Page 52 of Sweet Deception

Gleb remained silent, his fingers tapping lazily against the couch.

His grandmother continued, “Before he fell ill, he accused you. He said you visited him, gave him a candy laced with poison. He claimed you did it to get back at him for beating your wife.”

The room went still.

Gleb let out a short, humorless laugh. “That’s ridiculous.”

His tone was casual, but there was something dangerous beneath it.

“He’s been hounding me for weeks, begging for a meal together,” Gleb continued. “Said he missed the old days when I lived with him. I agreed, had lunch with him, and left. That’s all.”

He leaned forward slightly, his gaze sweeping across the room. “But let’s pretend for a moment that I did want him dead. Why the hell would I poison him with a sealed candy?”

A silence fell over the room.

Gleb shrugged. “I can understand poisoning someone’s drink, their food. But a mass-produced candy? How exactly would I lace it and reseal it without making it obvious?”

His grandmother studied him carefully.

“I don’t know what Antonio is trying to pull,” Gleb said smoothly. “But you should know I would never harm my own family.”

I tensed beside him. Never hurt his family?

Didn’t he say the opposite last night? That he would make Antonio suffer?

My stomach twisted. He had poisoned Antonio. I knew it. And now he was lying so smoothly, so flawlessly, that even I almost believed him.

He’s protecting me.

A voice snapped me from my thoughts.

“He’s lying.”

A young man, sharp-featured and furious, glared at Gleb. His resemblance to Antonio was unmistakable, his son, most likely.

“My father would never accuse him unless it was true,” the young man spat.

The tension in the room thickened.

“Yegor,” the grandmother warned. “I promised you I’d investigate this.”

Grandma, if we wait too long, the trail will go cold. If he’s guilty, we need to act before it’s too late.”

Another man, broader, crueler-looking. leaned forward. “Grandma, even if he killed our father, do you think he’d admit it?” His eyes darkened as they fixed on Gleb. “If not for you, I’d put a bullet in his head right now.”

Antonio’s second son. Arseny.

Gleb met his stare without blinking. “Then try.”

The air in the room crackled with unspoken violence.

His grandmother silenced them both with a single glance. “Enough. No one will act out of blind rage. If this family fractures, our enemies will tear us apart.”

She turned to the room, her voice carrying the weight of authority.

“Besides, this accusation makes no sense. If Gleb wanted Antonio dead, why give him a poison that allows him time to accuse him? And since when have they ever been enemies?”

She paused.