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“You’re the most beautiful woman on the planet in my eyes. I hope you know that.”
Chapter Sixteen
Lom
It’s been a couple of days since Emily agreed to move to Grozny with me. In that time, she’s stayed busy packing things up at the apartment she and Amelia shared. Amelia even left some things here, so Emily’s been taking them to the post office to get them shipped to Grozny. We both had a talk about it, and it seems to be the easiest option. Emily’s even going to be sending some of her things out there before we move. We discussed bringing two or three suitcases of her stuff with us when we fly out, but otherwise, everything else needs to be out of the apartment. Little did I know her and Amelia’s lease was coming up, and in my eyes, it’s another sign that making this move together is what we’re supposed to be doing.
Emily’s at her apartment right now with Ludvik. Since she’s so important to me, I don’t want her to be without protection. Truth be told, I never understood why Ruslan put Danill on duty watching Amelia, but now since Emily is so close to me, I understand his reasoning completely. There’s nothing more that you want to do than protect those you care about. It’s a primal instinct and one I really understand now. Before, I knew what it meant to want to protect my family, but I never understood what it meant to protect someone you love like I do now.
Wait a second.
Love.
Is that what I feel for Emily? Is this love? I know I’ve never felt this way for another woman before, but I haven’t ever experienced it, so how would I truly know what love feels like?
An alert in my email causes me to get out of my head for a minute and check in, but I don’t get to read the email as my phone starts ringing. I glance down and see it’s Ludvik from the caller ID, so I answer. “Is everything all right?”
“Yes, but I did need to speak to you. Emily’s in her bedroom packing away some of her things, so we have a few minutes to chat without her overhearing me,” Ludvik comments, and I know now that he must have some sort of information about what he’s been looking into.
“Go on,” I urge him, desperate to get any kind of answer.
“I received confirmation that Julio Ramirez has been the head of a smaller cartel within Mexico for practically the last twenty years. He operated mainly under the radar and used child trafficking to help him gain a reputation among the big players. Only very recently did he make it known that Rafael was his father. Everyone knew they had the same surname but didn’t put two and two together. He’s made his wishes and goals very clear. He wants to lead the Mexican Cartel because he believes it’s his right, not his uncle Alejandro’s. He believes it only went to Alejandro because Rafael is deceased, so the right order of power would be with him. Now, he’s been tied to Lucy for many years. Almost two decades, actually. She has phone records that coincide with Rafael’s when her husband was still alive.”
Why am I not surprised that Lucy Wilson cheated on her husband?
“You and I already both know what hand she had in finding children for Julio, but she reached out to many desperate mothers over the years. From what my contact told me, she brought at least a thousand children to Julio, and that’s all they witnessed first-hand. There’s a possibility that there were more than that, and I’d put my money that there are many more. I’m having my contact see if he can find anything from ten to twelve years ago since that’s when I assume the child would’ve been brought in. It narrows down his search, but if I could get more information from you, it would help us weed out the kids it couldn’t be. But there’s more. Since Amelia’s now married to your brother, others have begun looking into her and her family. Many of the Umarova allies know that Lucy has been tied with Julio for some time, and I’m sure I don’t need to state how much of an issue that is.”
I haven’t spoken to Emily yet about this, and the more I hear from Ludvik, the more I know I need to. I don’t only need to talk to her about the possibility of her child being trafficked, but I need her to give me information on her daughter so we can try and find her. I pray it’s even possible in the first place, but more importantly, I pray this child is still with us. Many times, when children are trafficked, they can be hurt, maimed, or even killed. For Emily’s sake, I hope it isn’t the case with her daughter.
I have to tell her today, and there’s no other way around it. She’s gone through enough with what her aunt has put her through, as well as having to face the brutal reality of telling her parents what she trusted her aunt with. Add in the fact she quit a job she loved because of her boss, and I’m sure she’s at her wit’s end. I still haven’t forgotten about him… and I’ll deal with her boss at some point. No woman deserves to go through what Emily went through, and the two of us know for a fact that men like that don’t suddenly change their ways. They only continue onward until some other woman gives him what he wants. When I get my hands on him, he’ll be lucky if he can even still use that pathetic thing in between his legs.
“Thank you, Ludvik. I’ll get you as much information as I can to help your contact later. It’s time I tell Emily what we know. When you’re on your way back here, please text me.”
“Of course, boss. We shouldn’t be more than a couple more hours.”
Ludvik and I quickly say our goodbyes, and as the call with him ends, I stare at my contact list, looking at Ruslan’s name. It’s about time I called him and gave him some updates. I tap on my brother’s name, and the phone begins ringing, but after a few rings, it goes to voicemail.
I leave my office and head into the kitchen. I’ve been hungry for a while, so I make myself a sandwich on ciabatta bread. It’s nothing too crazy, simply ham, cheese, mayo, some red onion, and pickles. I will say one thing I love about America is its subs. We don’t have too many options like this back home in Grozny, so I’m living it up while I can. Maybe I’ll eat subs over the next couple of weeks until we head back home… at which point I might grow sick of them.
I take my sandwich over to the small eat-in kitchen area and eat, at which point my brother must think it’s a great time to call me back. I’m halfway into a bite when I answer the phone, “Hold on,” I mutter with food in my mouth. Once I finish chewing and swallowing, I clear my throat.
“It sounds like there’s something in your mouth. Anything Emily should be concerned about?” Ruslan cackles on the other end.
“Go fuck yourself. I just made myself a sandwich.”
“It sounded like you had a footlong in your mouth.” Ruslan laughs at his own joke, and I don’t even bother responding to his childishness.
“I have some things I need to talk to you about,” I start.
“Perfect. Me too. Nazyr just called me a few minutes ago. It’s why I didn’t answer the phone when you called. His men confirmed it was Artos in Canada. Nazyr’s going to be leaving tomorrow morning to track him down. His men are there with eyes on him, but I’ve instructed them not to get too close. We don’t want to scare him off when we’ve just found him.”
“That’s smart. How are you planning on handling things with him?” I’m so curious, especially since Artos is one of the men on our hit list. He’s a top priority at the moment, and I know we won’t be making his death an easy one.
“Once we have him in our clutches, slowly and painfully.” Just as I thought. We won’t show him an ounce of mercy. He betrayed our family in the worst way possible, and my brother could’ve been killed because of his actions.
“I need to discuss a few delicate matters with you. It’s why I called.”
“I figured as much. You never call me for idle chit-chat anymore. What’s going on?”
