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“I’m wondering where Mona will be in all of this.”
“I’d like her to go with Lom. She’ll be protected, and the children obviously know their mother. If we want this to go off without a hitch and be okay, then the girls need to see their mother. I think if we don’t have her there when we extract them, it will only create issues we don’t need.”
“I agree. I know she’ll want to be on the front lines getting her children back anyway.” I wouldn’t want to keep her from this opportunity, either. It’s been a few weeks since she’s seen her children, and I’m beginning to learn more and more about Mona every single day. The fact she isn’t near her children is eating her alive, bit by bit.
“Good. For the sake of being thorough, ask her and make sure she wants to. The situation is bound to be dangerous at some point, and she needs to be aware of what we’re asking her to walk into.”
I know what he’s asking of me by doing this, but I know her. I know she’s going to want to be there with her children.
“Perfect. What sort of time frame are you thinking about?”
Ruslan inhales slowly through his nose and then rubs his fingertips on the bridge of his nose. “Honestly? I want to take some time to plan this out, but time isn’t on our side. We already have other issues at bay. At this point, Julio knows we’ve betrayed him and turned his only son against him, so I’m waiting for hellfire to come down on us. We’ll handle it, but it hasn’t reached us quite yet. I know what he’s been saying in some smaller circles, and he’s making threats. Only, he hasn’t actually done anything.”
“It’s only a matter of time before he does.”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking, too,” my brother confirms.
“Have you made any plans on how we’re dealing with Julio?”
Ruslan shakes his head. “No, not yet, but I want to see how he acts. I’ve heard whispers, but I haven’t dealt with anything firsthand, and that’s what I want to see. I want to know if Julio is going to act like a coward or if he’s going to act like a man.”
“Okay.” There’s not much I can say to my brother about this since dealing with Julio is his call. If he wants us to wait, then we will wait. What our family did to Julio is no doubt pissing him off. Julio was under the impression that an alliance with our family, a marriage with his son to Eset, would only solidify his claim to the Ramirez cartel.
In actuality, his son pledged his allegiance to the man we support, who happens to be Julio’s uncle. Most of the time, we don’t interfere in another country’s political business, but this time there was a good reason. Mexico doesn’t need another bloodthirsty Ramirez running it. What Mexico needs is what it’s currently had for many, many years—a good, well-rounded, decent leader.
“Ruslan! Are you still busy? I need you to come here,” my sister-in-law, Amelia, calls for my brother, and he immediately rises from his seat.
“Okay, I need to go. We’ll talk soon and work out the details of what’s going to happen,” Ruslan states, and I nod.
The two of us say our goodbyes, and then I head downstairs with Paulo into the parking garage. In no time, we’re in the vehicle, and he’s driving me back to my house.
As I walk in through the front door, Mona’s sitting in her reading nook with a blanket draped over her and a hardcover book in her hands. I walk right up to her, and there’s enough room for me to take a seat beside her, so I plop down on the plush cushions and place my hand on her leg.
“How did things go?” Mona knows I was away at my brother’s house speaking to him, and based on the slight inflection in her voice, I know she’s anxious to find out what we discussed.
“Some family matters and then some business ones, but we did discuss your girls.”
Immediately, Mona puts her book down and looks right at me. Hope and fear are evident all over her face. She’s waiting for me to say something else, but I’m giving her the opportunity to speak first.
“Nazyr, I need to know. Was it a good chat? A bad one? Did he tell you that they’re not your family’s problem?”
I shake my head, not wanting her to think anything bad. “No, not in the least bit. We developed a plan on how we’re going to get the girls and when.” I pause for a moment, thinking about how much I’m going to tell her, but I don’t think that it will hurt for her to be informed.
“Long story short, my sister is going to throw some sort of event at her gallery in London. Duarte already told me he likes art, so we thought this would be a good opportunity to get him away from his house. We already know he doesn’t take the children with him, so while I’m in London with Eset and Ruslan, you’re going to be in Portugal with Lom. I don’t want to force you to be there because it’s going to be dangerous, but we think if you’re there, it’ll help us get the girls out a lot faster.”
Mona swallows hard, and I look right into her eyes. They’re quickly filling with tears, and she’s struggling to keep them back. Her lower lip quivers, and finally, she speaks, “All I want in this world is for my baby girls to be back in my arms. Thank you so much. I’m so indebted to your family.”
“You’re not indebted to us at all. We’re doing the right thing, and that’s enough for us,” I tell her, and she nods again, still struggling to keep her emotions back. “I did want to discuss something with you, though.”
It’s something I’ve given a lot of thought, and I’m pretty damn sure Mona’s going to be happy about this. I already know she has feelings for me. Feelings that are growing every single day. But I am wondering how she’s going to react to this.
“Okay, is it bad?”
Mona always assumes everything is negative, but it isn’t. I really think it’s something she’s going to like.
“No, not at all. I think it would be a good idea for us to renovate one of the bedrooms upstairs for the girls. This way, when we do get them, they have a place that’s ready for them.”
Mona blinks a couple of times in shock at me. “Really? You… you want us to stay here with you?”
