Page 237 of The Umarova Crime Family

Now, I feel like an idiot because I left Xava by herself. After what happened with Ruslan’s plane, I should know to be more careful… but I figured my father stopped his dumb games. Now I’m not so sure. Why would anyone send me texts and call me under the guise that it was Linus’ phone other than to hurt her in some way?

“Fuck. I’m on my way. Meet me there,” Rolando states before he hangs up the phone.

I continue driving like a maniac until I finally pull up in front of the villa. Most of the lights are off inside, but through the front door, I can see some illumination from the piece of glass above the door.

I use my key and push the door open, grabbing my gun from the back of my pants and holding it in front of me. I drop my key back in the pocket of my pants and scan the area, assessing the situation. Nothing seems to be out of place, and it’s eerily quiet.

“Xava, where are you?” I call out, still feeling like something isn’t right. I can’t put my finger on it, but I have a gut feeling.

“We’re in your bedroom, sweetheart,” a woman’s voice calls back to me, but it isn’t Xava. I think I know who it is… but I can’t be too sure.

I walk through the villa and enter the bedroom to find Xava on the bed and Zoe sitting in a chair on the opposite side of the room. She has a gun pulled out, aiming it right at Xava. “What in the fuck are you doing here?” I ask Zoe, having a hard time holding back my anger. I know if I act too furious right now, I might inadvertently put Xava at more risk. I have to be careful with how I speak to Zoe, even if I don’t want to.

“What do you think? I’m getting rid of your little fucking problem.” Zoe drags her eyes up and down Xava, who’s sitting on the bed. Her hands are shaking, and I know she’s absolutely terrified. “Your father and my father already set up an arrangement. One that will benefit my family greatly. I’m not just going to let you ruin it because you think you’ve found yourself something special. Look at her… could she really be special? She’s pathetic. She’s weak. She is nothing.”

“You’re telling me Xava is all those things, but it’s quite the contrary. You’re weak for not standing up to your father. You can’t honestly say that you want to marry me, Zoe. From what I heard, you have a little boy toy in Spain you visit every couple of weeks. Has that changed?”

Zoe rears her head back in surprise like I shouldn’t have known that information. “How do you know about that?”

“I have eyes and ears everywhere,” I comment, looking at Xava briefly before I turn my attention back to Zoe. “What was the plan? Were you keeping him, or did you cut him off completely?”

“We created an arrangement so I could make this marriage work.”

I lick my bottom lip and nod. “Did you think I’d really let him live if we were going through with this? That I’d let you slip off and fuck your little boyfriend while we were married? No. I would’ve visited him and ensured he suffered a slow, miserable death. Why is it you want this marriage to go through so badly, Zoe? There has to be some sort of reason.”

“My father is ruining the Drakos name. In doing so, he’s taking me down with him, and I don’t want to be part of a sinking ship. I need to become a Galanis. It’s the only thing that will protect me. The only fucking thing. He’s turning our people against us, and if I’m a Galanis, I think the people will see I have seen my father’s bad ways and made my own choice to leave it and him behind in a sense.”

“You and I both know this isn’t going to work. You don’t just get to come here and try to kill my girlfriend or even threaten her, for that matter. I understand the position you’re in, Zoe, but do you realize what you’ve done?”

“I need to get out, Ambros. Please, I can’t stay there… I can’t be taken down by what my father plans to do. He will be the death of me.”

“You’re going to bring death right to your doorstep, not your father,” Xava says out of nowhere, looking right at Zoe.

It’s almost like Zoe forgot she was here. “Sorry, what?”

“You came here threatening to kill me, waving a gun around in my face, and you expect Ambros to help you? That’s insanity right there.”

“You wouldn’t understand. Underneath the surface, Ambros is a great man, and if he’s so sure about marrying you, then he has no other choice but to help me. I was thrown into this engagement because of our fathers. The least he can do is help me get out of it or find something better.”

“It’s not my responsibility to help you at all.”

“Yes, it is.” Zoe scoffs and rolls her eyes.

“No, it isn’t. Especially after you said you might keep me around just to torture me, then let me go at some point.” Xava looks right at me. “She said she’d wait around until I was happy again and then pick my children off like pigs going to slaughter. That she’d slit their throats right in front of me.”

What kind of sick person says these sorts of things?

Zoe is looking right at me, completely distracted by what Xava just admitted to me. In that time, Xava lunges for Zoe. She grabs a sharp crystal from the bedside table and slams it down on her forehead as soon as Zoe’s on the ground. I rush over and grab the gun from Zoe’s hand so she can’t fire it at us. Luckily, I’m able to free it from her grip… but as I’m doing so, I watch Xava slam this crystal down on Zoe’s face over and over again.

The first hit must have taken her out because she hasn’t moved since. I give Xava a minute, but Zoe is gone. She isn’t coming back, and she isn’t ever going to hurt Xava or anyone again.

I place a hand on Xava’s shoulder in an attempt to bring her back to reality. “Xava, it’s okay. You’re safe now,” I whisper lowly, wanting her to know everything is okay. She’s okay, and she needs to believe that.

Her hands tremble, and she drops the bloody crystal on the ground. Falling back against the bedframe, she begins sobbing. “I… I d-don’t know w-why I just d-did that.”

“Yes, you do. She was a threat to your life, and you know it. Zoe wasn’t going to walk out of here anyway. The only way she was leaving was in a body bag, just like she will now.”

The front door clicks open and closed, and a set of feet rushes toward us. Rolando appears in the doorframe of the bedroom and looks down upon the bloody sight before us. His eyes drift to Xava, and concern washes over him. “Is she hurt?”

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