The room suddenly felt short of air.
My mother exhaled and turned toward Dmitri. “I didn’t expect such an urgent meeting. This shouldn’t have happened.”
Every second I sat there cracked something I spent years holding together carefully.
“Who is he?” Dmitri directed his attention toward the man beside her.
The man scoffed. “I should ask who you are. This was supposedto be a family meeting.”
“Family.” Dmitri sat straighter in his chair, his fingers tapping slowly against the table. “Should we leave, or will he?” He directed the question at my mother.
She sighed again. “Let’s get this done. This is Diego, my uncle. He’ll take over the business.”
“I see.” Dmitri leaned back. “So you didn’t tell him who I am.” His eyes settled on her coldly. “But we’re here for my wife. You came the moment I mentioned Iker, so start by telling her who you are.”
Iker.
My chest tightened the second I heard that name.
“Not now. I’m arranging something.” My mother’s voice sharpened in a way I had never heard before. “Grace and Cole will not be dragged into this life.”
“They already are.” Dmitri’s tone stayed even. “She’s my wife, which I shouldn’t need to repeat.”
“You shouldn’t have done that, ” my mother said. “Whatever that marriage is, it needs to end.”
“Wife,” Diego laughed in the particular way people do when they want you to understand they consider you beneath them. “You expect us to call her your wife when you never sought permission from her family?”
Dmitri went quiet.
He never allowed people to speak to him that way, but the slow tapping of his fingers against the table didn’t look like patience. It looked dangerous.
“Darling,” he turned toward me. “Iker, the man who destroyed your family, is your grandfather. Your mother’s father. He runs a mafia organization in Mexico, which your mother now runs.” His eyes stayed on mine. “The reason—”
“Stop!” my mother snapped.
Dmitri never looked away from me. “Iker wants Cole to takeover after him, so once he has Cole, he’ll kill you, your father and your mother.”
“Stop telling her that.” My mother’s voice cracked at the edges for the first time, the composure finally splitting. “Diego and I are working to remove my father. Once he’s gone, Diego takes over, and I step down and return to my family.”
“If Iker finds out this meeting happened, everything collapses,” Diego added. “This meeting should never have existed in the first place. Grace has grown up now. There’s no need to behave as if not seeing her mother for years is some tragedy.”
My fist tightened beneath the table.
“End the marriage with her. I’ll send them to another state.” My mother pressed both hands flat against the table now. “My father can’t know I met you here, so threatening me into seeing Grace was not a clever move. Once Diego takes over—”
The gunshot cut through the room before she finished.
I jerked away from the table, a scream ripping out of me. My mother shoved back from the table as well, her chair scraping across the floor. Diego’s body tipped forward, blood spreading across the table before dripping steadily onto the floor beneath him.
My hand flew to my mouth, and I turned to Dmitri. He looked down at the gun in his hand with mild interest.
“Looks like I complicated your plan,” Dmitri said.
“What have you done?” My mother’s voice barely made it out as a whisper.
“Was he truly your best option?” Dmitri turned the gun slightly in his hand, examining it. “Cole would run your small family business better than you.”
I gulped and looked at my mother. She dragged a hand through her hair. “I came here because I respect Konstantinov. But you don’t kill my uncle in front of me and lecture me about my operation.”
