AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ruslan pulled Xava away before we had dinner, and now, dinner is over. Emily and Amelia brought over some American food. Pork BBQ sandwiches with coleslaw, potato salad, pineapple baked beans, lobster mac and cheese, and southern-style green beans.
I’ve been to America a few times, but I haven’t ever had Southern food. I usually end up going for seafood or steak whenever I’m there. The ladies really blew me away. I figured they’d have chefs at their homes, and maybe they do, but they know how to cook. I’ll give them that.
The entire dinner went very well, and there wasn’t one person who spoke up against me. I knew I was a family friend before I started dating Xava, but ever since I’ve gotten close to her, I’ve felt like there’s been a change between us all. Nothing has changed on my part. I still have the same respect for them as I always have, but they don’t. They’re like wolves waiting at the edge of the forest to attack someone getting too close to their baby wolf. That’s the best way I can describe the way things are.
All the women are packing up the leftover food and washing the dishes in Xava’s kitchen. Lom, Nazyr, and Santos are keeping the children preoccupied, and I’m in the living room making conversation with the group of men. Ruslan’s standing a few feet from me, leaning against the wall. I can feel his eyes boring into me, and the longer I stand here and chat with the guys, the more I feel like Ruslan has something he wants to say to me.
“Are you going to keep staring at me like that all night, or do you want to have an actual fucking conversation?” I’m not trying to be so confrontational, but if he has something to say, he needs to damn well say it.
“I’m a little curious to know if your father’s aware that you’re seeing my sister.” Ruslan’s dark eyes are gauging my reaction.
I nod and take a sip of my Chechen wine that the women served with dinner. “He does.”
“How does he feel about it? Wasn’t he looking for a Greek woman for you?” I guess Ruslan does really know everything. There have always been rumors that he has eyes and ears everywhere. I’ve just never paid much attention to them.
I scoff and smirk. “Yeah, he was. He tried setting me up with Zoe Drakos.”
Ruslan nods, seeming impressed. “The Drakos family is the second largest powerful family in Greece. It would have been a good match.”
“It would have if I wanted it to be. I put my foot down because I won’t be forced into a marriage that I don’t want.”
“I can imagine he handled that well.” The sarcasm is thick in his tone.
“He didn’t. He tried to put a wedge between me and her by making her not feel worthy enough to be by my side. Xava is more than worthy, and she’s the one I want. I’m making that abundantly clear to anyone who questions me.” I can’t express how angry I was when he acted the way he did. I am happy with the way Xava handled herself. She put my father in his place and executed it so eloquently.
“Is that why she called me that night?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Mmm, and she made your father look like a fool, didn’t she?”
“Yes, she surely did.”
Ruslan chuckles. “Good. It’s about damn time someone did. Your father needs to get knocked off his high horse a couple times. It’ll be better for his ever-growing ego.”
My father has a notorious reputation, but it is not anywhere as intense as Ruslan’s. Achilles Galanis is known for his ego and how he acts when other people are around. He likes to throw his weight around and puff his chest out so people know how big and powerful he is, but if you ask me, the men with true power don’t act that way. Why? Because there isn’t a need to. In my opinion, if people try to make a spectacle out of anything, it means that they really don’t have any control over what they say they do.
“You know my father’s always so used to getting his way. He wasn’t going to this time. There was no way in hell I was going to let him. Speaking of, have you found anything out about what happened in Greece?” It’s been eating away at me that we haven’t gotten any definitive news. I want to know what transpired. If Ruslan feels like something happened in Greece, it makes me wonder if my father had anything to do with it. He does want me to be with Zoe Drakos and not Xava, so I wouldn’t put anything past him.
“My people are still trying to figure it out.” Ruslan presses his lips together in a firm line and doesn’t seem happy about the status of the investigation.
“Do you think you know who’s behind the attack?” I really want to know if he thinks it is my father or not.
“I think it’s Julio Ramirez. He’s the one who has the most motive to want to hurt my family in any way right now. He still feels burned by everything that’s happened, and word on the street is that he wants his revenge. He might try and get it, but I’ll be damned if that two-faced son of a bitch is successful.”
I don’t know why, but I want to get involved. Maybe it’s because I’m dating Xava now, and an attack against her family is an attack against her. I want my contacts to keep an eye out and see what they hear or know about already. “Do you have any plans on how you will deal with him?”
Ruslan takes a sip of his drink and then nods. “An idea came to me earlier this evening, actually. I’d like to hire you directly to take out Julio. Everyone knows you’re the best in the business, and you’ve never missed a target. I want to make sure he’s dead. I want to make sure he won’t be sneaking around a corner trying to harm my loved ones. We have wives, children, and there isn’t time to screw around anymore. There’s no margin for error.”
“Consider it done.”
“How is your fee running these days? It’s been a minute since I’ve hired anyone from the Organization, but I assume your fee will be much higher than the others.”
“You’re not paying me for this one, Ruslan.”
He draws his brows together and cocks his head slightly. “Why not?”
“I’m dating your sister. Julio is just as much a threat to her as he is to the rest of you. I’m not going to let anything happen to her, and now that you’ve told me who I need to be going after, this is a piece of cake. I am curious, though, do you not think Duarte’s family could be part of the problem?” As soon as I ask this, Lom looks over at his brother, almost like these are his thoughts as well.
