All These Things I've Done (Birthright #1)(75)

But I was in a weakened state, and lies can sound awfully pretty when a girl is in love with the person telling them. The truth was, I couldn’t, at that moment, bear the loss of Win, too.

We heard the front door open. It was only one o’clock, and I hadn’t expected everyone back for at least another hour. I walked to the foyer. Leo blazed past me, running straight to his room and slamming the door behind him. Imogen, Natty and Scarlet stood in the hallway, taking off their coats.

‘What happened?’ I asked them, feeling guilty that I hadn’t dragged my pox-ridden self to the wake. ‘Why are you back so early? What’s wrong with Leo?’

Scarlet answered, ‘We aren’t sure. We were all together, but Leo went off with some of the guys he works with at the Pool. I thought it would be OK. But the next thing I knew, there was yelling, and Leo had a black eye—’

‘Wait,’ I said. ‘Leo has a black eye?’

‘I should go put something on it.’ Imogen excused herself to the kitchen.

‘Yes,’ Scarlet continued. ‘I didn’t see it happen – none of us did – and he wouldn’t say who did it. And then Yuji was telling all of us to get into a car.’

‘Yuji?’ I asked. ‘Yuji Ono? He was there?’

‘He’s here,’ Natty added.

And that’s when I noticed Yuji Ono standing in the doorway, wearing a black coat.

‘I was still in the States, so I came to pay my respects,’ Yuji said.

‘I . . .’ I pulled my bathrobe tighter around myself and wished for a veil to pull over my head. ‘I hope you’ve had the chickenpox.’

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I was warned.’

Win was standing behind me. The foyer was getting incredibly crowded. Win held out his hand for Yuji to shake. ‘I’m Win.’

‘He’s Annie’s boyfriend,’ Natty added.

Yuji nodded. ‘I saw you at the wedding last weekend. Nice to meet you.’

‘Let’s all go into the living room,’ I said.

‘No,’ said Yuji, bowing his head slightly. ‘I must go. I wondered if you might have a moment for us to talk alone before I depart. I was hoping to see you at the funeral, but I didn’t know of your illness.’

‘Yes, of course. I—’

‘Annie!’ Imogen called me from the hallway. ‘Can I speak to you?’

‘Excuse me,’ I said. ‘I’ll only be a second.’ I scurried down the hallway. Imogen was standing outside Leo’s bedroom door carrying a bag of frozen peas. ‘Your brother’s locked himself in, and he won’t open the door. I need you to pick the lock.’

I knocked on the door. ‘Leo, it’s Annie. Please let me in!’

No reply.

I removed the fine nail that we kept above the door frame for exactly this purpose, and began to work on the lock. Despite the fact that my mind was occupied with questions, it only took me fifteen seconds. I hadn’t lost my touch. I took the peas from Imogen and told her I would go in by myself.

Leo was seated on his bed, facing the window. He wasn’t crying, which I considered a good sign.

‘Leo,’ I said softly, ‘you should put something on your eye.’

He didn’t reply, so I sat down next to him on the bed. I raised my arm to put the frozen peas on his face. He jerked his body away from me. ‘Annie, leave me alone!’

‘Please, Leo. You don’t have to talk. Just let me put this on your eye. With your medical history, I’d feel better knowing your head isn’t swelling too much. I don’t want you to have a seizure.’

‘Fine!’ Leo grabbed the peas from me and held them up against his face.

‘Thank you. You are very important to this family. To me,’ I added. ‘And you have to take good care of yourself.’

At first, Leo didn’t say anything. ‘This stings,’ he said, moving the peas from his eye and setting them down in his lap. I finally got a good look at his eye. The lid was swollen shut, and a pinkish-purple mark was spreading across his cheek. The skin was bleeding a little near his temple.

‘Oh, Leo,’ I said. ‘Who did this to you?’

He pulled the bag up to his eye again. ‘I hit him first.’

‘Who? Who did you hit?’ When he’d first been injured, Leo had had trouble controlling his anger, but this hadn’t been a problem for years.

‘Annie, I don’t want to talk about it.’

‘I need to know who you hit in case I need to do something about it,’ I said. ‘It doesn’t have to be a big deal, but we might have to apologize, or at least talk to people, explain about your condition.’

Leo threw the bag of peas at the window and the bag broke open. Peas rolled in every direction across the floor. ‘Shut up, Anya! You are not the boss of me and you don’t know everything.’

‘OK, Leo. You’re right. Please, just tell me who you hit. I need to know.’

‘Cousin Mickey,’ he said.

You’ll no doubt remember that Mickey was Yuri Balanchine’s son and likely successor. Apologies would most certainly need to be made and, ideally, as soon as possible.

‘Why, Leo? Did Mickey do something bad to you?’

Leo’s gaze floated to the upper-right corner of the room. I peered up to see what was there, but I saw nothing. ‘It’s his fault Nana’s dead,’ Leo said finally.