In the Age of Love and Chocolate (Birthright #3)(38)

That night, I had a thought. Wouldn’t it be better to make you the head of Balanchine Chocolate in America? Let Mickey and Sophia run the Family for a couple of years on an interim basis and then, when you were old enough, you’d take over. My gut said that you would be a strong business partner. A stronger business partner than Sophia even—although she was smart, she was ruthless and selfish, too. These are weaknesses in business.

I did not express this to Sophia. I knew what her reaction would be.

I tried to express myself to you, but you were, of course, very young. You had your boyfriend—is he still your boyfriend? You had high school and a complicated family life.

Sophia teased me about my interest in you, but I did not much care. I made up my mind to help you where I could. I took in your brother. I helped you get out of New York.

And here is where the situation gets complicated.

Sophia was unhappy with how long Yuri Balanchine was taking to die. She wanted to speed the process along. She wanted to clear the way for Mickey to be the head of the Family. However, many in your Family had become interested in you becoming the head of Balanchine Chocolate. I was not the only one who saw your father in you. Sophia felt that Mickey had been in error when he’d gone to you to ask you to run the business with him. I’m not sure if she knew that this had been my suggestion.

Sophia had begun to resent you, to see you as a rival not only in the Family but, I believe, for my affections and Mickey’s. You were probably unaware of this. That is how Sophia is. She keeps her resentments secret.

I thought I knew a way to keep you out of harm’s way and to keep Sophia at bay.

I decided to propose marriage.

I have thought about that day for a long time.

Looking back, I did everything wrong.

I tried to make a deal with you, but I wish I had spoken from my heart. I wish I had said, You may be young, but I see so much potential in you. I believe in you. I want to do what I can to keep you safe. I know I ask a lot, but I will give a lot in return. I believe we could be great partners. I believe we could love each other. Maybe your answer would have been the same, but still, I wish I had been more candid.

I did not tell Sophia that I had proposed to you, but she found out anyway. She had become friends with Theobroma Marquez’s older sister, and I imagine that is the way the news traveled. I had never seen her so angry. “How can you betray me this way?” she screamed. “I will tell the police about what you did for Leo and Anya, too. I will make it so you can never come to America again. You will never see Anya Balanchine, you weak-minded fool.”

Forgive me, Anya, if I did not intercede enough. I was hurt by your response to me. Perhaps I lied when I said I did not love you.

But let us back up. Something had happened while your brother was in Japan. He fell in love with my sister.

Noriko is actually my half sister, by my father’s mistress. I don’t know if she knows this. We never speak of it, and I know that people believe mistakenly that she is my cousin or even my niece. But my father let me know that she was my responsibility. With Sophia on a rampage, I was worried about what she might do to Leo and Noriko. I decided to hide them. I contacted Simon Green. I knew of his background and I knew that he would help me and be discreet.

The best option was to let Sophia think she had been successful, and so that was what I did. I sent you ashes. I wrote you a letter saying I had seen your brother’s body.

You drove her out of the country later that year. She went to Germany. And then she came to me in Japan.

She said that she had forgiven me, but I believe she paid one of my servants to poison me. She wanted me to suffer because I did not love her enough. No one could, Anya.

I grew very sick. I thought it was an infection I had caught during my travels.

I had a heart attack. And then another. My organs shut down.

I was alive, but not by much.

Meanwhile, you had opened the Dark Room in New York. I hoped I would get well enough to see your club for myself, and now I have. I am glad I can tell you how proud I am of you in person, Anya. You have done what none of us have been able to. You have made chocolate legal.

I still had so many questions for Yuji.

“Anya, I do not regret anything I ever did to help you, even if it cost me my life. My only regret is that I didn’t do more for you. You are the future of our industry. And that is why I have come.

“I will die, Anya, and soon. When I do, I want you to run Ono Sweets Company. I want you to open legal cacao bars across Japan.”

“But how, Yuji?”

“I am sorry I cannot get down on one knee. I am sorry I am not young and healthy. I am going to ask you a question I asked you a very long time ago. I want you to marry me before I die. I have six months, perhaps a year, and when I am gone, everything will be yours. Then you will be able to turn my company into a company of tomorrow. There are many people in our world who are threatened by what you do, Anya, including people in the Russian part of your Family. These people can only function in a world where chocolate is illegal. They fear change. If you become the head of Ono Sweets Company, you can more easily fight against them.”

“Yuji, I…” I didn’t know what to say.

“Build an empire with me,” Yuji said. “Every resource I have, my employees, my money will be at your disposal. Every enemy of yours will become mine for as long as I’m alive. Every enemy of the Balanchine family will be an enemy of the Ono family even long after I am dead.