Chapter 4 Kazi
Kazi
“Open the door!” The loud words came from Kazi’s left. The adjoining hotel doors.
“No! Go the fuck away!” Kazi yelled back. He lowered his voice realizing his mistake. “I told you I don’t want any part of this.”
“Right. Fucking. Now.” Emilio’s voice turned cool.
Kazi tightened his hand into a fist, the other reaching for the adjoining door. As soon as he opened it, Emilio was on him.
Dropping them to the ground, the air whooshed from Kazi’s lungs, his vision blurring.
Emilio glared down at him, a knife pressing into Kazi’s neck. “What changed? We agreed. I will release you after tomorrow night.”
Kazi screwed his eyes shut, ignoring the cool metal digging into his skin. “She’s pregnant, Emilio. Yara is pregnant.”
The weight was lifted off of Kazi as Emilio jumped to his feet.
“You are all idiots,” Emilio stated.
Kazi focused his attention on the man standing over him, offering him a hand. He didn’t want to take it.
But he did.
Emilio. His boss. The leader of this town. The head of their family. In the flesh. His cool caramel eyes flickered with annoyance.
“I’m going to the reunion, I want to see her tonight. To make sure nothing happens. This town is filled with scum.”
Kazi didn’t dare react to the humor he found in Emilio’s words. The irony. “You can’t hurt her.”
Emilio’s gaze sharpened, his lips lifting to bare his teeth as he straightened, posturing over Kazi. “You do not dare tell me what to do. You had one fucking job. Keep her best friend safe.”
“Yara is safe,” Kazi whispered uneasily. Emilio had always terrified Kazi, but beneath it was a deep respect. Gratitude. Kazi would be dead if it weren’t for Emilio. And they both knew it.
“She’s not.” Emilio regarded him with a long intense gaze. “There is more going on behind the scenes than I originally suspected. I have to confirm, but Mateo needs to stay by Yara’s side.”
Anxiety expanded in Kazi’s lungs, threatening to suffocate him. “And James?”
Emilio let loose a humorless laugh. “Yes, I know all about who he is. I don’t want Isa to know about him until I deem it safe. When they are reunited, it will hurt her.”
“Izzy deserves to know.” Kazi rolled his bottom lip between his teeth. “I don’t understand how you can possibly think this will end well. We are both filled to the brim with lies.”
Emilio’s arm snapped up, his hand finding its way to Kazi’s throat. “Do not speak her name.”
Kazi didn’t fight him. He knew that this was a tantrum and waited for it to play out.
“Now ready the car, we need to make it to the reunion to keep an eye on things. And tomorrow, I will need the church set up for our wedding.”
Kazi didn’t speak. He wanted to scream at Emilio, tell him how psychotic this plan was. Fucking Izzy without her knowing it was him? Forcing her to fulfill her side of a marriage pact that was ten years in the making?
But unfortunately, Kazi couldn’t take on that problem too.
“What about James’s silent partner? The one who owned the apartment above Yara’s?”
Emilio dropped his hold on Kazi’s neck, releasing a sigh. “I sent Logan to gather more information, but I’m afraid if I’m correct…well, this is all going to go to shit. Now let’s go.”
Kazi wanted to interrogate Emilio, but he knew when the man was done providing helpful information.
Yara’s face flashed in his mind.
Kazi would do as Emilio wanted and then he would be done with this, once and for all.