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“Things are going as planned, and I see no reason to stop our business relationship as long as it’s benefiting both of our families,” Jordan tells me. Internally, my worries stop, but then another feeling takes over me: dread. Dread because this truly means I have no reason to stay in Atlanta. My brother expects me back in Grozny soon, and I’m running out of excuses to tell him. Everything is fine with the Steele family, and the last thing I want to do is have him know how important Emily is to me right now. Until things have settled between the two of us, I don’t want my brother to know I’ve put a label on my relationship with Emily.
Over the next hour, our food is brought out to us, and both of us get caught up a bit. Most of the time, I don’t want to meet with clients, but Jordan Steele is arguably our biggest client now, and he’s not bad company either. As I finish up the last bit of my eggs Benedict, he asks a question that catches me off guard.
“I am curious how things are going now that your brother’s been in position for some time. It couldn’t have been easyturning the tides in your favor, though. Your brother’s position was his birthright. Certainly not Anzor’s.” Jordan keeps eye contact with me, and I nod.
“It was rough in the beginning. People saw Anzor as the face of our family for a very long time, but one thing he was not was an Umarova. He was a fraud, ruling in our father’s name. Something I will guarantee our father would’ve hated more than anything. The truth is, we should’ve taken over years ago, but we didn’t.”
“I’ve heard your brother’s giving duties to your half-brother and half-sister?” Jordan questions, and I’m curious to know what his angle is now. I wonder if he’s heard rumors about an uprise, and this is his way of warning us. Or could there be people loyal to my stepfather who want Nazyr or Eset to turn against us?
“Yes, because they’ve been burned as badly as we have by their father.”
Jordan nods a couple of times. “I see. Well, I’d advise you to be certain of your role within your family. You all know what your brother’s duties are. It’s best you know where the rest of you stand.”
“We’ll stand wherever Ruslan tells us to, as it’s our job,” I tell Jordan, and he smirks at the tone of my voice.
“Many people strive for power, Lom. I’ve heard about what Kirill did, and I don’t have to beat a dead horse here. He would’ve betrayed you for power, and I’ll guarantee that’s what your stepfather was promising. Cut those off ahead of time before they hurt your family any longer. Tell your brother to give you all some sort of power because that will be what keeps your family as a united front. I hope you know I’m only saying these things to help you in the long run. I’ve been the head of my family’s organization for a while now, and it’s only becauseI’ve made my siblings and family members feel valued and powerful.”
“I appreciate your insight and words, Jordan,” I reply, and I’m not full of shit. He’s given me another perspective to think about, and it’s something I’ll pass along to my brother when the time comes.
Jordan looks at his watch and fishes his wallet out of his pocket. “I have to get going, but I’ll—”
“Your money is no good here. I’ll foot the bill today,” I say to him, and Jordan stops, then puts his wallet back in his pocket.
“All right then. Until next time, Lom.” Jordan extends a hand, and I take his. We both shake, and then he’s on his way.
I open my wallet and put a hundred-dollar bill down on the table, figuring it’ll cover more than our meals and give a decent tip to the waitress.
I leave the cafe and get into my Ferarri Roma. I head back to the hotel and am back upstairs in no time. Only, I find Ludvik sitting on the couch. “Is Emily still asleep?”
Ludvik nods. “Yes. I came home early in the morning.” Ludvik doesn’t have to say anything else. His gaze tells me I tired the poor woman out, and she needs her rest. “How did the meeting go?”
“It went very well, actually. I—” I begin speaking, but my phone begins to ring. I look at the caller ID and see it’s my sister, Eset. “Sorry, I have to take this.”
I tap on the green button to accept the call. “Eset, how are you?”
“Lom, I might kill her. I mean, I really could do it. There’s a ninety percent chance I’ll do it within the next hour, honestly.”
“Who?” I don’t know what my sister’s going on about.
“Our mother. I thought she might’ve left a couple of paintings upstairs. Some of them took me over a hundred hours to complete. The realism was so beautiful, but she either rippedthem to shreds or took matches to them. They’re not fixable, and she’s ruined the art I worked so hard to create.” As my sister speaks, I hear her heart breaking with every word. She was holding out hope that our mother wasn’t as callous as she’s made herself seem, but I should’ve warned her.
“I’m sorry, Eset. She doesn’t care about us or the things that drive us. How are you enjoying living in Ruslan’s old house?” I try to change the subject, hoping it’ll help.
“It’s okay. I mean, it’s different. I don’t really view it as my home, even though it is now.”
“Dear sister, it’s more of a home than you’ve ever known. The place you grew up in wasn’t a home. It was a prison.” Eset knows I’m right because it was. There was nothing loving about the place where we grew up.
“Yeah, you’re right. I just needed to call and complain about it to someone because it’s not like anyone else would understand. But, um, are you excited about Ruslan and Amelia’s wedding?”
God, their wedding. It’s only two weeks away, but I know time will fly by. Maybe by then, I’ll be ready to tell my brother how much Emily means to me.
Chapter Five
Emily
I’m sitting in my chair at work, staring down at my now-cold latte. I got so busy with work this morning that I didn’t even have one sip. There was client after client to call, and then one of the other agents called out, and their listings got piled on me. I had to leave to do their open house, and I just got back in the office maybe five minutes ago.
“Sweetie, you need a latte, stat. You look horrible,” Kim comments, and I glance over at him with a look of pure exhaustion spreading across my face. He hasnoidea how badly I need one.
