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Ambros
I can’t hide the shit-eating grin spreading across my face. Xava’s blown me away by coming out of her shell and putting both my father and Zoe in their place.
“That’s not possible. There are only four Umarova children,” my father points out, and Zoe begins laughing.
“What in the hell are you laughing at?” Xava asks, her tone proving how aggravated she’s becoming.
“Achilles is right. It’s not possible.” Zoe shakes her head a couple of times and then looks directly at me. She widens her eyes. “She’s obviously a crazed lunatic, Ambros. How can’t you see that?”
Xava pulls her cell phone from her small clutch purse, and I glance at the screen. She calls Ruslan and puts the phone on speaker. My father will be able to recognize his voice, and I know the second he hears it, he’s going to be very, very confused.
“Xava, everything okay?” Ruslan immediately questions, voice full of concern.
“Mmm, it will be in a second. Achilles Galanis and Zoe…”
Xava obviously seems to be waiting for someone to tell her Zoe’s last name, so I fill her in. “Drakos.”
“Zoe Drakos seem to think that I’m not your sister and that I’m a weak woman who doesn’t belong by Ambros’ side.” I know her family isn’t exactly keen on me seeing her, though Ruslan and I do have mutual respect for one another. It happens after years of running in the same social circles, plus I purchase a lot of product from him in order to do my job correctly.
“Ah, noted. I’ll cancel any contracts I have going with the Drakos or Galanis family to send a message,” Ruslan declares, and the look on Zoe and my father’s faces is laughable. Zoe’s eyes are wide, and she swallows hard while my father glares at me like I’ve done this. If he and Zoe had just left Xava and I to ourselves, none of this would have happened. This is karma in its finest form.
“I didn’t mean any offense by what I said.” Zoe is quick to try and save her ass, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. She’s too far gone at this point.
“I’m sure you only meant to be offensive by what you said, Zoe, and that’s why I won’t be doing any more business with your family. You were disrespectful to my sister, and it’s the last thing I’ll tolerate,” Ruslan speaks up, standing up for Xava.
“I’m sure we can fix this,” Zoe’s quick to say. Meanwhile, my father looks between me and Xava as if I should say something to smooth over his error. He and Zoe got themselves in hot water, so I refuse to be the man giving them the life jacket to get out of it. This is exactly why people shouldn’t make assumptions. Though, I am glad that Linus didn’t run back to our father and tell him who I was seeing. If he had told our father, he wouldn’t have walked into this situation. I have a front-row seat to him pissing off someone who he’d like to do more business with, and man, I am loving his discomfort.
“No, there is no fixing it. I don’t give anyone another opportunity to disrespect my family. Xava, I’ll speak with you later. Have a good time while you’re in Greece.”
“I will. I’ll text you in a little while,” Xava tells her brother before she ends the call.
My father swallows hard and looks right at Xava. “I apologize for doubting what you said. I don’t know if you’d find it possible to explain to your brother that I—”
“No,” Xava cuts him off.
“I’m sorry?”
“You want me to tell my brother you didn’t know who I was, and that’s why you spoke to me in the manner you did. What you want me to do is rebuild the bridge you just burned, and I refuse to do it. No one should speak to someone like the two of you just did, and I wouldn’t be surprised if my brother never renewed the contracts he had with your families. You both acted like schoolyard bullies, and man, how old are the two of you? How embarrassing.”
I slide my arm around Xava’s waist and pull her closer to me, having a complete “that’s my girl” moment. “Maybe we should get out of here?” I suggest, and Xava nods.
“Yeah, I think that would be great,” Xava says, and within a moment, I have a hold of her hand, and we’re walking away. Neither of us bother saying a thing to Zoe or my father. As we walk around the crowds of people, I spot my brother near the bar, sipping on a drink. He smirks at me and raises his glass while I give him a chin lift. I appreciate his loyalty and understand why he puts himself in the middle all the time. He’s trying to keep this family together so it doesn’t blow up in all our faces, yet one day, I think it will happen. I don’t want it to, but our father has to constantly meddle and stir up trouble. At some point, Linus will reach his breaking point, too.
We’re in Elia now, and my home is in Ornos, which is close to the hustle and bustle. All the tourists go through Ornos and the surrounding areas. Because of this, there are plenty of places to eat, but Xava’s made it apparent she wants to experience a lot of Greek cuisine while she’s here.
There’s one place specifically that I think she’ll enjoy called Porto Ornos Greek Cuisine. It’s not far from the beach, and patrons can enjoy their dinner on the beach in Ornos. This is what we’re going to do, and we leave my father’s estate. Rolando and my driver must have been close because they were both a couple of feet behind us as we left the party.
We all get in the vehicle and drive over to Ornos. I tell my driver where we’re going, and the trek isn’t too long at all. “Where are we headed?” Xava asks.
“We’re going to a Greek restaurant that I think you’re going to enjoy.”
“Ooooh, perfect.” There’s a flare of excitement in Xava’s eyes, and that’s what I want to see. Now, I did like seeing the side of her that I saw when we were at my father’s estate. I don’t think anyone can get away with calling her weak. Xava is anything but that. For fuck’s sake, she’s a fucking Umarova. Weakness is the one trait none of them have.
We arrive at the restaurant, and I go over to the hostess station and let her know we’d like to eat on the beach. The sun has already set at this point, and they have small fairy lights hanging through their outdoor eating area. I get a table for Xava and myself, then one for Rolando and my driver so they can enjoy some food as well.
The hostess takes us over to our tables, which aren’t too far away from each other, yet they’re far enough away to give both of us privacy. I haven’t been here in a couple of months, and it seems that they’ve updated their decor. The tables and chairs look newer, plus their linens aren’t what they used to be. Now they’re a blue and white checkered pattern. Throughout Greece, you will see restaurants and businesses using our country’s colors. We are proud to be from the best country on Earth.
Sparkling water is brought to us, and I order a bottle of their best wine to accompany our meal.
