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“I discreetly kept an eye on them and made sure they always had enough. When Karine disappeared, I struggled with myself for a long time about saving Avalie. She was in a shitty situation, but Karine had fully protected her from any knowledge of her previous life.”
Sal’s head drops and he shakes his head.
“I know it was shitty that I left her with that asshole. You don’t need to tell me that. But she was safer with his drunk ass than she would have been if anyone had found out who she was. She is walking leverage against the families of both her parents. What family wouldn’t want control of her?”
“For twenty-three years I thought that I was the only person who knew this secret. A couple of months ago, Karyan somehow found out about what had happened with Karine. And then she found out about Avalie,” he drops his gaze to the floor and takes in a staggered breath, “I’ve failed Karine, and I have been waiting for Karyan and Yuri to come for me since.”
His gaze comes back up and meets mine, his eyes duller than before, “Then that asshole sold her to you and everything about this situation escalated. Karyan had to get her from you before Avalie had the opportunity to tell you who she really was, giving your family all of the power.”
“But you said Avalie doesn’t know anything,” Carlo’s voice is questioning.
“She doesn’t,” Razmik replies, “but Karyan didn’t know that. She started this war to create a distraction, allowing her time to put her plans into place and get her hands on Avalie.”
“The fires,” Sal questions.
“All Karyan,” Razmik answers, “She has been running all sorts of things lately. She has been fucking with everyone – fires, drug raids, basically anything she can do to be disruptive. It was never about the business. She has been doing it to create chaos and increase the strained relations between all of the families.”
Razmik continues, his body exhausted from losing the weight of this burden and the blood slowly pumping from his body, “I actually never thought that Yuri would put his daughter, a woman, in charge of his empire. But lately she has her hands in all different aspects of his business.”
My eyes fixate on his and the life slowly fading from them, “Tell me where to find Ava and I will end this for you. Quickly.”
“There was a family meeting at an old abandoned church in Rockland County about twenty minutes ago,” Razmik struggles to push out the words, “It will be over before you could ever get there. Karyan will want to keep Avalie to herself. The most protected place she has is her penthouse suite at The Empire.”
His pained eyes look at me, waiting for me to provide him with the mercy that I had offered. While it is not normally in nature, I uphold my promise. Pulling my gun, quickly place it against the bridge of his nose and pull the trigger.
ChapterThirty-Nine
Avalie
We drive for so long I do not know if we are even still in the city. The SUV comes to a stop as we pull up in front an old church. If it were not for the sheer number of expensive cars parked in front of it, I would have assumed that it had been abandoned many years ago. Most of the windows are broken and the front doors are nearly hanging off of the hinges.
Two large gentlemen are opening each of our car doors within seconds.
“Out,” Karyan commands at me.
Following her demand, I slide from the backseat being careful to maintain my balance as my heels hit the gravel parking lot. Fully concentrating on staying upright on the uneven ground, I slowly join a very impatient Karyan on her side of the car.
With one in front of us and one behind, the large gentlemen escort us into the church. It is as rundown inside as it appears to be from the outside. The musty smell from lack of use mixed with urine is so strong that it turns my stomach. Cobwebs and dust cover nearly every surface, and several of the pews have been overturned.
There are a few men in suits sitting in some of the upright pews towards the front of the church. All heads turn as they hear the clicking of our heels on the wooden floors, and I feel as though they are all completely fixated on me.
“What is the meaning of this,” a man calls to Karyan from the alter as he stands. His stature and presence remind me a great deal of Sal. He is tall, both his hair and well-trimmed beard salt and pepper in color. And he is impeccably well dressed, in a suit that probably costs as much money as I would make in a couple of months.
Ignoring his question, Karyan continues to walk towards the alter at the front of the church. Although it has become obvious that I am not welcome here, I continue to walk behind her while trying to maintain her quick pace.
“Father,” Karyan’s voice dry as she speaks.
“Karyan,” he nods at her before gesture lavishly at me, “I ask again, what is the meaning of this?”
“The meaning of what,” her voice still dry as she attempts to be coy.
“You are well aware that this is a meeting for family. Bringing outsiders is not accepted,” he begins to reach for what I can only assume is a gun inside of his suit jacket.
“She is family,” Karyan retorts to him, resulting in an immediate look of confusion on his face. His hand retreats from his jacket with a gun. Relief washes over me when he holds it to his side instead of pointing it at me.
“The fuck she is,” he spits back, “I’ve never seen this bitch in my life. She is not a part of this family.”
“That’s where you are wrong father,” her voice dry and cold again, “she is family. In fact, she is the future of this family.”
