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“I want more guards on all of us for the time being. We might get answers tonight, but it’s very possible this man is going to stall for as long as he can,” Ruslan states.
“He’s right. We can’t be too careful,” Lom adds.
“I think more security would be best for the foreseeable future,” my husband adds in, and finally, my brothers don’t have any smart-assed retorts to say. Everyone goes their separate ways, and we act like this didn’t just happen.
Tonight we should be celebrating. We can worry about this mess later.
Fuck, I need a drink.
Chapter Fifteen
Santos
Eset tried to keep her cool as best as she could, but it was no surprise that she was shaken up right after it happened. It’s now three hours later, and we’re eating dinner with our guests in the Wohl Room. It’s in the most historic part of the building and can house every single one of our guests, so it made sense that we’d have our reception here. Paintings from the Venetian Renaissance fill the room as we dig into our delicious food.
As I take a bite, I notice my wife staring off at a painting on the wall. “Is it something you like?”
Eset immediately turns to look at me. “Love, actually. Out of all the rooms in the National Gallery, this has to be my favorite. I’ve already found paintings by Veronese, Tintoretto, Bassano, and Bordone. I’m so grateful that we were able to have our wedding here. It’s something I’ll certainly remember for years to come.” Eset seems happy for a moment, and then a sense of seriousness washes over her. I know she’s thinking about the assassination attempt. How couldn’t she be?
I grab her hand that’s lying on her leg and give it a squeeze. “Don’t you worry about anything right now. We have it covered, and we’re going to handle it after we leave if you want to tonight.” I don’t want to make any assumptions. Maybe Eset wants to deal with it in the morning.
She sucks in a deep breath and licks her lips. “It’s been a long day, and while I want to deal with it as soon as possible, I think it would be best for me to go there with a clear head on my shoulders. Right now, I’m clouded with so much anger and stress that I don’t think I’d be able to do my best work.”
I nod, understanding where she’s coming from. “All right, we’ll tell your brothers to meet us there tomorrow. I’m sure no one will have a problem with that.”
Eset scoffs. “Each of them will have a problem with it, but it’s important for us to all go back to our loved ones tonight.” Nazyr, to my knowledge, doesn’t have anyone that he’s with, but maybe Eset knows something I don’t.
“Even if they do, it won’t matter because you’ve requested it, and I’ll make sure they abide by what you want.” These men are now my brothers, and this is their sister’s important day. If she wants them to go to bed at the hotel and meet her in the morning, then they’re damn well going to do it.
Eset picks up her fork and stabs a piece of her Anyhoe Park venison. I’m not typically a fan of venison. However, I’d be lying if I said it didn’t look divine. It’s the roast saddle and ragu shoulder, with a potato confit, quince puree, kale, with toasted oats to top it all off. Meanwhile, I’m eating lamb. I believe the caterer markets it as Rump of Salt Marsh Lamb, and it’s just as delicious as it sounds. Roasted lamb lump, black garlic emulsion, winter bean fricassee, braised salsify, with cavolo nero gremolata. I’ve never had lamb made this well before, and if we’re ever back in London, I’ll make it a point to mention to my wife that I want to order some premade meals from our caterer.
The rest of our dinner continues, and I keep my hand on Eset’s for quite a while. She’s worried, and I can tell her concerns aren’t being eased as much as they typically are. After dinner, we move into another room and have our first dance as husband and wife. Our guests line up around the dance floor, smiling adoringly at the two of us. As we dance, I keep my eyes mostly on Eset, though I’m still looking for my father.
He hasn’t been seen since that man tried to kill my wife, and I’m trying to give him the benefit of the doubt that this wasn’t him. But right now, I think he could’ve been responsible for it. He might’ve left after we got into our fight, but the timing is far too coincidental, and there’s one thing I don’t believe in—coincidences.
The rest of the night, Eset and I mingle with our guests, thanking everyone for coming to visit. We met with everyone from the Mackenzie family who showed up. The patriarch is Desmond, and his wife is Sofia. The only one of Desmond’s children that showed up was Liam and his wife, Caprice. Liam is now the head of the Mackenzie family. Their cousins Cillian and Sorcha O’Dea also came, as well as Keenan Gallagher, who came by himself. I guess his wife couldn’t make the trip today. They do have little ones, so it might have been easier for her to stay at home.
Bianca Petran and her men came because she’s in this throuple sort-of relationship and has been for many years. She’s the first woman to ever lead the Romanian Clans and has done it successfully for quite some time. Those are only a couple of mafia families who were in attendance, minus the Ramirezes.
Alejandro seemed to be enjoying himself throughout the evening, and I think he got a kick out of the fact my father wasn’t seen after a while. At the end of the day, Alejandro knows he’s going to win. My father isn’t going to get the power he so desperately seeks, even if he wants it more than anything else.
Eventually, my loyalty to Alejandro is going to come out, and everyone is going to know about it. I don’t fear what my father does to me, but I am worried about any sort of retaliation against my wife because, in his eyes, it’ll be obvious that she’s the one who pushed me to do this. He’ll look back at how my relationship progressed with Eset, and he’ll see it for what it is.
A couple of more hours pass us by, and Eset’s yawning. Amelia and Emily have already left with their children, and Danill came back to take them to the hotel. With my arm around Eset’s waist, we head to find her brothers, who are all sitting at a table in the back. Nazyr’s face is red, which just goes to show how much alcohol he’s had this evening. “We’re going to head back to the hotel to get some rest. In the morning, we’ll meet up to deal with the problem at hand,” I state, looking at each of her brothers.
It’s the first time Eset has allowed me to speak for her, and I take this as another win for our relationship. “All right. We won’t let anything else tarnish the memories of your big day,” Ruslan speaks up.
“Man, I really wanted to go to town on that fucker,” Nazyr grumbles lowly, and I meet his eyes with my own.
“I understand that. However, your sister wants to get some shut-eye. So we’ll reconvene tomorrow after we have breakfast,” I state, making sure he doesn’t question me again.
There’s a flash of anger that crosses through Nazyr’s eyes, and Lom cackles loudly, slamming his hand down on the table. “Come, little brother. I think I spotted a woman who’s having a hell of a time keeping her eyes off you.” Lom manages to convince Nazyr to get up and go with him, while Ruslan has an amused grin on his face.
“You have to watch out for Nazyr. He’s the one who’s more likely to snap out of anger versus my brother and me.” Ruslan ends up chuckling.
“I assure you, I can handle Nazyr. I’ve dealt with men like him my entire life.”
“No, you haven’t. Nazyr is methodical and callous, but hardly anyone would know it. He’s the type who would cut the brake line in your car and let you die a terrible, panicked death if you pissed him off enough,” Eset speaks up, raising her brows at me. “It’s probably best you learn to play nice with my brother.”
