All These Things I've Done (Birthright #1)(76)

‘Come again?’

‘If we hadn’t been out of town for his stupid wedding, Nana wouldn’t have died. She’d be here now, and I wouldn’t be . . . Why did we even have to go to that wedding?’

‘Nana wanted us to, remember? She thought it was important for us to show respect to the rest of the family.’

Leo wrung his hands. ‘It’s a lot of pressure. It’s too much pressure. It’s a lot of pressure.’

‘What is?’ I asked.

‘Being in charge of you and Natty. I miss Nana. I want Nana back. And Daddy!’

‘Oh, Leo! You aren’t alone in any of this. I’m here.’

‘But you’re my little sister. I need to protect you.’

I smiled. In a way, it was touching that he saw me that way. ‘Leo, I really can take care of myself. I’ve been taking care of myself for some time.’

Leo said nothing.

‘Can you lie down for me, Leo? I think it would be good if you rested.’

Leo nodded. I loosened his tie and took off his bloodstained dress shirt, and then he lay down. ‘Do you think everyone is going to be mad at me?’ he asked.

‘Don’t worry about any of that right now. I’ll explain everything. Everyone understands how hard Nana’s death has been on us.’

I walked out of the room. Imogen was still standing in the hallway so I asked her if she wouldn’t mind keeping an eye on Leo for me. ‘I had already planned on it,’ Imogen said.

Though Win, Natty and Scarlet had gone into the living room, Yuji Ono had remained in the foyer.

As I retied my bathrobe, I wished very much that I’d gotten dressed that morning. ‘I’m sorry to have kept you waiting. I know you’re in a rush.’

Yuji waved his hand dismissively. ‘I’d like to speak to you in private,’ he said. ‘Can we be heard here?’

I suggested we go out on to the balcony. We walked through the living room, past the others, to get outside. Win looked at me questioningly, and I smiled slightly to let him know that I was fine.

‘Why weren’t you at the wake today?’ Yuji asked after I’d closed the balcony doors behind us.

I told him that I’d been ill and that I’d feared infecting other people.

Yuji studied my face and this made me uncomfortable. As I was only wearing my bathrobe, I began to shiver so Yuji offered me his coat. I declined, but he insisted, taking the coat off and placing it over my shoulders.

‘What happened to make Leo strike Mickey?’ I asked.

‘I am not sure I know. One moment Leo was speaking to his friend, Yuri’s illegitimate son with the prostitute – I cannot remember the young man’s name?’

‘Jakov Pirozhki,’ I said. ‘Jacks.’

‘And the next moment, Leo was running across the room to deck Mickey. The reason I wanted to talk to you was because I was concerned that perhaps this Jacks has an unhealthy influence on your brother.’

‘It’s possible, but I don’t think Jacks put Leo up to striking Mickey Balanchine, if that’s what you mean. I’m afraid one of our lawyers put the idea in Leo’s head that, if we hadn’t gone to the wedding, Galina would still be alive,’ I explained.

Yuji stretched out his hands, then took a deep breath and bowed his head. I could tell he was debating whether to speak his mind. ‘Anya, what I am about to say, I say with the greatest respect for you and for your family and especially for the relationship between our beloved fathers, now deceased.’ He paused to clear his throat. ‘It is time for you to set your house in order.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘You have allowed things to get out of hand here, but it is not too late. I feel sure that your brother has come under the influence of Jakov Pirozhki. But it is more than this. The reason I made this trip to America was on behalf of the big-five chocolate families. Do you know who they are?’

I nodded. ‘The Balanchines here. You guys in Asia. The . . .’ And here I paused. I honestly wasn’t sure which families would be considered the other three.

‘Yes, I was like you once,’ Yuji said. ‘I’d spent my whole life living in the shadow of this business without really knowing anything about it: in what climates chocolate thrives, what the factories look like, why it became illegal in parts of the world, the people who make their livelihoods growing and distributing it, the—’

‘Enough,’ I interrupted him. I could tell I was being insulted. ‘Why should I know anything about it when I have no plans to ever work in it?’

‘Yes,’ Yuji said, ‘I thought that once, and I, too, resisted. But, Anya, people like you and me, we don’t get a choice. We were born into these destinies. You will be in chocolate whether you want to be or not. You are the oldest child of Leonyd Balanchine, and—’

‘I am not! Leo is!’

‘Leo was,’ Yuji insisted. ‘You are a smart girl, and I know you understand what I mean by this.’

I said nothing.

‘Can you honestly tell me that you consider it a wise strategy to have nothing to do with your family’s business? Why were you in prison last fall? And why did your boyfriend end up poisoned and missing a foot? Why is your father dead and your mother? And so many in my family as well? Why is your brother the way he is? Anya, you are nearly a grown woman now, and it is time.’