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“Who is this man?”
“His name is Yabdullah. He was the one hired to ensure you died. Luckily for us, he hired a child to do a man’s job, and the boy wasn’t successful. Yabdullah, well… he’s tried denying his hand in all of it, but Ruslan caught him in many lies. All we need to know now is which person ordered the hit.”
“Are you thinking it could be Julio Ramirez?” I question Lom, and he pulls his head back in shock.
“How do you know that name?”
“I have my sources. Now answer the question. Someone is trying to kill me, Lom. I deserve to know the truth.”
Lom sucks in a heavy breath. “He’s one of the people we think could be behind it.”
“He’s the one who has the biggest reason to hurt someone in the family besides Duarte’s family, right?”
Lom blankly blinks at me. “Who told you about all that?”
“Does it matter? I don’t think so. What matters to me is that the person responsible is dealt with. I’ve barely been alive, Lom. I don’t want to die yet, not when I just started living.”
“You’re not going to die, Xava. We’re making sure of that.” There’s a darkness in my brother’s voice. One that tells me he’s going to do whatever it takes to keep me safe.
“Why did you bring me here?” I’m changing the subject on him very quickly, but I want to know.
“I wanted you to see what we’re willing to do for you so you don’t live in fear. You asked to be included a bit more, and while Ruslan doesn’t think it’s a good idea, I think he’s wrong. You cannot speak of this to him. I will tell Ruslan when the time is right, but now isn’t that time. Do you understand?”
“Yes, I do,” I confirm. I appreciate how my brother is willing to cause issues with our older brother so that he can make me a little bit happier. I never thought anything like this would happen.
“This is where we bring people like Yabdullah. It’s also where we conduct some business, depending on the occasion. If we think a meeting will go badly, we bring our client here so we can do whatever is necessary.”
I’m learning a lot more about my family and what they’re willing to do when someone crosses the line. “Whatever is necessary” is code for “take them out if it comes to that”.
“I see.” I nod, and Lom exits the room. I follow him, and we head down the hallway until we’re in the receptionist area.
“I’m sorry to drag you out here, but I wanted you to see we’re willing to do whatever it takes. This will stay a secret for now. I will be honest with Ruslan soon. In the meantime, if you have questions, you come to me and me only.” Lom searches my eyes for some sort of acknowledgment, and I nod.
“Okay. Thank you for showing this to me.” I’m not exactly “supportive” of what my siblings are doing for me, but I realize this is a dog-eat-dog world. There aren’t any other options. There’s only eat or be eaten.
Rolando approaches me, and Lom thanks him for bringing me all the way out here. Lom mumbles how he needs to tie up some loose ends here before he sees me later at the birthday party and walks off.
“Did you need to stop anywhere before we head back, Xava?” Rolando asks as we leave the building’s parking lot.
“Yeah, I need to get Mona an iced caramel macchiato.”
“All right. Do you want to stop at the coffee shop around the corner from her house?”
I like the way Rolando thinks. “Yes, that would be perfect. Thank you so much.”
Rolando and I head outside and get back in the SUV. He then proceeds to drive me across the city, and then we stop at the coffee shop around the corner from Nazyr and Mona’s house. I end up getting a coffee for Nazyr as well, figuring he’s going to need it with children running around the place.
Rolando and I arrive back at the house and head inside, only to hear children’s laughter flooding throughout the space. I find Mona and hand off her coffee, then walk around until I find Nazyr and give him his.
“What’s this for?”
“There are tons of kids running around. I figured you could use the extra caffeine.”
“This is why you’re my favorite baby sister.”
“I’m your only baby sister, Nazyr.” I shake my head and laugh. Eset might be younger than anyone else, but I’m the newfound baby of the family. Nazyr seems to be in the middle of a conversation with Danill, one of the security men who work for our family, so I walk off and check out what’s going on.
Sierra is chasing Karim, and he’s giggling ever so loudly. His birthday party is next weekend, so I’m sure this will be a lot of fun for him. It’s kind of really cool that so many of my nieces and nephews are around the same age. Meanwhile, Vanina is coloring in a coloring book as she sits on the floor. Amelia is carrying Aldan around, who’s about four months old, and Emily has a little boy named Kolson, who’s nine months old. There are so many babies and toddlers in our family who seem to constantly keep everyone on their toes.
