28
The truth serum
Aleksa
I Walked with Romeo to his office.
The night was a productive as I had hoped, although now I had Andrey extremely angry because of my unorthodox methods to make him confess.
My ass was sore, which I expected, after accommodating his member that could easily have been mistaken for a shell. However, I couldn’t complain; as they say in Spain, ”what you enjoy doesn’t itch,” and that part was magnificent, not everything was going to be bad.
The injection of sodium pentothal and the Taser shot did not put my lover in a good mood. The effect of the injection only lasted between five and ten minutes, the time during which the brain was unable to censor responses and was receptive to answering the most inconvenient questions.
As soon as I had him subdued, I tied him up and called Dante to help me load him onto the chair, as the bastard was squirming.
The bar manager made no mention of the buttons that had popped off my shirt, or the scent of sex in the air, or the suspicious stain on the sofa that I hadn”t had time to clean yet.
Both of us took care of settling Andrey; I had exactly five minutes to make him talk before the effect I was looking for would vanish.
”I”ll be very concise and I expect the same precision in response. What are your boss”s intentions?”
”You”re a jerk,” he spat. A good start. ”I could have answered that without you having to plug me with crap, tie me up, or fry me.”
”Well, you didn”t seem to know at the bar... Maybe your ideas have cleared up. Do us both a favor and don”t make this difficult.” His gaze narrowed.
”She wants to know who is behind the alteration of the Mentium and the suicidal effects.” I let out a laugh.
”You”re screwed. We all want to know that! But why does she want to marry R?!”
”I”ve already told you. Because she wants to find out,” Andrey insisted.
His forehead was beaded with sweat.
”And what does that have to do with Romeo?” Those lips that had kissed me fiercely trembled, trying to ignore the drug”s effects, he was convinced.
I snapped my fingers for Dante to bring another ampoule and threatened him with it. If he kept delaying the answers, I would run out of time. I plunged the needle.
”You can”t inject me anymore!” he roared. ”I don”t know if you realize, but pentothal is lethal if you overdose, and my boss won”t hesitate to kill you if you take me out of this place feet first. If you want someone to send flowers, let it not be to your own funeral.”
”Then talk!” I roared. ”What does this have to do with Romeo and what motivated her to marry him, beyond the liquidity?”
I loaded the syringe in front of his eyes and raised it.
I saw him hesitate and, as good as he was, I was not in the mood for bullshit. I stabbed it into his neck, and just as I was about to give him a trip, he spoke.
”Okay, stop pumping me full of crap. I”ll talk.” I pulled away from his neck and faced him. ”Koroleva thinks your boss is behind the deaths and wants to prove it.” That did surprise me.
”Are you telling me she agreed to a wedding over this nonsense?”
”Killing people and making your company collapse is not nonsense.” I shook my hands.
”Wait, wait, wait. Do you also think that of Romeo?”
”What I think is that he was her direct competition and if anyone had enough motive to sink the Korolevs and subjugate them under his foot, it was the Capulets.” I let out a hoarse laugh.
”You clearly don”t know Romeo.”
”And you do? So well that you would guarantee he isn”t behind all this?”
”He has nothing to do with it,” I replied, gritting my teeth. ”R would never have done something like this, especially not to Yuri”s sister.”
”How can you be so sure?”
”Because I know him, because Romeo may be many things, but he would be incapable of killing innocents, and that”s what the Mentium does.”
”It might have gotten out of hand,” he justified, ”that his intention wasn”t exactly that and the guy he hired to alter it screwed up.” I shook my head.
”No.”
”How do you know?”
”Because none of us have set foot in Korpe, because I know every move, every order, and it wasn”t him. Romeo hasn”t infiltrated anyone, nor has he bribed any worker to alter the formula.”
”Why should I believe you?”
”You don”t have to. When the truth comes out, it will hit you in the face, and then you will realize that the reasons that led your boss to accept the Capulets into her life were a mistake.”
”It might not have been the son. What about Massimo?”
”But who is interrogating whom here, you or me?” Andrey ignored me.
”Maybe he did it behind his son”s back.” I looked towards Dante. We hadn”t considered that possibility. Neither of us could vouch for R”s father because we were on the outside of his movements. ”What”s the matter? Run out of excuses? You know as well as I do that the ”Ndrangheta has always wanted to take control, and the only thing standing in their way was the Bratva.”
There was a knock at the door; we fell silent. It was one of the waiters asking Dante to come out, that two guys were making a big fuss and causing trouble.
The manager obeyed, leaving us alone, and I took the chair opposite Andrey, moving it closer to him.
”Do you know what I think, Russian?” I asked, leaning forward. ”That you”re looking in the wrong direction. Maybe Massimo wanted the whole pie, instead of half, but he never started an open war with yours, unlike Cheng.” Andrey frowned.
”Now you”re blaming the Chinese?”
”You lack information to make a judgment. Tell your boss to ask R how Yuri died; maybe that will help clear up your doubts.”
”Yuri died in a shootout.”
”That”s true, although you were given a distorted view of the facts. Listen to me, tell Koroleva to ask R; tell her it”s my wedding gift, but try not to let her know it was me. I believe there are things your boss should know, even if they hurt. Maybe that will change the good opinion she has of her husband.” Andrey was studying me intently, I saw it in every gesture, every expression.
”Why are you telling me this?”
”Confession for confession, that way we”re even.”
”This isn”t even. You”ve stabbed me, electrocuted me, and tied me to a chair.”
”And I remind you that you”ve broken my ass, which, for the record, is similar.” Andrey snorted.
”You know I”m going to tell her all this as soon as I see her, right?”
”I expected no less. I”ll also tell Romeo.” I placed my hands on his thighs, and he looked at them. ”It”s nothing personal, Andrey. You know I really like you deep down, but I know our position on the board. You and I are bishops, capturing other pieces so they can execute their master stroke. We owe it to our king and queen.” Although he was attentive, the blonde yawned. The pentothal was serving its anesthetic function. ”Take a nap; I”ll come for you when you”re in a better mood, maybe you”ll have a revelation in your dreams. I”m going to give Dante a hand.” I stood up and grabbed his chin to give him a kiss; he bit my lip and drew blood. I licked it and smiled at him. ”This isn”t over between us.”
”We”ll see about that.”
?????
I told R what he wanted to know. Of course, I omitted the part about the sexual encounter with Andrey.
As soon as calm was restored in the place, I returned to the office. It felt good to throw a few punches; now I was much more relaxed. The Russian was sleeping like a baby. I looked at him with a smile on my face as I wiped my damn mess off the sofa and lay down on it. Before I knew it, I had fallen asleep. A phone call alerting us to what had happened at the port was our wake-up call.
I finished speaking and looked at R.
”I”m not surprised,” my boss admitted. ”I would have thought the same thing; it”s really the most logical explanation. And did she tell you what her intention was in proving that I was the culprit? Revenge? To kill me?”
”I didn”t get that far in the conversation.” R shrugged it off.
”Maybe even both. That woman has more balls than many men I”ve faced.” I glimpsed an admiring tone in his manner. Something seemed to have changed between them.
”Did you guys have sex?” I asked. R smiled like a fool.
”What? We had to seal the marriage; if it”s not consummated, it”s not valid.”
”Yeah... You know what you”re doing.”
”To be honest, not entirely, I just know that Nikita is a beast in bed.”
”I”d prefer you omit certain details; I don”t want to visualize you guys like that.” Just like I didn”t want him to imagine me that way with Andrey. ”Putting aside your sex life. What do you want me to do from now on? Do you need anything specific? To protect you 24/7?”
”No. Keep doing what you”ve been doing. Stick to the Russian and keep me informed. I”ll prove to my wife that she”s wrong and find the real culprit to rub it in her face.”
”And what if it”s your father?” I asked cautiously. Romeo flinched.
”Then we”ll have a serious problem. I hope with all my heart that it”s not the case. My father is a bastard, we both know he always wanted to push out the Russians so everything would be ours, but I”d like to think he has some principles and wouldn”t play with the lives of people who are neither here nor there. We”ll see where all this takes us.” He patted my shoulder. ”Good job, Aleksa. Now go to the port with Andrey and cheer up my wife. It wouldn”t be good for anyone if the Colombians” shipment couldn”t enter the port.”
”At your command, boss.”