Being His

Chapter 25

Ezekiel sat in his plush leather chair, hands steepled under his chin, as he contemplated the report before him. It was a simple report really but the information had been life changing. The report entailed that his woman, his Freyja was the sister of his rival. He felt a mixture of emotions wash over him; surprise and anger. But there was something else too. Something that made him pause. Something that made him wonder if fate was trying to play a trick on him. He had lost his father and found someone he had grown attached to and loved but now he finds out that, that person is the daughter to the man that killed his father. With a sigh, he stood up and paced the floor of his opulent office. He thought back to the first time he'd seen her, how she had captivated him with her beauty and her fiery spirit. He thought of the nights they had spent together, laughing and talking until the early hours of the morning. Then he thought back to the man he had though of as an uncle, the betrayal and loneliness he felt throughout the years. Finally, he thought about how broken Freyja had been when her adopted parents death anniversary arrived. How she cried for hours and how it broke his heart. But the rage of what her father had done overpowered all rational thoughts.

He reached for the phone, hesitating for a moment before dialing the number. It rang for a few minutes before someone answered. "I have something to tell you," he said, his voice stone cold. "Your sister is with me." There was a long silence on the other end of the line before the person finally spoke.

"You're lying." Francis, the son of the man that killed his father.

Ezekiel could almost hear the anger and disbelief in his rival's voice. "I'm not," he replied calmly. "She's here, alive and well but she needs to know she has family" he sighed.

There was another long silence before Francis finally spoke. "How do I know she real? How do I know this isn't a ploy or a setup?".

"Francis, I was with you when you lost Sofia, I saw what you and your parents went through" He reminisced about the time when we found out his sister was kidnapped. Francis and Ezekiel's family were close when both were younger but after that incident, Francis' family cut contact with almost everyone and shut themselves out of the world, both families still corresponded. It was only when Francis was 18 that his father handed his seat down to his son and retreated from the underground world with his wife. At the same time Ezekiel's father was killed and a couple days after he found evidence that it was Francis' father that did the job before he handed over the title to his son. Ezekiel was heartbroken and broke every tie he had with the family, going as far as killing any member that walked into his territory.

"What do you want?".

Ezekiel paused, considering his words carefully. "I want you to meet me at the old abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town tomorrow at noon. We'll discuss this like men." He gave his rival his most reassuring tone. "I'll bring a sample of her hair and you can have it tested".

The next day, the two rivals sat across from each other at a large, wooden table in the center of the dusty warehouse. The air was thick with tension, and both men were armed to teeth. Ezekiel leaned forward, speaking slowly and carefully.

"I hate your family for what your father did to mine and I always will". He stared at Francis "I could have kept her away from you and your family but I knew my father wouldn't want me to tear apart a family, no matter how much they deserved it". He sighed "It's taking everything in me to not shoot you and send your body back to your father so he knows how I felt all these years but I don't want Freyja to find out that I hurt her brother, she's a fighter but tender hearted and I don't want to upset her".

Francis scoffed, "And what makes you think I'd believe that?" Ezekiel stood alerting all of Francis' men, they reached for their conceal weapons but before they could pull them, Ezekiel threw his hand gun onto the table, then another and a knife. Francis watched as the man disarmed himself and motioned to his men to do the same, which they followed.

Francis stared at the man before him "She's my sister?" his tone was soft. Ezekiel saw the emotion in his eyes, Francis may be coldblooded but he was always soft with his family, especially his sister. "Truly?".

Ezekiel nodded "100%". He handed over both the reports he had on his girl "I'll take her to you and you can explain to her what you want. Your sister and I had grown close but I need some space to think".

"Why would you do this?."

"I want what is best for her and being with her family is."

"Does she know?".

"I'm not going to destroy the image of a father to my Freyja, she has been through a lot so we'll keep the bad blood between us, any problem you have regarding the past you bring it up to me." Ezekiel stated "Leave Freyja out of it".

"Freyja, my sister".

"Freyja-Sofia." Francis' head snapped to the documents and saw it was true "I guess Sofia really fits her".

"What about you?".

"Don't worry about me, you never did before" Ezekiel turned his back to man he called his brother once "I just found out the woman I grew attached to is the daughter of the man that killed my father, I can't look at her the same way" he sighed "When I look at her all I see is the product of your father" he looked over his shoulder "I need some time to get accustom to that".