Page 4 of Shâhzâdeh

He motioned with his head toward a door I could only assume was locked and I just glared at him before turning to it. I wanted time to woo my heart but instead I was here cleaning up this bullshit. To keep the Consortium from rallying their people from all over the world behind this lady, I had to fix it. More than that, I had to restore my family’s good name with the Chisholm-Love family, since Kamran and Reza had both dishonored it with their actions.

With a sneer, I walked toward the door cussin’ his ass out the entire way. I had to take a deep breath to calm myself despite how annoyed I was. The girl on the other side of this door hadn’t been gone long, but there was no telling what the fuck had happened to her since she’d been with them.

Sending up a quick prayer, I braced myself and opened the door. One look at her face had me closing my eyes to keep my patience in check. I opened them, locking eyes with two green spheres trying desperately not to show how scared she was. I glanced back and began to cuss Reza out in Persian before I softened my eyes and spoke to her. It was going to be a long fucking night cleaning up yet another Mahdavi mess.

“Show her that violence is what you do but not who you are.”

Advice that had been spoken to me as I stepped in and assisted another man in securing his forever. Words that his heart had given me as she stood in a field after assuming I’d shed blood. Words I had taken to heart and were attempting to put into practice. But it seemed that the woman I wanted was far harder to please than the Rancher’s girlfriend. Or fiancée. She had watched him beat a man with his bare hands to death for the way he’d wronged her. And had not flinched.

One call to Ori and the woman who’d assisted my cousin in taking her would also be punished. It was an even bigger issue than we’d imagined and Reza’s moves about the world were being tracked to match up with women who were missing. As for the De la Coastas, they were being stripped of their assets and the woman suffering hell in prison. The cartels didn’t enjoy hearing about a woman who looked down on other Mexicans and was a fan of using ICE to her advantage. She’d attempted to ask for solitary confinement, but she’d been denied. The search for women who maybe have been trafficked had been handed over to Dom and Messiah to research. When I’d assisted in improving the infrastructure within my father’s homeland, I hadn’t been dumb enough to offer it altruistically. There were always conditions with my generosity with them. I paid Dom’s fee and only charged the government for the bare necessities. Having a connection through your favorite cousin on your mother’s side that had been hacking since he was in elementary school came in handy. I had eyes and ears everywhere in Iran. That forethought would come in handy to see if women were there who shouldn’t be. And it ensured that any potential threats against me and the few members of my family I actually liked could be thwarted with ease.

“Xerxes, not that I don’t mind you being here…”

I looked at Frankie who was carrying my nephew around like he wasn’t almost half as big as she was. Despite not having lost all her baby weight, Frankie was still a very slender woman. Quad was clearly taking after his highlander father because he was almost a ten-pound baby and had to be double that now at barely three months.

I’d come to their home in Carolina Falls for one reason: hope. Liam and Francesca shouldn’t be happy based on where they were in each other’s lives a year ago. But they were happily married, the vows they took in Scotland reaffirmed through a ceremony last year and had a happy daughter and newborn son. If they could go from hate to love within a few months after how they’d hurt one another, I surely had a chance.

“Should you be carrying him around, Frankie?”

She stopped walking and glanced down at the wispy brown-haired baby boy. Even now it was clear the ends of his hair were going to lighten up just like his father’s and sister’s. “Are you calling my baby fat?”

I raised my hands laughing because she seemed to take great offense to my concern. “Never. Although I zhink he is going to be a very tall boy.”

She rolled her eyes and continued to maneuver around the kitchen island with the grown man she called a baby snuggled down in her baby wrap. “No worse than Jada. She told me he was fat and that my titty milk had to be a combo of butter and cream.”

“Wallah,she is a menace. He is a big boy, zhough. I am surprised you do not have a constant ache in your back.”

Her brows furrowed and she looked even more annoyed with me than before. “I never said I didn’t. But it’s what happens when you end up with a giant kid. Speaking of, when are you going to put a baby in my sister’s belly so that these kids can have some cousins?” Her playful annoyance had turned into a serious command and I found it laughable that she was putting this at my feet.

“Isn’t Bhaltair having twins?” I quirked my brow forcing her to roll her eyes in annoyance.

“Is. But they split their time in Nan Cuan far more than we do. We gotta have a cousin variety pack to choose from.”

I barked a laugh at her imagery knowing she meant every word of it. “Cousin variety pack. Like we are boxes of flavored Quaker Oatmeal to pull out zhe cupboard.”

She stopped stirring whatever was in the pot as she looked at me in surprise. “I’m shocked you know about that.”

“I will have to tell Babette—”

She sucked her teeth and went back to stirring. “I’ll raise your Babette a Safi. Quiet crazy versus the lady who likes to shoot people. Now stop playing with me. You need me to be your wing woman.”

“I should not, but I can’t help zhat your words are true. I try not to come on too strong, but it is obvious she’s not interested.”

“I don’t agree with that.”

My heart skipped again at her words. “Do you know somezing?”

“I know that my friend is hurt. That she is trying her hardest not to show interest because of how badly she was hurt before.” She rubbed the top of her son’s head as she spoke soothing him back to sleep.

“I guess I see you here with Liam happy and I imagine if you could give zhe person who hurt you another chance, surely she can give me one as a stranger. I only want zhe best for her.”

That was the confusing part. I liked that she wasn’t a woman easily won, but every time I saw her, she seemed to want to move further away from me instead of closer together. Small talk, business talk, none of it really interested her, but it was all I had to keep her entertained when we were playing with the children or in a group together. Otherwise, it was as if my presence was a nuisance.

“That’s the difference. I’d seen the best from Liam. Received it. Understood what it looked and felt like. I knew when he didn’t send his mother or his sister to find me that his love was covering me. Even when we were apart.” She’d pointed her spoon at me to emphasize her point, but I still had more questions.

“So you weren’t angry?”

“The fuck? Who said that?” She whipped her head around her long braid almost shaking free from Quad’s chubby fingers. He had been holding onto it as though it was what helped soothe him to sleep.

---