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“Ambros, here are your drinks. I also fetched this for you.” Marsala has the drinks on a tray. She hands me my glass of ice water first and then hands Linus his beer. The next thing she gives me is an envelope addressed to me. The return address is from the Umarova family, so I immediately open it. The Umarovas are a powerful Chechen family. They’re also arms dealers, whom I’ve worked with for many years. I’ve purchased a lot of what’s in my armory from them directly.
Upon opening the letter, I see it’s an invitation to Lom Umarova’s wedding. It’s in a couple of weeks’ time, but I need to make it a point to attend. You don’t want to miss events such as this. If I take a few more jobs in Russia while I’m there, I might be able to just go directly to Italy for the wedding. That would probably be the best bet.
“Thank you, Marsala,” I say to her and grab some of the shrimp with my fork. I can’t wait to dive into this delicious spread.
Chapter Two
Xava
I’m currently in Italy for my brother Lom’s wedding to Emily. He and Emily have been together for a while and are finally getting married. It seems like it took a long time for them to get here, and I’m so happy for them. Emily’s been planning her wedding for the last year—since I was welcomed into the family, actually. She was so kind to include me in helping her plan her wedding. I never really expected that in the least bit. She’s had me, Amelia, and even Mona—Nazyr’s girlfriend—help her. Eset doesn’t seem overly interested and would rather be working at the family business or focusing on her artwork.
Emily has a daughter from a previous relationship named Sierra, but you’d never be able to tell. Lom loves that little girl like she’s his own. She’ll be turning twelve in a few months, so I guess we’re going to have to throw her one heck of a birthday bash pretty soon. Emily and Lom also had a baby nine months ago, which made Sierra a big sister. Kolson is such a sweet boy with a loving personality. He’s the happiest baby I’ve ever met, and that’s saying something since my adoptive mother owns a daycare company back in Prague. Kolson wasn’t the only baby who recently arrived, either. Ruslan and Amelia had another baby, too—a boy that they named Adlan. Mona also has two little girls from before she met Nazyr. Vanina is four, and Ira is turning three very soon.
Emily told me not too long ago that she’s asked Eset to paint her some things to put up around her house as a wedding present. Eset seemed honored to do so, and there have been many times when I’ve found Eset hiding in her studio, working instead of out with the family.
Emily rented out an entire villa in the Tuscan countryside and told me they sent out invitations for around four hundred and seventy-five guests. I can’t imagine inviting that many people to a wedding, but our family is very well known. I’m sure there are a lot of old family friends coming, as well as business associates. My brothers and sister are always working. I don’t know too much about what they do, but I know it has to be important. They work at all hours of the day, and the only time I get to see everyone all together is during Sunday dinners or on major holidays.
For a large part of the day, I’ve been sitting out on the back patio, getting as much sun as I can. I was allowed to invite a plus one, so I asked Yara to come with me. She flew out, and Rolando drove me to the private airstrip to pick her up yesterday. We’ve been relaxing, checking out some of the local wineries.
The villa itself is enough to house my family, plus Yara, while all the other guests have local accommodations.
“Are you starting to get excited?” Yara asks me. Her hair’s pulled up in a loose ponytail, and she has on a pair of red heart-shaped sunglasses.
“I guess so. I haven’t ever attended a wedding before, so I’m not sure what to expect.”
“Most of the weddings I’ve been to have been older family members. They were so boring. I expect your brother’s wedding to be very action-packed and fun. I mean, look at what they’re setting up for it.” Yara points out to the countryside. There are various areas where there’s seating, multiple bars, and even a couple of different dance floors. Most of the land through here isn’t flat at all, but every area on the property that is flat is being used for something.
All you can see for miles are rolling hills with vineyards spanning across them. There’s the occasional villa, but the place where Lom and Emily are having their wedding is quite private. This villa is a mixture of history with modern amenities. The entire exterior of the villa is made up of cobblestone. The patio areas are made up of old pavers, probably at least one hundred years old. The outside is beautiful, but the interior is something special. There are exposed wooden beams throughout the place, and the pastel wall colors really make you feel like you’re at home. The ancient terracotta floors pull the entire place together, and if we didn’t live in Grozny, I could see myself living in a place like this.
“Yeah, it’s probably going to be a blast. I need to start getting ready soon,” I mutter the last bit. Lom and Emily are getting married at eight tonight, but Emily wants all the bridesmaids to be in her bridal suite around five so we can get our hair and makeup done and then have some group photos taken together with the sun in the background.
“Okay, while you’re doing that, I’ll be soaking up the sun for a bit longer.” Yara giggles lightly.
She’s the complete opposite of me. Pale with the lightest blonde hair I’ve ever seen. It’s almost snow white. She doesn’t even dye it, either. Her eyes are a light sky blue, and she could honestly be a supermodel. I might be pale, but I have dark eyes and dark hair. Whenever we’re out in public, she’s always the one who gets the most attention. I’m not an attention whore or anything, but men are always flirting with her. It hardly ever happens to me.
“You have fun while doing that. I’ll catch up with you later.”
“Ugh, I do have to say, I wish you had another brother that was single. All your brothers are so handsome and kind. It’s no shock that they’re all taken, too. It’s hard being a single woman out there these days.”
I don’t feel Yara has any reason to talk about being single. Men throw themselves at her all the time.
“Well, they’re all taken. You never know, though. You might find someone at the wedding that you like.” I don’t even know what I’m supposed to say to her, but maybe that will suffice.
“Maybe we both will! That would be awesome, wouldn’t it?”
“Yeah, it would.” I doubt it’ll happen, but if it did, I wouldn’t be complaining in the least bit. “I’m going to get going. Enjoy catching some rays. I’ll see you in a bit.”
“Sounds good. Have fun, girl!” Yara’s accent comes through now thicker than ever. Since moving to Grozny, I have noticed how our accents are thicker. I’ve been speaking a lot of English with my siblings since I don’t know Russian or Chechen yet. When I’m speaking English, I think a lot of my own accent has melted away, so to speak.
I give Yara a slight hug and then walk back over to our suite at the villa. Emily’s getting ready in her suite, and I have a little bit of time, so I take a quick shower and then get changed. I blow dry my hair, and by the time I’m done, I don’t have anything else to do, so I head down to Emily’s suite.
I knock on the door lightly and wait for someone to answer. Laughter can be heard on the other side, and Eset opens the door for me. The laughter is coming from Amelia and Emily, who it seems are both having the time of their lives. Sierra, Vanina, and Ira are all here, too, so I guess the boys are with their dads.
Emily’s dress is hanging in the center of the window, with four plum-colored bridesmaid dresses hanging nearby, two on either side. The girls are in matching plum dresses, but there’s a bit of white in their dresses, so they stand out more.
“Hey, ladies, is everyone excited?” I’ve come a long way with these women in the last year. At first, things were awkward, and I didn’t know if I was going to be able to forge any sort of connections or friendships with them, but over time, things have really blossomed between all of us. I feel like we’re truly a family unit, and everything I’ve been praying for my whole life has come to fruition.
“I’ve had enough alcohol that I don’t have any nerves whatsoever,” Emily speaks up, and the women start laughing. The little girls don’t understand what we mean, but the adults are getting a kick out of it.
