our husbands. But Nikita was different. She never settled for that. I knew she would suffer. My husband already had his heir; he would never have considered Nikita an equal to Yuri, no matter how much she proved herself capable.

"She spent her whole life proving it. She didn't care about swimming against the tide or that the Bratva didn't accept female vory v zakone. Now I understand why our president accepted it. Because he probably knew my son was still alive while we were dying of grief.

"I didn't give birth to a perfect daughter, but one with a lot of guts and loyal to her ideas. You said she spent three days giving you her word that she wasn't lying, and if that's true, I guarantee she didn't deceive you. Nikita can lie, but she never swears in vain. It's her own code of honor."

I was listening to her intently because there was nothing I wanted more in this world than to believe her. The problem was that she had hurt me so much that I couldn't trust her.

"For now, I've already said that your daughter's word is on thin ice," I clarified.