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“Fine, I’ll head out for a little bit.” I sigh dramatically, totally playing around.
Mona smiles brightly. “Good! Maybe bring me back an iced caramel macchiato?”
“Sure thing,” I tell her as I walk toward the front of the house. I grab my purse off the hook on the wall and see Rolando sitting near the door. He glances up and looks at me.
“We heading out?”
“Yeah, for a little bit. I’ve been cooped up in the house for the last few days.”
Rolando gets up from his seat and fishes the keys out of his pocket. We both exit through the front door and walk out onto the sidewalk, heading to the car he chauffeurs me around in. Just as we walk up to the car, he gets a call. Rolando pulls the phone out of his pocket and answers.
“Hello.”
There are a few moments where there’s nothing but silence, and eventually, Rolando speaks. “Do you need me to bring her there right now?”
More silence.
I wonder who he’s talking to, but I know deep down it has to be one of my brothers.
“Okay, text me the address, and we’ll be there soon,” Rolando says, then a few moments later, he hangs up the phone.
He unlocks the car and opens the door for me.
“Who was that?”
“Lom. He needs me to bring you somewhere immediately.”
I draw my brows together. “Do you know why?”
“No, I don’t. All he said was that I needed to bring you across town, and it needed to be as soon as possible.”
“Okay, let’s get a move on then.” I slide in the back seat, and Rolando shuts my door, walks around the vehicle, and gets behind the driver’s wheel.
I stare out at the city as Rolando drives. We go from the wealthy area of well-kept townhouses to skyscrapers and luxury apartment or condominium complexes. As we pass all this, we end up going through the rougher parts of the city, where the homes aren’t nearly as nice. In this part of town, I see so many broken windows, doors with paint peeling off them, and even some roofs that have caved in. It’s so sad, and it makes me wonder why the city lets the homes get this way. Not all the homes that look this bad are vacant either, and that is not only dangerous but also so depressing.
Rolando continues driving until we’re outside of Grozny’s city limits. We keep going for a few miles until we pull up to a long, tree-lined driveway. It’s very isolated, and before we get to the end of the driveway, there’s a chain link gate with a box.
Rolando drives right up to it, rolls his window down, and types in the code. A few moments later, the chain link gate opens for us, and he drives through. I glance behind us, and the gate closes. Whatever this place is, it has a lot of high-tech security measures. There are even cameras on the outside of the building, and I notice a few cars by one of the entrances.
Rolando pulls the SUV up and gets out of the vehicle, walking around it to open my door for me. As he helps me get out, I look around the space and can’t help but ask him. “Where are we?”
I’ve never been to this place before, yet it feels like it should be familiar. Out of nowhere, the door opens to the old cinderblock building, and my brother, Lom, comes out, approaching me with haste.
“Xava, I’m going to get in a lot of shit with Ruslan for doing this behind his back, but you want to know how we’re handling your assassination attempt, right?”
I mentioned to Lom a couple of days ago how I want to know what’s going on and be a little more included in these sorts of family decisions. Maybe not the business per se, but I wanted to be a bit more involved. All I really want is to be communicated with and have more knowledge about what’s going on behind the scenes.
“Yes, I do.” Now, I realize I don’t know what the hell I’m really getting myself into. One thing I’ve had to remind myself of as of late is that even though I was adopted into the Beno family, I am an Umarova, and the blood running through my veins is powerful. It’s a great reminder that helps me realize I’m not weak in the slightest bit.
“All right. Come with me.”
Lom leads me up the sidewalk into the building. It looks like, maybe at one time, this was some sort of office. There’s a reception area in the front where we are right now, and then there’s a stairwell leading to the second floor with an elevator beside it.
Lom takes me left, and we walk all the way down the hallway until he stops. He licks his lips nervously and looks directly into my eyes. “There’s no turning back after I open this door, Xava. Are you sure you want to do this?”
“I don’t know what I’m doing, but if it means the family is being more honest so that I know more, then yes. I’ll be fine,” I assure my brother, not wanting to seem weak. I really hope there isn’t a dead body behind this door. I’m new to this life, and I haven’t been desensitized like the rest of my family members.
Lom pushes open the door, and we both walk into a pitch-black room. He shuts the door behind him, and then there’s a click of a light switch. In the middle of the room, there’s a man tied to a wooden chair. His dark hair is the first thing I notice, and then it’s the bruising and swelling. Purple, blue, and bits of yellow are scattered across his face. Dried blood covers one eyebrow, and underneath it, the eye is so puffy. I didn’t even know a face could swell this badly.
