Because It Is My Blood (Birthright #2)(70)

She put her arms around me and whispered in my ear, “I had nothing to do with Leo’s death. That was my husband. He is sentimental and an idiot. When you didn’t agree to marry Yuji, Mickey took the opportunity to find out from Yuji where Leo was and he had him killed.” Sophia took a step away from me, then she moved back in to kiss me on the mouth. “What a waste. Yuri Balanchine was an old man, and Leo wasn’t bothering anyone in Japan.”

“I don’t understand. Why kill any of us? None of us are active in Balanchine Chocolate.”

Sophia laughed. “Do you know what the problem with Balanchine Chocolate is? Not that it is organized crime but how very disorganized your family is. There is no reason that a company as disorganized as Balanchine Chocolate should enjoy such dominance in this market. Do you have any idea how difficult it has been for me? I thought if I married your cousin, I’d have some chance to get everything running again…”

Bitter Chocolate had been failing for some time, she said. The German market was too competitive and the only way to save the Bitter business was to move it into other territories. The perceived unrest in Balanchine Chocolate since my father’s death had made America the obvious choice. She and her high school chum Yuji Ono had conceived of a plan where the two of them could create chaos in the American market and then swoop in to split up the results. She came up with the poisoning. Sophia’s wedding to Mickey Balanchine had been another bit of strategy, devised by Yuji Ono. The tainted Balanchine supply would need to be replaced with something—why not Bitter brand? There were warehouses filled with uneaten Bitter chocolate.

There had only been one problem: at some point, Yuji Ono had changed his mind about wanting to destroy the Balanchines.

Here, Sophia rolled her eyes. “He saw potential in you. And he convinced Mickey to see potential in you, too. So instead of running Balanchine Chocolate into the ground, Yuji Ono became intent upon saving it. For you, Anya. As wrongheaded as I thought that was. And I was stranded here in this awful city, married to this dull man. And so I did what I could.”

“You still haven’t said whether you tried to kill Natty and me.”

Sophia shook her head. “You are both alive, aren’t you? So what difference can failed attempts possibly make? Bygones, I’d say.”

“Your cousin was almost killed! My friend Imogen died! And for what?” I put my hands around her neck, but I did not squeeze and she did not scream.

“For all the usual things, Anya. For money. And a little bit for love.” She paused. “What if I promised to leave? What if I went back to Germany and had my marriage to Mickey annulled? You can deal with him for the death of your brother without me. Or you can just decide to call it a day. One father for one brother. What if you and I never saw each other again?”

“Why shouldn’t I just kill you?”

“Here? In St. Patrick’s Cathedral? A good Catholic girl like you? I’ll believe it when I see it.” Sophia laughed. “You won’t kill me because you are not a murderer. That is what I said to Yuji Ono after I met you the first time. The child may be brighter than her cousins but she doesn’t have the stomach for our line of work.”

“That isn’t so.”

“You think you’re tough because you sliced off that assassin’s hand. It isn’t tough to injure someone when you really ought to have killed him.

“Right now, liebchen, the smart move would be to take that machete from under your coat and stab me through the heart, too. But you won’t. I don’t envy you. Daughter of a cop and a criminal. How your heart must war with itself. So, you’ll let me go. You think you’re still deciding but it’s already done.”

I took my hands from around her neck, and she began backing down the aisle away from me.

I ran to her and pressed the machete into her side, the blade only piercing her cashmere coat.

“Damn. I liked this coat,” Sophia said.

“Just tell me one thing. Who helped you? You couldn’t have arranged the poisoning by yourself. You must have had someone over here. Was it Fats?”

She shook her head no, and her spider hat bobbed up and down.

“Was it Yuri? Mickey? Jacks?”

She squinted as if that would help her see me better. Her lips came together for something like a smile. “The young lawyer,” she whispered.

“Simon Green … Simon wouldn’t.”

“Simon did. He hates your father, Anya. And he hates you, too.”

“I don’t believe you. Simon Green doesn’t hate me.” I could not help but think of what Jacks had said to me.

“People have reasons for everything under the sun.” Sophia shrugged. “All our cards are on the table. Why would I lie?”

She turned and walked briskly out of the church. I wished I could have killed her, but Sophia was right: back then, I was still Catholic enough not to be able to do such a thing in church.

I hesitated. I wondered if maybe I could kill her on the steps instead.

I was about to chase after her when I felt something incredibly heavy hit me across the back of the head.

Despite my upbringing, I must admit to taking the Lord’s name in vain.

I turned in time to see a Bible coming straight at my forehead.

Just before the smack, Sophia Bitter laughed.

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