She made the first move. “Get the car.”

“Are you sure, mistress?”

She rose to her feet from her desk.

“Get. The. Car!”

“Yes, mistress.” Her butler bowed and walked out of the office. Her eyes looked so cold. This was it. Time to end this game. Time to end this grudge. She stretched her neck from side to side. She walked out of the office. Valentina should’ve gotten her message by now.

---------

Ten Minutes Until Noon

Valentina twirled the letter between her fingers. So this was it. The mob queen lifted her head. Boris looked her in the eye.

“Are you sure about this?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said. She froze to her feet.

“I want this to end.”

“Okay.”

“Get the car.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Boris turned and walked out of her office. Valentina followed behind.

----------

12:15

Neutral Ground

Valentina sat in the food court in a mall. Heh. A food court. This was neutral ground? Whatever. The mob boss looked at her phone. She was supposed to be here alone. Boris was back in the car. Mikhael didn’t know what was going on. Good. He would make things worse. Couldn’t have that. No. Everything had to go swimmingly to end this.

“Popova?”

Valentina lifted her head. A woman with long dark hair and sunglasses stood at her table. The mob queen shrugged.

“Who’s asking?”

The sunglasses and black coat made the woman look so pale. She took a seat at the table. Valentina raised an eyebrow.

“You wrote this?” She held up the note.

“Yes.”

“What do you want?”

The woman peered over her sunglasses. “Are you alone?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” The woman took a breath.

“Your father is my half-brother.”

Valentina looked confused. “What?”

“His father slept with my mother during the war. I ended up being adopted in America.”

The mob boss looked confused. “You’re not making any sense. Who are you? What do want from us?”

“What I am owed.”

“And what would that be?”

The woman leaned in close. “Acknowledgement. The truth. My part of my brother’s empire.” She held up her hand.

“Oh. Where are my manners? My name is Karina Czajka.”

“You’re Polish?”

“Half.”

Valentina slowly shook her head. “This doesn’t make any sense. Daddy would’ve told me that he had a sister!” She didn’t care if she was being loud. Karina calmly shook her head.

“He kept me a secret from you.”

“I don’t believe you!”

Karina reached into a small black bag and pulled out a small weathered, brown book. There was so much precision when she set it down on the table. Valentina reached for her coat.

“No, no.” Karina held out her hand. “Open it.” The mob boss frowned as she picked up the book. She opened it with caution. Valentina wrinkled her nose.

“What the hell is this?”

“Everything your father had paid me. He found out that I existed fifteen years ago. Your mother tried to get me to come to Japan.”

The numbers kept adding up. Valentina looked at her with the color drained from her face. She struggled to speak.

“What do you want from me?”

“I told you. I want to be acknowledged.”

“So what? I keep paying you or something?”

“No.”

“What?”

“I don’t want your money.”

“Then what am I supposed to do? Huh? Answer that!”

“So you’re ready to listen?”

“Yes!”

“Good. Now we are ready to talk.”

Valentina glared at her. She didn’t like this woman. Meanwhile, Karina was ready to lay out her terms.

--------

Meanwhile, Boris sat waiting in the car. He did not have a good feeling about this. He pulled out his phone. He would have to deal with it himself.

The lost sibling problem would be resolved on both ends hours later. Valentina and Boris went home silent.