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I planned on speaking to my brother before we left for the airport, and I’m doing that now. I understand his love for our mother knows no bounds, and I, too, love our mother, but I refuse to ignore her indiscretions. She’s chosen our stepfather over us, and it has never been more evident than over the last few months. Before, I believed it was there, but I think I ignored it. I chose to focus on other things, as my brother’s been doing the last few days. He doesn’t want to admit our mother has chosen a man over her children, but it’s true.
“I think the two of us have calmed down enough to speak like adults,” I tell my brother as we walk into my study. I round the desk and sit in the desk chair. The same desk chair that’s a bit too firm for my liking, but I know over time, things will get easier.
“Perhaps we have, maybe we haven’t. You’re striking a chord with me, Ruslan. I don’t like Anzor any more than you do, but I cannot stand you placing the blame on our mother too. She isn’t him. She hasn’t made the choices he has.”
He has some nerve defending her, even now. “You have no idea what sort of choices she’s made, brother. So, why do you speak as if you know what she’s done unless there are things you aren’t telling me?”
Lom’s eyes go wide. “Of course not. I’m loyal to you as the head of the Umarova family. I know my place, Ruslan, and I’d be a fool to stray from it.”
“Someone very recently told me they were loyal to the Umarova family too. Only, they weren’t loyal to me,” I hiss, and memories of the old man come to the forefront of my mind. How delusional did he have to be? He really thought my stepfather, Anzor, was in charge. In charge of a family that isn’t even his! Thinking about it still makes my blood boil, and fire practically shoots from every orifice.
Lom sits down in the chair in front of my desk and stares at me coldly. “I’ll make this very clear. I don’t understand what was done to you there because you haven’t told me about it. All I see are the marks on your body and the shape you came back to us in. I, for one, am not your enemy. I have never been, and I never will be. We will make those responsible for this suffer greatly, Ruslan. This I promise you.”
Lom can make his promises, but what if things don’t happen the way he wants them to? “What if our mother has some sort of involvement? What then?”
“Then I will do what needs to be done,” Lom states clear as day.
“All right then, we need to go to the family estate. Just you and me. I need Danill to stay behind and keep the girls out of trouble.”
Lom releases a low chortle. “With how spirited your Amelia is, I understand why you want Danill on her constantly.”
“Yes, well, she’s come a long way from the life she led before I was in it.” Amelia was merely a victim before. She was a woman who got trampled on time and time again. She was used by friends and family and set up to take the fall for something I know she couldn’t have ever done. It would eat away at her like maggots on a wound.
I rise from my chair because it’s so damn uncomfortable, and we do have to be on our way. The flight we have booked leaves in three hours. All our unfinished business needs to be wrapped up by then. “Come on, let’s go. I want to get this over with,” I tell my brother, and he nods in agreement.
We walk out of my study and head for the street. Lom has a blacked-out SUV parked along the street, and he unlocks it before we both get inside. He’s in the driver’s seat and pulls out onto the road after a few moments.
I grab my phone from my pocket and bring up Danill’s name.
To: Danill
Lom and I will be back before we’re set to leave. Watch over the women. Make sure they don’t get into any trouble. If they want to go shopping before we leave, go ahead and take them. Use the card I gave you for whatever they want.
Danill’s been working for me for many years now, and only last year I gave him access to an account I have for my travels. This way, when we get gas, food, or anything else related to being on the road, he has something quick and easy to use. The cash route grew old very quickly.
Within a short fifteen-minute ride, we’re at our family’s estate. It’s vast and massive, but it should be, as it’s the ancestral home of the Umarovas. Lom enters the code once we arrive at the iron gates, and they open within a moment. He pulls the car through, and we continue down the stone driveway that leads up to the impressive-looking house.
“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Lom asks, and instead of answering, I unbuckle my seatbelt and open the door. Of course, I’m ready for this. I’m ready for the fucking answers I deserve.
I walk straight up the stone stairs to the front door and don’t even bother knocking. I place my hand on the knob and turn it, not surprised in the least bit when it budges without an issue. My shoes clack against the wood floors, and I head further into the home, scanning every room as I pass by. Sure enough, I find our mother in the living room, sitting in a chair that overlooks the back gardens.
She turns her head, and when her eyes land on me, she seems surprised. Her mouth falls open, and she clutches a fist to her chest before standing up. “Ruslan!” she begins to rush over to me, with tears already cascading down her face.
“Don’t touch me until I have my answers,” I seethe. Every bit of rage I’ve felt since this all happened is coming out. I’m the closest I’ve ever been to seeing the looks on their faces and if any of them knew what was going on. I’m not dumb enough to believe my stepfather did this alone. He had to have had some sort of help. I just don’t know who helped him, and it’s something I plan on finding out today.
“Answers? What answers are you looking for?” my mother questions me, drawing her brows together as she looks me over.
“He was told who was behind his capture, Mother,” Lom fills her in, and she smiles brightly at the news.
“Good! Then you must make them pay for what they’ve done. Unless you’ve done so already?” she looks between Lom and me for confirmation.
“It’s a bit more complicated than I’d like. I haven’t found the man responsible yet, because he’s been gone for almost as long as I have,” I speak up, and I watch as she realizes what I’m insinuating. There’s only one person she knows of who’s been gone for about the same period of time that I have.
“You cannot be serious, Ruslan. You speak without saying everything, and yet I know what you are trying to say. But it cannot be true. It cannot be true in the least bit. Your father raised you! He would never do such a thing.” She clasps the gold necklace around her neck, one I’m certain Anzor must have gifted her at some point in time.
“That man isn’t my father. My father has been dead for a very long time. Have you forgotten Anzor’s place? Have you forgotten Anzor isn’t an Umarova, even though he walks around parading the power that belongs to my brother and me?” I scoff at the end and shake my head. She’s as naïve as ever.
“He is the only father you’ve had for most of your life, Ruslan. He raised you! How could you believe he’d be behind this? He loves you!”
