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Epilogue
Eset
Three Months Later
My life has completely changed since I met Santos, and not in one negative way. He’s changed my life for the better and has taught me so much about living in the moment and taking time for myself. Before Santos, I would work all the time. I was so methodical. I was thinking about what I could be doing to further my family’s cause or prove that I was this badass woman. I think I spent so much time trying not to appear inferior that maybe I even began to lose myself a little bit.
I’ve been painting a lot more and reconnecting more with the person I was before my mother betrayed us. I didn’t know it until very recently, but my mother had betrayed us all before she ever destroyed my art studio in my ancestral home. We just didn’t know it until very recently.
Speaking of her, she’s gone in the wind. Our best guess is that someone said something to her, and she knows we’re aware of what she was trying to do. Prominent Chechen families have either stopped speaking to us completely or are coming to us, letting us know that their loyalty has never wavered. I think some of the people coming to us were backing our mother’s claim. However, now that we know about what people were trying to do, they know we’re extremely dangerous. It would’ve been ideal for them to take us by surprise, picking us off one by one, but now that won’t be possible.
We’ve gotten rid of anyone who worked for my family before, and Alejandro Ramirez gave us all new security teams that can be trusted. In hindsight, Santos pledging allegiance to his uncle was the smartest thing he could’ve ever done. If he hadn’t, I don’t know that we could’ve found trustworthy security so quickly.
When it comes to everything else, things have settled down for the most part. Julio finally ended up discovering his only son was loyal to his great-uncle, and now his claim is nothing more than a feeble, desperate attempt at power. He might have a few people in his corner, but they’re not anyone who could completely reshape the hierarchy in Mexico. When Julio discovered that Santos did that, he accused my husband of killing Lu himself, but little does Julio know I’m the one who took his whore’s life. One day I’m sure I’ll end up telling him face to face, but I’m going to save that for a very special time.
We’ve been living in our new condominium, and things couldn’t have been better. I spend at least two hours a day in my art studio, and I’ve already shipped some pieces off to my gallery in London. Santos failed to tell me there’s already an experienced staff that works there and who is quite familiar with the client base, local artists, and essentially everything about the gallery. My first show will debut in two weeks, and we’ll be flying out for that. My goal is to have different pieces floating in and out of the gallery every two or three months. I want to change as much as the guest artists in my gallery.
“Eset, are we going to be late, or are we going to be on time?” Santos asks me as he comes into the doorway of our ensuite bathroom.
I’m applying the last bit of bronzer on my face, so I stop, turning to look at my husband. “The real question is, is our daughter still asleep?”
Santos shakes his head. “No, she woke up a couple of minutes ago. I already got her changed, and I’m going to wait before we feed her since we’re supposed to be upstairs for dinner anyway.”
“Okay, sounds good. I just need to get changed, and then we can head upstairs,” I tell Santos, and he nods.
“Okay, don’t be too long.” Santos leaves the doorway, and I rise from the custom vanity Santos had made for me.
With one glance in the mirror, I realize how much I do look like my father—Khaso Umarova.
The DNA tests took longer than expected, but my mind was completely blown when we got the results back. I knew there was a possibility—or I should say I figured there was a possibility based on what Goran said—but I kept wondering if he was just lying to me. I was fucked in the mind with half of the shit he said, but everything Goran told me while I was in that cottage in the Czech Republic has turned out to be the truth.
Nazyr hasn’t been handling the news too well, and I don’t know why. Neither of us really bonded with the man we thought was our father, but maybe things were different for him since he’s a man and I’m a woman. My father didn’t want to be around me too much, honestly, unless he was discussing the things I’d do for our family. Essentially, he was reminding me about the sacrifices I’d be forced to make.
I head into my massive closet, pick out a flowing green dress, and then slide on a pair of gold heels. I find a gold necklace and earrings that will really tie together my look and walk out to where Santos is. He’s already waiting for me in the living room and has Meryem pulled up into his arms. When we travel short distances, we don’t bother with the stroller because sometimes it just becomes too much.
Goodness, there have been so many milestones Meryem has reached since she’s been with us. She’s started walking, and she’s trying to talk. I really don’t think Goran or his people worked on socializing Meryem, so she’s behind other kids in her age group, but Santos and I have the resources to get her caught back up. She’s already walking so well, so I know talking is going to come next.
“Okay, let’s go,” I say to Santos, and the two of us leave our condo.
Paolo is posted outside the door, and Gabriel walks upstairs with us while our other guard, Gio, is downstairs in the lobby area. We walk to the elevators and then go inside once the doors open. It’s only a couple more minutes before we’re at Ruslan and Amelia’s apartment.
“What?” Emily practically screams before we open the door. She’s massively pregnant now, and I think she only has about three months left before she’s going to pop.
“That sounded like it was an important ‘what’!” I laugh as I head further into my brother’s house.
Emily glances over at me, and Amelia raises her brows. “She was supposed to be quiet while I told her, but instead, she got all loud.” Amelia rolls her eyes, and I think I know what she’s talking about. Amelia told me she had been feeling weird for the past couple of days, and I suggested she take a pregnancy test.
“It was positive, wasn’t it?” I question, and Amelia nods.
“What the hell? Eset knew before me?” Emily giggles.
“Um, yeah. She kept complaining for a number of days in a row to me, so of course, I told her to take one. Her symptoms lined up with pregnancy. But did you tell Ruslan?” I ask Amelia.
“Yeah, and he’s over the moon. You know he wants such a large family, so now he’s getting to that a lot sooner than he thought he would.” Amelia laughs, but there’s a bit of nervousness in her voice.
“Two isn’t a lot. Five is a lot, Amelia,” I point out, and she makes a painful-looking face.
“Five? That’s going to hurt like hell,” Amelia whines.
