Page 161 of The Umarova Crime Family

Santos chuckles. “You should take your hand away from the snake before it bites you.”

“Think of it this way. I keep snakes in their enclosure until I’m ready to part with them. Your father did mention to me that you betrayed him.”

Santos smirks and shakes his head. “I didn’t betray him. I walked away from the situation being placed at my feet.” Santos might be trying to make it sound better, but he did go against his father. He went against everything his father wanted him to do and, in turn, became loyal to my sister and our allies. It was a good decision for Santos, but it ruined everything his father was trying to achieve.

I know now more than ever there’s no way I’m going to let Duarte leave this exhibition today. He’s loyal to Santos’ father, Julio, and we already know Duarte has a lot of manpower behind him. If we let him live, he’s going to want an all-out war with us, and I’d put my money on the fact he’d try to recruit Julio into his cause.

I doubt he’ll even know what we’re going to do tonight. I doubt he’ll even get a call that we’ve raided his estate or that his children are gone… but I want him to know what we’ve done before I take his life from him. I want him to look into my eyes and pray that they’re going to be okay. Now, I’d never harm a child… but Duarte doesn’t know that. He might think he knows me, but he doesn’t. He thinks he knows who I am. He thinks he knows how my mind works… but again, he doesn’t.

“Meryem, look at you, baby girl.” Amelia, Ruslan’s wife, comes walking up, and Meryem holds her hands out to my sister-in-law. Amelia takes Meryem into her arms and smiles brightly at her. Eset has her eyes on her little girl, smiling brighter than I’ve ever seen. Eset might not realize it, but motherhood has been good for her.

“Do you have any pieces that others haven’t had the pleasure of seeing?” Duarte asks, and Eset nods.

“Yes, I have a few pieces downstairs that I didn’t have enough space for in the show. Would you want to see them?” Eset asks Duarte.

“I’d love that. Thank you.”

“Of course. Come on, I’ll show you what I have.”

Duarte and I follow Eset toward the back of the gallery, and then we head to a doorway that has an electronic pin pad on it. She punches in some numbers, and the door clicks open. We follow her down the stairs, and I shut the door behind me. Once we’re at the bottom of the stairs, we open up to a massive space. It’s nothing special, just concrete floors and walls, but there are paintings scattered around the area on large canvases.

“It’s a shame none of these were able to be in your show. This one especially.” Duarte points to another abstract painting. This one is a mixture of deep purple hues and oranges.

He’s busy talking about this painting, telling my sister he wants to purchase this one. But he adds that he’d like to continue walking around the space to see if there’s any more that catch his eye. Meanwhile, Eset looks right at me.

There’s no fucking way he’s leaving this place alive.

Duarte is going to pay for what he’s done, and he’s going to pay greatly for it all.

Chapter Eighteen

Mona

This has been such a long time coming, and I’m finally at the tail end of it. I’m currently in Portugal with Lom and his team of trained mercenaries. We’re only a few minutes away from Duarte’s estate, and I’m anxiously awaiting the moment we step foot on the property. I can practically hear their voices in the back of my mind. That’s how close we are to reuniting me with my baby girls.

“Are you ready for this?” Lom questions me, pulling me out of my internal thoughts.

“I’m as ready as I’m going to be,” I reply and swallow hard. I need this to go well. I need to get my girls and get them to safety. Duarte split us up, but he isn’t going to succeed in keeping us separated. Not in the slightest bit.

“All right. I know I haven’t told you much about how this is going to happen, and I appreciate your understanding of why I’ve been so hush-hush on the matter. Basically, we’re waiting another ten minutes for the shift change at Duarte’s estate. Once the first shift leaves, we’ll go right in. About seventy-five percent of the team is going to be in stealth mode, sneaking up on Duarte’s people and taking them by surprise. We and one another vehicle will drive right up to the gates. We already have the car seats for the girls in here. Mine and your goal are to find the girls and get them in the car as quickly as possible. Once we get them in, we roll out and let the rest of the team deal with things as they see fit. Understand?”

I lick my lips nervously and nod. “The way you make it sounds seems so simple, but I know it won’t be when it’s actually happening.”

Lom cackles lightly. “You’re right. When it’s happening, it’ll be much different. You’re probably going to feel like you’re walking right into an action movie.”

If that isn’t a cruel awakening that there’s a lot of danger associated with this, I don’t know what is. “I’m sure we can handle whatever is thrown our way.” I’m trying to be supportive and think positively, and I hope Lom sees it.

“Trust me, we’ve gotten out of worse situations. This is going to be a piece of cake.”

Lom’s reassurance does little to actually make me feel better at this moment. My stomach is tightening up from anxiety and the need to see my children.

All I can do is nod at him and act like I believe every single word he’s saying, but I have to be a little bit realistic. I don’t think this will go according to plan, but my entire life has been a big joke when I really think about it. I guess my slight pessimism is because of what I’ve had to live through these last few years.

We wait another few minutes, and then Lom’s driver pulls out of the alleyway we’ve been parked in. The other two cars that came with us hadn’t been near us for the last half an hour. Sure enough, the driver punches in the code at the gate, and the gates open. He drives up the driveway and heads to the parking area. Everyone gets out of the vehicle in record time. Lom told me earlier today to stay behind him and match his movements. Basically, I need to be his shadow, so that’s what I’m going to be.

Every time Lom makes a step, I do the same thing. He has his gun drawn, and we’ve already run into one person on Duarte’s team before we even hit the front door. “I don’t know who the fuck you think you are, but you’d better leave now before my boys get here,” the man tells Lom.

Now, I can’t see Lom’s face… but I almost guarantee there’s a smirk on it. “If you want to live, you’ll start running.”

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