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I say my goodbyes and leave my father’s home, get into my car, and then leave. I’m actually heading straight to the airport, so I can get on a flight to Mexico City to see my Great-Uncle Alejandro. The flight shouldn’t take too long, and as soon as I’m there, everything is going to change.
***
I arrive at my great-uncle’s compound in Mexico City. I didn’t call before I arrived, but Eset texted me and said that she informed them he should be expecting me and that I had something very important to discuss with him.
I knock on the giant hundred-year-old wooden doors. It’s possible they could be older than a century old. They have bits of iron through them, as well as a lion knocker in the middle. After a few moments, the door is unlocked, and a younger woman with jet-black hair opens the door. “Santos, I presume.”
“Yes, and you are?”
“Your cousin, Gia. Come on, he’s waiting for you.” Gia proceeds to open the door wider, and I step inside. Behind her are three armed men staring right at me. Do they think I pose that much of a threat? I shut the door, and Gia locks it, then walks me across the stone floor to the stairwell. This part of his estate is completely exposed to the elements, and off to either side, you can see rooms in the actual building.
We head up a wide stairwell and then right up another set of stairs. Once we’re at the top of the second set of stairs, Gia takes me into a room on the left. There’s a decorative rug on a wooden floor while a large wooden coffee table sits atop it. To the left, along the wall, is a large green sofa, and there are two bronze armchairs on either end of the coffee table. He sits in one of the bronze armchairs, and the moment I walk into the room, his eyes are on me.
“I was this close to telling Eset that you aren’t welcome here,” he tells me, using his finger and thumb to show me how little he wanted me to show up here.
“I have a good reason for the visit, I assure you,” I immediately explain. I doubt he knows this meeting is a stipulation of my marriage to Eset.
“That’s what Eset said, and still, I find it odd that you’d want to visit with me. Eset has told me this is a cordial visit, but I know what you and your father have been trying to achieve.”
“My father, Uncle. Not me. I’ve only ever stood behind him because I’ve had nowhere else to stand, or at least I thought I didn’t. That’s why I’m here now. Because I see him for what he is. I don’t want to support his business ventures or his desperate attempt to take the power you have. The fact of the matter is that you’ve led Mexico well for many years, and disrupting the power would only cause more problems. I’m here to tell you that I am supporting you. I’m pledging my loyalty to you.”
My great-uncle raises his head up a bit and cranes it. “Then what Eset said is true. You’re going to marry her?”
“Yes, Uncle, I am.” I nod, confirming his thoughts.
“I must be correct in understanding your marriage to Eset means you’re turning on your own father?”
“I am, but… he is… he is like his father, Uncle. I’m sure you’ve heard the stories.”
“I have, and it’s why I will never let him ruin Mexico. I’ve put in a lot of work getting it back to what it always should’ve been. Your father won’t setback all the hard work I’ve done, and he’ll pay with his life if he has to.”
“I understand.” I swallow hard because I don’t want my father to be killed, but he needs to be the one who knows when it’s time to give up on his desperate claim for power. I know he won’t. He’d rather die than give up.
“I have a question for you since you’re now engaged to Eset. Are the rumors true about Ruslan having Eset and Nazyr change their surname to Umarova?”
“Yes, they are,” I confirm, and he nods.
Gia stands in the corner, listening to every bit of our conversation, and she doesn’t look happy that I’m here in the least bit.
Chapter Ten
Eset
There’s something about being back home in Grozny that immediately settles my nerves. I’m not normally an anxious person, but since all this talk about me marrying Santos, I have noticed I’ve been a little more nervous than usual.
As I stare in the mirror, I look long and hard at myself. I’m a beautiful woman, and it took me a very long time to ever even admit that about myself. My mother always told me I should never let my beauty be the most important thing about me, and that is why I always worked so hard in school. I needed to be smarter than anyone in my class. It was something I felt like I had to do. In some sense, I think I always tried so hard to appease my father as well because he barely noticed me when I was around.
He wasn’t a good man, and it made growing up very difficult. As a teenager, I knew the things he was doing didn’t add up, but I never truly understood what he was doing. I knew he was handling family business, but until I was an adult, I didn’t comprehend the sort of things he was doing. It was then that I was told I was essentially a chess piece to him, something he could use to his advantage… and it infuriated me.
After everything I did to make him proud of me, he was willing to send me off to be married to a complete stranger. One who would more than likely beat me bloody for even opening my mouth, rape me whenever he saw fit, and who knows what else. I even said this to my father, and the only thing I got in return was the back of his hand against my cheek. I never told my brothers about that story, but I wish I had. Ruslan, Lom, and Nazyr have only ever protected me.
I received a lot of heat from other families when Ruslan and Lom went against my father. Not because they were going against him in the first place but because I supported Ruslan and Lom in their efforts. I didn’t hide my allegiance to my brothers, but why would I? Anyone who knew my father knew what he would put me through. Sometimes he didn’t even hide it. It would be at a dinner party, a public event, or out in the open. I’d been shoved, slapped, and berated like I was nothing more than a stray dog. My mother even witnessed it most of the time, and did she ever speak up in my defense? No. Instead, she told me to stay in my lane and do what I was told because that was my role as his daughter. It was pathetic, and that was when I first started losing respect for my mother.
She always chose to look away when it came to important matters where she knew my father was doing other people wrong. He’d done Ruslan and Lom wrong since he stepped in the picture, but she never said a damn thing in support of her children. If I were in her shoes, I would choose my children over my husband. Never would I sacrifice the relationship with my children for a man. She chose him time and time again, and she still continues to choose him now, even though he’s dead for the treachery he brought against my brothers.
When Ruslan reclaimed the power he should’ve always had, I was terrified he’d treat me a little bit like my father. Thankfully, that hasn’t been the case. He’s made promises to me, and the promises he’s made have only ever come to fruition. He hasn’t broken one, and he’s letting me have power over my future, as well as including me in the family dealings.
He allowed me to meet with Santos and make the decision for myself, with my own stipulations surrounding the marriage. Other leaders in crime families would’ve forced the woman’s hand, not giving them one fucking choice. I know how lucky I am to be his sister, and I’m forever grateful to him for giving me this sort of freedom and even allowing me to change my last name.
