Page 152 of Merciless Obsession
“No but?—”
“No, none of that. We aren’t here to discuss all that right now.” Mom shut the conversation down. “Cashlynn, how’s my grandbaby doing? You two should know what you’re having by now, correct?”
Nazai and Cashlynn made eye contact. “Well, now that you mentioned it…” Nazai started. “We wanted to wait until everyone was together and there’s no time like the present.” His hand went to her stomach. “We learned that we’re having a baby girl!”
“Finally!” Mom gushed, clapping her hands. Her face lit up. “With having all boys I mourned the missed opportunity of having a girl. As much as I love you all, I always wanted a little girl.”
“Yeah it’s going to be different. I was prepared for a boy, but a little girl is cool too.” Nazai gave a bashful grin and ran his hand over his head.
“Congrats, hijo. Be ready to have your guns ready.” Dad grinned.
“They’re already polished and loaded.” Nazai chuckled.
“I wanted another boy to play with,” Carson pouted.
“Maybe next time.”
Cashlynn whipped her head in my brother’s direction with a balled up face. “Don’t make bullshit promises.”
He chuckled. “I did it once. I can do it again, Wildfire.” He winked, causing Cashlynn’s hardened expression to grow harder.
“And Cashlynn, are you fully prepared to change your life to become a mother?” Dad questioned.
“Why would I have to change my life?” She looked at him like he was speaking Chinese.
“Well, you’re about to be a mother. Certainly you can’t continue going on like you did before your pregnancy.”
“Again, why? Your son wanted this baby, so maybe he should be the one to change.”
“As a mother it will be up to you—” Dad started, this time in Spanish, until Mom’s voice cut in.
“¡Suficiente! We are not going to ruin our first time all getting together. This is a time to celebrate and enjoy each other’s company.” She shot a hard glare in Dad’s direction.
I chuckled. “I know that look, padre. Looks like you’re in trouble.”
¡Tu cállate!” she snapped at me.
I tucked my lips into my mouth to hide the grin threatening to form.
“Carson…” Mom started.
The rest of the evening went peacefully because no one wanted to upset Mom. I was a fearless man but seeing Nora Tavarez mad tested that. She kept the conversation light with questions to get to know Ziora and Inaya.
At the end of the evening, while everyone was preparing to leave, Nazai stopped me and our brothers. “We contacted the number. Emmet was unable to get a location but they gave us a meeting time. Three weeks from now. They’ll send details with the location and time.” His eyes bounced around.
“They sent an encrypted link to communicate on after the initial text was sent. Must be how they keep from being traced. The chat was set to delete fifteen minutes after final contact,” Emmet said.
“It seems they didn’t suspect it wasn’t Winston texting them, so for now we’re good. We’ll come up with a plan to make sure we can get these guys.”
We all agreed.
“While we’re all here, we have a job tonight. We’ll meet at the Barn at eleven and go from there.”
“On Thanksgiving?” I frowned.
“Unfortunately, little brother, the sick fucks we take out don’t take a break just because of a holiday.”
I couldn’t argue with that.
