Gemma's POV:
"What's going on?" I asked, setting down my purple crayon. Damian shushed me, but didn't stop watching Tobias and the other man's conversation. Tobias didn't look too happy, so I guessed that something went wrong.
Tobias dismissed the man after a few minutes of speaking.
The door shut with a thud that sent my stomach plummeting to my feet.
"Do we need to leave again?" Zion asked, all business. Tobias shook his head, sending a hand through his hair with a huff.
"No, we're safe here. The idiot who just came in here was telling me that the Ukrainians went back to the house in a second wave, still looking for us. My men scared them away. And then one of my men figured out that the new attackers weren't Ukrainians." Tobias explained, rolling his eyes. His nonchalant attitude was kinda freaking me out.
"Is no one worried about the fact that several people have tried to kill you in the last few days?" I asked, raising a hand like I was in school.
Tobias chuckled, shaking his head.
Forgive me for being cautious.
"Honey, I'm on top for a reason. These guys aren't that big of a deal." Tobias waved my worries away. I bit my bottom lip, not so sure of my family's safety, but accepted it anyways.
Why did I have a feeling I would regret this? Oh yeah, because the other shoe was always destined to drop.
"Who were they?" Sinclair asked, crossing his arms across his chest. He was leaning against a wall, his ankles crossed. He didn't look bothered, just curious.
"They were organized like a cartel. Sounded like a Mexican Cartel, but I can't be sure." Tobias said.
I tensed up. I prayed no one saw my change of attitude. The last thing I needed was for them to ask me any questions about how and why I knew members of a Mexican drug cartel. That wouldn't be a fun story to explain.
"What the hell is a cartel doing bothering you? I thought you scared them all off your territory years ago?" Zion piped up, cocking his head as his eyebrows furrowed. I froze, my joints stiff with the hope that Tobias had some type of beef with a cartel he hadn't mentioned yet.
I really hoped these weren't the guys after me.
That would be hard to explain.
"I thought I did too. Apparently they have more balls than I originally gave them credit for." Tobias shrugged, still looking unconcerned by this new problem. I watched each brother carefully, gauging their individual reactions to the news.
I needed to know what they thought before spilling my guts.
"You gonna talk to them or just send your men after them?" Damian asked, moving a dagger almost fluidly through his fingers. It was amazing to watch. But what was funny was how easily they adjusted to me knowing about them.
I said I knew about their lives outside of being brothers, and they started talking freely around me and waving deadly weapons around.
"They already attacked my home. There's not going to be much of a discussion." Tobias promised with a dark chuckle. My eyes widened at the sound. I'd never heard my brother sound so dangerous.
"They know who you are, I know they do. So why would they take such a large risk, such as attacking your home? They know this could lead to a war." Sinclair pointed out, rubbing his chin in thought.
I kept my lips tightly sealed together.
There were some secrets that my brothers just didn't need to know about.
"I have no idea. But, I'm planning to find out." Tobias said with such conviction I didn't doubt him for a second. Him finding out worried me immensely. There were some things about my life I didn't want my brothers finding out about.
"Are you sure that's a great idea?" I blurted. I felt the need to throw myself off a roof about three seconds later, but I refrained.
"What do you mean?" Tobias asked, arching an eyebrow at me.
I gulped.
"I just mean that, maybe, if you leave it alone they'll go away?" I said, but it came out as an unsure question.
Tobias laughed.
"That's not exactly how that works." Tobias said. I nodded, agreeing with him instantly.
I didn't need to be pulled into a conversation about what I said and why I seemed so anxious about this. Perhaps they thought I was worried for everyone's safety? I mean, it would make sense.
"Why are you so distressed? It's not like we'll let anything happen to you." Sinclair assured me, a small smirk on his face. I wasn't sure how to answer. I hated being unsure of things, because usually I knew exactly what to do and what to say.
"People could get hurt. You could get hurt." I said, shooting each of them a pointed look. Damian cooed at me and tried to pinch my cheeks. I brushed his hands away, smiling a bit even though my cheeks hurt a bit.
"We'll be fine. We've had plenty of enemies to fight before. This time won't be any different." Damian shrugged, flipping the dagger from hand to hand. I watched him for a minute or two, distracted by the grace in which he did so.
"There are certain factors you're not evaluating to their full extent." I pointed out, still watching the glinting metal.
I almost missed Tobias's shocked expression that quickly turned back into his somewhat amused one.
"And those would be?" Zion asked, an impressed twinkle in his eyes.
"Mainly me." I said, finally tearing my gaze away from Damian's impressive knife tricks. He smiled at me gently, before launching the knife across the room. The knife stuck deep in the wall, the hilt barely even quivering due to the force of the throw.
Remind me to never get on Damian's bad side.
"You?" Sinclair asked, uncrossing his arms.
"Yeah, me. Are you forgetting that your biggest weakness is family? Anyone who has half a working neuron knows that. And it's probably going around that you found your long lost sister, who is young and doesn't know how to defend herself." I said, flipping through my coloring book for an empty page.
There was silence as I found a picture of a turtle I was naming Bill. Bill was going to be purple.
"We already have bodyguards set up for you when you go to school. Where you go, they'll follow. Would you like self-defense classes on top of that?" Tobias asked, genuinely curious. I hadn't realized that Tobias already had bodyguards set up for me.
"I tried taking self-defense classes before. It didn't work out." I shuddered at the memories. I'd ended up with more bruises and bumps than my instructor had. And my instructor wasn't even hitting me.
I just kept falling.
Talk about embarrassing.
"Hey, Gemma, on the off chance, do you speak Spanish?" Zion asked, looking down at his phone with a furrowed brow. I nodded.
"Yeah. What's up?" I asked, walking over to him. He held his phone out to me and I took it, seeing an email.
"Someone sent this to me. I have no idea what it is but I don't speak Spanish." Zion explained easily, waving aside my concern.
A Mexican cartel comes into town and next Zion is getting emails in Spanish? Was I the only one putting two and two together?
I read through it aloud.
"Estimado Sr. Zion, parece que tiene algo que necesitamos. Entregue a la niña y no tendremos ningún problema. Rechaza y sufrirás las consecuencias. Tu edificio es muy grande. Imagine cuánto daño podría hacerse si explotara, inesperadamente. Odiaría que caiga un hito tan hermoso, pero caerá si no lo escuchas. La niña sabe exactamente de qué estamos hablando. Nos encontraremos frente a la Estatua de la Libertad en dos días al mediodía. Si no estás allí, con la chica, tu edificio se derrumbará con un boom. Por favor, no me hagas tomar medidas tan extremas. Sería una pena." I read.
The others were staring at me in confusion.
"What's that mean?" Sinclair asked. I gaped at the phone, my face pale and my jaw moving up and down like a fish.
"They're threatening to blow up Z-Tech."