29
Go with her
Aleksa y Andrey left together and I returned to the garden.
Nikita was waiting for me, angry, with the breakfast cold on the table.
—?No tienes hambre? —pregunté, acomodándome a su lado.
”Are you not hungry?” I asked, sitting down next to her.
”There are things that can kill my appetite. Like finding out that my husband is capable of drugging my trusted man to extract confidential information.”
My little wife was not one to beat around the bush. I let out a humorless laugh.
”Confidential information? What do you think this is, the CIA? What you hid was the real reason you gave me the ”I do,” and I deserved to know it to decide if I wanted to tie my life to a woman who was going to be ticking me off all the time,” I clarified. ”And, on the other hand, I don”t know why you”re so surprised, you knew you weren”t marrying a nun; you should thank me for not killing him afterwards and throwing him in a swamp.”
”Sorry, dear, for not doing it, I forgot you were going to be a priest and you were more about giving the last rites.”
”In that, we are alike, shall we start counting the dead? Because I get the impression that you”ve already completed the collection.” I filled two cups with steaming coffee; I needed to clear my head.
”I don”t like being taken for a fool,” she hissed.
”I think I”ve taken you for many things, but never for a fool. Although you should change your informants if you really believe I”m behind everything.”
”Well, to be honest, yes, I do believe it,” she said, pointing her eyes at me, direct and blunt. It was one of the things that fascinated me most about her; if you caught her, she didn”t hide, she assumed the consequences to the end.
”And why didn”t you tell my father that? That you accepted to pull the rug out and not because of your family”s financial difficulties.”
”Because I needed to be able to prove it and because I also needed the injection of money and credibility. Your father didn”t ask; I just omitted that part.”
”And does that excuse you for having lied to me?”
”What do you want, Romeo? You know what my intentions are, there”s no trickery left. Do you want a divorce? Do you want to kill me?” she asked, lowering her voice. She moved her face closer to mine defiantly. I felt like grabbing her by the chin and wiping that sarcastic smile off with my tongue. ”Do it, kill me.”
”And miss the game?” I questioned. ”No, I”m going to enjoy watching how you try to unmask me.”
”Don”t doubt that if I succeed, there will be no universe big enough for you to escape from me and my vengeance.”
I was crazy. It excited me to hear her talk like that. I suppose because deep down I knew I wasn”t guilty and her threat would eventually be forgotten.
”And what if you don”t succeed? What if you find out you”ve been wasting your time trying to prove something that never happened?” I took a long sip of coffee.
”That”s not going to happen. I know that you and your family are behind everything. No one was bothered by us as much as you and yours. And if I don”t kill you first, it”s because I want to find every piece of evidence and spit them out in your face one by one.” I raised my hands.
”You already spat at me once and I think you didn”t like how it ended up.” Her eyes sparkled. ”By me, feel free, amore. You have my permission to stir up whatever you need and smash against the wall of truth.”
”I don”t need your permission for anything.” She stood up angrily. ”I”m leaving.”
”Where to?”
”And what the hell do you care? If you”re going to be my jailer, lock me up in a dungeon.”
This time, it was me who stood up.
”Don”t tempt me, Nikita, I can be a real bastard when it comes to it.”
”Look, in that we are alike.”
We held each other”s gaze in a power duel, neither of us looked away. Her hand reached my chest, heaving with fury.
”You need to vent, amore. You”re a bit excited. You should visit Irene and bring her some flowers, she must be feeling very lonely.” That was the last straw.
I grabbed her by the chin and nearly pressed her mouth against mine in a punishing kiss.
”You”re not one to tell me when to see or not see my lover.”
”I said it for the sake of your relationship, you should calm this down with her.” Her hand flew to my groin, which, as expected, was more than ready for battle.
”Maybe I will. You”re really getting on my nerves.” Her hand moved away, and mine did too, although our distance remained the same.
”Fine then, make sure to empty them and use a condom, we don”t want another child of dubious paternity...” My knuckles turned white. ”On Monday I want a DNA test from all three of us, without fail. If it”s my brother”s child, I want to know, and if it”s not, I want to know that too.” I became defensive.
”His origins aren”t going to make me kick him out of my life.”
”You can do whatever you want, but I need to know if that kid is a Korolev. We”ll take him to the doctor on Monday.”
My son approached the table.
”Who”s going to the doctor?”
”We three are, on Monday, for some tests,” my wife specified without softening her expression.
”Are we checking to see if you”ve given my dad rabies?”
That made me chuckle. Nikita wasn”t amused.
”I don”t have rabies.”
”Well, it doesn”t show; you”re always looking angry and growling more than the dog,” he said, quite satisfied with himself.
”Adri...” I corrected him, biting back a smile.
”What? It”s true, I”m not lying. By the way, Dad, today”s the day, you promised we would go to the racetrack to ride motorcycles.” I glanced at Nikita. ”Why are you looking at her? Do you need her permission? It”s a father and son thing, you said we”d do it.”
”And you will,” she asserted, ”I”m leaving so you two can spend the day together.”
”Yippee! And we can call Irene to go eat afterward. I like her a lot more than the witch; she”s fun, buys me candy, and doesn”t bite.”
”Adriano!” I scolded him. ”Apologize right now, Nikita is no witch.”
”Maybe, deep down, I am; I love throwing magic dust,” she commented cynically. ”Besides, Adriano isn”t lying, I”m neither nice nor do I feel like it, I predict you”ll have a great day in the company of your slut.”
”Nikita!” I exploded.
”I”m talking about the hair color, it”s the same.”
”Decided, I”m going to get dressed before you change your mind!” the boy exclaimed. He sprinted into the house.
My wife tried to circle the table, but I blocked her path. I rubbed the back of my neck, not that I found it amusing to back down, but I also didn”t like how Adri had addressed her, nor that Irene was taking her place. I hadn”t foreseen things turning out like this between us.
”What”s the matter? Changed your mind and want to lock me in the dungeon?”
”No. Adriano is a child, he”s had a hard time and doesn”t know you.”
”It seems to me that every time he speaks, he paints a picture of me.”
”Either way, you should come with us this morning.”
”Me?” she asked arrogantly. ”Not a fucking chance I”m going to eat with that red-haired whore.”
”You were the one who wanted to include her in the package, I didn”t mention her until you brought it up.” I chuckled softly.
”Don”t be foolish, she”s always in your package, ever since our wedding night. It was with her that you decided to celebrate it,” she added bitterly.
”And you wanted to sleep with that pair from La Marca.”
”And I will if I feel like it, that”s what we agreed on. Having slept with you hasn”t changed anything. The only thing that has changed between us is that we know we work in bed, which was suspected, and my intentions; everything else remains the same.”
”It didn”t seem that way to me,” I countered. She raised her eyebrows.
”Why? Because you came inside me? Because I gave you oral sex? Don”t worry, I take pills, you don”t have to worry. What happened last night was something we both wanted.
”And this morning?
”That too. End of story. Neither do I love you, nor do you love me; you know that as well as I do.”
I could agree that there was no love, it was impossible in such a short span of time, but I knew she could end up appealing to me a lot, immensely, enough to get under my skin, if she hadn”t already. She drove me crazy and made me want more, even knowing her intentions.
That woman was going to drive me insane, I didn”t know how to behave. I would have liked for her and Adri to get a bit closer, however, Nikita didn”t seem inclined, and forcing her would only make things worse. I had to tread carefully.
”Do you have nothing else to say? Good,” she asserted, ”because I do,” she added, making me focus my pupils on her face. She had come closer and I could smell her, I loved her scent, I knew it when I caught myself sniffing her perfume around the house. Wherever Nikita went, it was noticeable. She licked her lips and shifted her gaze to something more disturbing. ”I know you”re hiding something about the night Yuri died and you”re going to tell me without needing to stick anything in your neck.” I flinched.
”Where did you get that from?” She offered a twisted smile.
”Everyone has their sources, and mine tells me I”m not the only one hiding information.”
”Daddy, I”m ready!”my son”s shout split the conversation in two. He appeared wearing the motorbike suit my father had bought him, which matched mine.
I glanced sideways at Nikita, to see if she intended us to keep talking in front of him.
”Amore, they”re calling you. You have to go and so do I, we”ll continue the conversation, don”t worry, I”m one of those who doesn”t forget where they left off.”
”Have a good day,” I wished her, ”I don”t forget either.”
”Better.”
Nikita didn”t look back and headed for the stairs to grab her things and leave.
”Are you ready, daddy?” I tousled the boy”s hair.
”Of course, champ, I have the suit in the garage. I”ll put it on and we”ll head out, okay?”
”Can Brutus come?” I shook my head.
”It”s better not, we might accidentally run him over, plus, I want to get you on the Harley.”
”Yay!” he exclaimed enthusiastically. He took my hand and we headed towards the garage.
He was so different. I will always remember the day I brought him home. He wouldn”t stop crying, kicking things, and breaking anything that came into his hands. He was angry with life and took it out on any object that crossed his path.
I had never had to act as a father or an uncle before. I liked kids, but no one prepared me for one suddenly appearing in my path.
Ana María took charge. She brought calm and told me to be patient. She made me reflect on the drama the kid was going through. He had just lost his mother in a traumatic way, those who were his grandparents seemed relieved not to have to take care of him, and overnight, he found himself in a house that wasn”t his, without his school friends, surrounded by a bunch of strangers.
Those were tough days. Very tough. Especially when he would wake up at midnight crying and screaming until he was hoarse. It broke my heart. He wouldn’t let me hug him, filling me with punches, so I just sat there, on the mattress, to show him that I wasn’t going to walk out of his life. Such a small body shouldn”t have to carry so much suffering.
I thought about taking him to a psychologist to find the root of his nightmares and help him adjust, but my sister volunteered. She had studied psychology for a couple of years before dropping out because she said the acrylic nails were calling her. She ended up doing a course and now ran her own salon in Marbella, frequented by the crème de la crème of the city.
At first, she came every afternoon. Adriano was quiet but reacted better to her than to me. My sister said it was just a matter of time before he opened up and that it would be good for him to adopt an animal, specifically a dog. There were studies showing that children with problems responded very well to the unconditional love of dogs. I agreed that if anything, Adri needed unconditional love.
I took him to the shelter, and the girl advised me to let the boy choose from several dogs she considered suitable. However, Adri ignored this and went straight for the huge dog that was in a cage. It was love at first sight, my son opened the gate despite the girl from the shelter and my own astonishment, and Brutus bowled him over, smothering him with slobber and paws.
I almost pulled out my gun right there and shot the animal, thinking it was attacking him. I reached for the back of my belt, and then, a miracle happened. I heard him laugh. It was the first time I heard that sound coming from his lips.
There was no argument when he said the chosen one was that sixty-kilogram Rottweiler.
I was finishing adjusting my suit when Nikita appeared in the garage.
She went straight to the Bugatti. My jaw dropped seeing her, but I said nothing about it. I wasn”t going to ask her where she would go because the car had a tracking device; as soon as she left the garage, I would ask one of my men to follow her.