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A lot of people are shocked that Ruslan asked Nazyr and me to change our surname to Umarova, but I see it as a unification of our family. I would’ve loved to have met their father, and some days I wish that man was my father as well. The stories Ruslan told me about him are beautiful. He truly cared about his children. I wish my father was like that. He was the type of man who only ever saw us as pawns in his game. I don’t know what he ever had planned for Nazyr, but it must’ve been something.
I shake my thoughts away and look at my reflection in the mirror. My makeup bag sits on the counter, and I pull out my primer, put a couple of pumps on my fingers, and then lather it against my face, over my eyelids, and even down my neck a tad. I grab a beauty blender next and wet it, then take out my liquid foundation. I press a pump on the angled sponge and dab it on one side of my face until it’s blended perfectly, then do the same for the other side.
After I give it a moment to dry a bit, I apply concealer under my eyes and on a blemish I have on the side of my face. I dab the beauty blender against it until my skin looks flawless, pick my bronzer out of the make-up bag, and then apply it to the areas I want to accentuate. Again, I dab the blender along the bronzer until it’s blended perfectly. My eyebrows are thick and dark, so I’m not one of those women who have to fill theirs in, which is a blessing.
I don’t put on blush unless I have an event I’m going to, so I complete a soft brown smokey eye to finish off my look. I’m going to meet Ruslan in a few minutes, and I want to look as much like a powerhouse as I can. There was this interview with Rihanna that came out a few years ago, where the interviewer asked what she does on those mornings when she doesn’t feel powerful. Rihanna had come back with a perfect response: She said that she had faked it. That is what I do, too, because I don’t feel as badass as I might seem every day. Truthfully, I might only feel like a badass half of the time, but I won’t let anyone else know I feel that way. There’s no way in hell I’d give them any ammunition.
I sigh, knowing I need to get over to my brother’s condo soon. I give myself one last look in my gold-rimmed mirror, taking in the renovations I had done to my ensuite bathroom while I was away in London. It turned out better than I ever thought, and I’m so glad I decided to give this a bit of a facelift. Our home is historical, so I wanted to keep as many of the original elements as I could. The only things I had changed in here were the wallpaper to something a bit more modern, refurbished the mirror that was in here by having it painted gold on the rims, and updated the cabinet to a floating one where the plumbing is hidden. Gold accents, accentuated with historical pieces like the sink and tile floor, really make it pop.
I head out of my bathroom and walk into my bedroom. Going into my closet, I throw on a black jumpsuit, adding a magenta-pink trench coat to the final look. I leave my bedroom and head down the stairwell, where Goran is sitting on one of the benches we have in the foyer.
“Are you ready, Miss Eset?” Goran immediately rises, and I give him a nod.
“Yes, let’s go.” Goran opens the door for me and heads over to the vehicle he drives me around in. He opens my door first, I get inside, and then he gets behind the wheel. In less than ten minutes, we’re at Ruslan and Amelia’s building.
I enter the building with Goran hot on my heels, and then we take the elevator up to Ruslan’s penthouse. Danill, Ruslan’s right-hand man, who mainly watches over Amelia and Karim, answers the door. “Morning, Danill.”
“Good Morning, Eset. Ruslan told me to tell you he’s in the office.”
“Perfect. Thank you,” I say, walking past him. I weave my way through Ruslan’s place until I walk into his office.
“Eset, you’re earlier than I expected.”
I shrug my shoulders. “Yeah, well, I got finished a little bit earlier. I figured we could chat and go about our respective days if we finished early.”
“No worries.”
“How did things go while you were in London?”
“They went well. As soon as I get word that Santos has committed himself as an ally to his great-uncle, then we’ll move forward with planning a wedding.”
Ruslan raises both of his brows. “Oh?” My brother’s naturally surprised to hear about this. He knew I was open to something, but I don’t think he ever expected I was actually going to pull the trigger, so to speak.
“Yes, and there’s something you should probably know.”
Ruslan leans back in his chair and raises a brow. “What did you do?”
“I killed Lu.” I state it so plainly that I can tell Ruslan doesn’t know how to take it.
“I’m sorry, say that again.” Ruslan thinks he’s misheard me, but he hasn’t.
“Lu was in London watching Santos for Julio. I imagine she was reporting back to him, and I took the liberty upon myself to end the life of the very woman who had caused Amelia and Emily an immense amount of pain. It wasn’t a quick death, I assure you. I made her suffer as much as I could before she took her last breath.”
“In her last moments, did she show any sort of remorse for the things she did?” I know he wants to tell Amelia her mother wasn’t as awful as she thought, but I can’t give him that solace.
“No, she didn’t show an ounce of remorse for anything she did. Lu was a menace, brother. I know you want to give Amelia something to preserve her mother’s memory, but you can’t. It’s like our own mother. There isn’t anything that will fix it.”
Ruslan sighs heavily and pinches the bridge of his nose. “I hate that her mother was so vile to her and Emily. I guess when I really think about it, I know there could never be anything that would repair even the slightest bit of her memory.”
“After everything she’s done, no,” I confirm, and Ruslan licks his lips. He’s going to tell Amelia her mother died, and I’m not even sure how Amelia will take the news. Truthfully, I didn’t think about it when I was killing Lu. I only cared about the pain she caused my sisters, knowing she’d damn well do it again if given the opportunity.
“I’m not surprised you went after her. I guess the circumstances were too good to pass up, and our family has plenty of resources in London.”
I nod, confirming his thoughts. “I didn’t know another time when I’d have such a good opportunity. I wasn’t going to pass it up.”
“I understand, and I don’t blame you for what you did. I would’ve done the same thing, I’m certain. In other news, when do you expect to hear from Alejandro about Santos chatting with him?”
I glance down at the watch on my wrist. “Hopefully, within the next few hours. I did take the liberty of calling Alejandro myself and letting him know Santos would be marrying me as long as he vowed to back Alejandro’s cause and not his father’s. Alejandro laughed because I think he thought it was a joke. I informed him it wasn’t and that our family would continue to support his claim, as will my future husband.”
