Page 150 of The Umarova Crime Family

“Yeah. It’s probably good you have one, so I added you to my plan.”

Mona’s staring at the phone in her hand like it’s the world’s largest diamond. “T-thank you so m-much. I… wow.” Her reaction just shows me that Duarte didn’t give her any common decency. He raped and abused her for years, refraining from even giving her a small semblance of normalcy. He probably got his rocks off controlling her the way he did, and it pisses me off to no end.

“No thanks are necessary. I’m just glad you like it. I hate to cut this short, but we need to get going, or we’re going to be late,” I state, and we both head for the front door.

Paulo opens it for us, and he gets behind the wheel of the car parked right in front of my door. Within fifteen minutes, we’re pulling up at Ruslan’s condominium complex and heading up the elevator. Once we get to his floor, we walk straight into his home, and from the looks of it, everyone else is already there.

Ruslan spots Mona first and smirks at me, happy that she’s come with me. Emily is the second to see her. After a few more minutes, Eset walks up to Mona and me, and she has Santos’ hand in her own. “I feel like my brother’s been keeping a secret from me,” Eset states, and Mona looks right at me, unsure if she should speak at all.

“Not a secret. I’ve just kept quiet while Mona adjusted to life here in Grozny. I didn’t need everyone coming over and harassing her, now did I?” I question my sister, and she snickers lightly.

“I don’t harass anyone. I do quite the opposite.” Eset will say whatever she damn well wants, and I know it, so I roll my eyes at my baby sister’s words.

“Dinner’s ready!” Amelia hollers from the dining room area, and we all file in there, taking seats.

Dinner goes very well. Amelia and Emily made some southern food, and I have to say it never disappoints. I’m pretty sure it’s because there’s a lot of butter involved, or maybe it’s because there’s a lot of fried food. Who cares? The only thing that really matters is that it’s fucking delicious.

Within the hour, dinner is over, and the children have gone off to the living area to play. Amelia finishes taking a sip of water and clears her throat, and her eyes fall right on Mona. “So, are you two an item, or what?”

Ruslan practically chokes on his drink, and I look over at Mona, who is staring at me, obviously not knowing what the hell to say. The longer the silence continues, the quicker assumptions are being made by my family members. “To be determined,” I say with a smile and take a sip of the drink in front of me.

Sure, we’ve had sex, but we’re not putting a label on anything. We haven’t even had a conversation about what we are to one another. Maybe we will eventually, but I’m not forcing anything.

“Brother, I need to speak to you for a moment,” Eset states and rises from her seat, motioning for me to follow her. I pat Mona on the leg, knowing she’ll be perfectly fine, and walk into Ruslan’s kitchen, where we’re out of earshot. As soon as I round the corner, Eset’s eyes are practically bugging out of her head.

“What in the actual hell? Why didn’t you tell me about her? What’s going on with you?” There’s a sense of hurt in my sister’s voice, and I can tell. I can see it in her eyes, too, and through that, I know she’s really hurting. “I feel like you’ve changed since we figured out who our father is. It’s almost like you’re a different person.”

“It’s complicated, Eset. I’m just trying to figure out who I am. Anzor not being our father changed a lot—”

“No, it didn’t. It made sense why we never really connected with him in the first place. It didn’t change anything about us, Nazyr. Not a damn thing. You should be talking to me. For fuck’s sake, I’m your sister, and we’re barely talking. We used to speak every single day… and now we don’t.”

“I’m sorry. I’m just trying to figure my life out right now.” I know it’s not what she wants to hear, but I’m doing my best to be honest with her.

“Your excuse is bullshit. You should be talking to me about things, not ignoring my texts and calls, which you’ve been doing over the past couple of weeks. I spoke to Ruslan and told him how frustrated I was, and he told me a bit about Mona and the children.” Eset’s gaze isn’t as angered as it was a few moments ago.

I swallow hard, not knowing where I should take the conversation. It’s not like I’ve been in the doghouse with my sister before.

“I have an idea on how to distract Duarte, given I know about his love for artwork.”

“Oh?” Now it’s getting interesting.

“Yeah. I want to invite him to an exhibition at my gallery. I just need you to find out if the children go with him or if they stay back at his estate to even know if it would be a feasible idea or not.”

My sister might be mad at me, but she’ll still support me in wanting to help Mona get her daughters back. If that isn’t genuine love, I don’t know what is.

Chapter Twelve

Mona

Since the dinner at Ruslan and Amelia’s place, I’ve felt much more at ease. There isn’t a doubt in my mind that I’m in a safe place. Over the course of the last couple of weeks, I had wondered, but I’m glad I stayed. I’m glad because every day, I’m being shown how I’m not in any danger whatsoever.

I couldn’t trust Nazyr at first, but I wasn’t given a choice on whether or not I should go with him. Duarte made it clear that Nazyr was to take me. I wasn’t given the option to stay, and if I had, I know I would’ve been dead by now. Looking back at it, I can see the signs Duarte was getting bored with me. I just didn’t know that was what was happening at the time. I didn’t realize at the time that he was growing bored of me, but if I think long and hard about it, he had been treating me differently ever since I had my miscarriage.

He blamed me for it happening in the first place when he was the one who actually caused it. I often wonder if I hadn’t miscarried, if Duarte would’ve kept me on the estate with him, or if he would’ve traded me in for a newer model after I gave birth. I guess I’ll never really know what he would’ve done. The good thing is that I’m with Nazyr now, and I won’t ever have to fear being abused ever again. I’ve only ever experienced the opposite with Nazyr. He’s been kind to me. He’s been polite. He’s been considerate… he’s just been a decent man. After living life the way I did, I forgot they existed, to be honest.

“You look like you’re up in la la land.” Amelia snickers, and while I don’t know her as well as I know Emily, I do like her. She’s a lot like her cousin, but Amelia seems more outspoken to me. Emily is the quiet one, which was interesting to find out. When you put the two women together, you can see who the social butterfly is, and it’s really Amelia. Emily is a chatterbox, but not quite in the same way.

“I’m just thinking about a few things that have been on my mind for a while,” I comment.

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