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“Yes, they are,” I confirm, and he nods.
Gia stands in the corner, listening to every bit of our conversation, and she doesn’t look happy that I’m here in the least bit.
Chapter Ten
Eset
There’s something about being back home in Grozny that immediately settles my nerves. I’m not normally an anxious person, but since all this talk about me marrying Santos, I have noticed I’ve been a little more nervous than usual.
As I stare in the mirror, I look long and hard at myself. I’m a beautiful woman, and it took me a very long time to ever even admit that about myself. My mother always told me I should never let my beauty be the most important thing about me, and that is why I always worked so hard in school. I needed to be smarter than anyone in my class. It was something I felt like I had to do. In some sense, I think I always tried so hard to appease my father as well because he barely noticed me when I was around.
He wasn’t a good man, and it made growing up very difficult. As a teenager, I knew the things he was doing didn’t add up, but I never truly understood what he was doing. I knew he was handling family business, but until I was an adult, I didn’t comprehend the sort of things he was doing. It was then that I was told I was essentially a chess piece to him, something he could use to his advantage… and it infuriated me.
After everything I did to make him proud of me, he was willing to send me off to be married to a complete stranger. One who would more than likely beat me bloody for even opening my mouth, rape me whenever he saw fit, and who knows what else. I even said this to my father, and the only thing I got in return was the back of his hand against my cheek. I never told my brothers about that story, but I wish I had. Ruslan, Lom, and Nazyr have only ever protected me.
I received a lot of heat from other families when Ruslan and Lom went against my father. Not because they were going against him in the first place but because I supported Ruslan and Lom in their efforts. I didn’t hide my allegiance to my brothers, but why would I? Anyone who knew my father knew what he would put me through. Sometimes he didn’t even hide it. It would be at a dinner party, a public event, or out in the open. I’d been shoved, slapped, and berated like I was nothing more than a stray dog. My mother even witnessed it most of the time, and did she ever speak up in my defense? No. Instead, she told me to stay in my lane and do what I was told because that was my role as his daughter. It was pathetic, and that was when I first started losing respect for my mother.
She always chose to look away when it came to important matters where she knew my father was doing other people wrong. He’d done Ruslan and Lom wrong since he stepped in the picture, but she never said a damn thing in support of her children. If I were in her shoes, I would choose my children over my husband. Never would I sacrifice the relationship with my children for a man. She chose him time and time again, and she still continues to choose him now, even though he’s dead for the treachery he brought against my brothers.
When Ruslan reclaimed the power he should’ve always had, I was terrified he’d treat me a little bit like my father. Thankfully, that hasn’t been the case. He’s made promises to me, and the promises he’s made have only ever come to fruition. He hasn’t broken one, and he’s letting me have power over my future, as well as including me in the family dealings.
Heallowedme to meet with Santos and make the decision for myself, with my own stipulations surrounding the marriage. Other leaders in crime families would’ve forced the woman’s hand, not giving them one fucking choice. I know how lucky I am to be his sister, and I’m forever grateful to him for giving me this sort of freedom and even allowing me to change my last name.
A lot of people are shocked that Ruslan asked Nazyr and me to change our surname to Umarova, but I see it as a unification of our family. I would’ve loved to have met their father, and some days I wish that man was my father as well. The stories Ruslan told me about him are beautiful. He truly cared about his children. I wish my father was like that. He was the type of man who only ever saw us as pawns in his game. I don’t know what he ever had planned for Nazyr, but it must’ve been something.
I shake my thoughts away and look at my reflection in the mirror. My makeup bag sits on the counter, and I pull out my primer, put a couple of pumps on my fingers, and then lather it against my face, over my eyelids, and even down my neck a tad. I grab a beauty blender next and wet it, then take out my liquid foundation. I press a pump on the angled sponge and dab it on one side of my face until it’s blended perfectly, then do the same for the other side.
After I give it a moment to dry a bit, I apply concealer under my eyes and on a blemish I have on the side of my face. I dab the beauty blender against it until my skin looks flawless, pick my bronzer out of the make-up bag, and then apply it to the areas I want to accentuate. Again, I dab the blender along the bronzer until it’s blended perfectly. My eyebrows are thick and dark, so I’m not one of those women who have to fill theirs in, which is a blessing.
I don’t put on blush unless I have an event I’m going to, so I complete a soft brown smokey eye to finish off my look. I’m going to meet Ruslan in a few minutes, and I want to look as much like a powerhouse as I can. There was this interview with Rihanna that came out a few years ago, where the interviewer asked what she does on those mornings when she doesn’t feel powerful. Rihanna had come back with a perfect response: She said that she had faked it. That is what I do, too, because I don’t feel as badass as I might seem every day. Truthfully, I might only feel like a badass half of the time, but I won’t let anyone else know I feel that way. There’s no way in hell I’d give them any ammunition.
I sigh, knowing I need to get over to my brother’s condo soon. I give myself one last look in my gold-rimmed mirror, taking in the renovations I had done to my ensuite bathroom while I was away in London. It turned out better than I ever thought, and I’m so glad I decided to give this a bit of a facelift. Our home is historical, so I wanted to keep as many of the original elements as I could. The only things I had changed in here were the wallpaper to something a bit more modern, refurbished the mirror that was in here by having it painted gold on the rims, and updated the cabinet to a floating one where the plumbing is hidden. Gold accents, accentuated with historical pieces like the sink and tile floor, really make it pop.
I head out of my bathroom and walk into my bedroom. Going into my closet, I throw on a black jumpsuit, adding a magenta-pink trench coat to the final look. I leave my bedroom and head down the stairwell, where Goran is sitting on one of the benches we have in the foyer.
“Are you ready, Miss Eset?” Goran immediately rises, and I give him a nod.
“Yes, let’s go.” Goran opens the door for me and heads over to the vehicle he drives me around in. He opens my door first, I get inside, and then he gets behind the wheel. In less than ten minutes, we’re at Ruslan and Amelia’s building.
I enter the building with Goran hot on my heels, and then we take the elevator up to Ruslan’s penthouse. Danill, Ruslan’s right-hand man, who mainly watches over Amelia and Karim, answers the door. “Morning, Danill.”
“Good Morning, Eset. Ruslan told me to tell you he’s in the office.”
“Perfect. Thank you,” I say, walking past him. I weave my way through Ruslan’s place until I walk into his office.
“Eset, you’re earlier than I expected.”
I shrug my shoulders. “Yeah, well, I got finished a little bit earlier. I figured we could chat and go about our respective days if we finished early.”
“No worries.”
“How did things go while you were in London?”
“They went well. As soon as I get word that Santos has committed himself as an ally to his great-uncle, then we’ll move forward with planning a wedding.”
Ruslan raises both of his brows. “Oh?” My brother’s naturally surprised to hear about this. He knew I was open to something, but I don’t think he ever expected I was actually going to pull the trigger, so to speak.
“Yes, and there’s something you should probably know.”
