I plan on having a talk with my sister about how to get her to that point, but I know that, like my brother, she’d most likely tell me it’s going to take time. Somehow I don’t think I have that. If my reaction to her keeps being this strong, there’s no guarantee that I’ll be able to give her the space to grow and accept that she needs. I’ve been fighting that shit since we met as it is. And if my reaction now is anything to go by, my little Asian doll is in for a hell of a ride.
It took me a few seconds to settle myself enough to start looking for her, and I started with the room she’d slept in the night before. Finding it empty only helped to raise my blood pressure some until I heard the slight din of voices coming from somewhere down the hallway that led to the other side of the ground floor of the mansion that seemed to go on forever with its many twists and turns.
I hadn’t had time to investigate all the rooms yet. Just enough to make sure that my family was safe here. Not that I needed to, it looks like everyone had brought their own private security team along with them, which meant there were roughly about a hundred people on the island at the moment. That’s not counting what the hell else Mancini has going on here.
I followed the voices and came up short in the doorway to what appeared to be a state of the art lab. She looked amazing in the little orange dress with some kind of yellow flower bordering the hem. It was fitted at the waist and flowed outward at the hips while cupping her breasts in a way that drew the eye. I better remember to get her one of my button-downs to throw over it before we have a situation.
Her hair was down around her shoulders instead of the usual ponytail, and her raw beauty just took my breath away. I was so focused on her that it took me a second or two to follow the thread of the conversation going on between her and Lyon’s kid. I didn’t see the dog that had been with her upstairs not long ago and figured she’d ditched him while I made a slight detour to check in with my sister.
They didn’t notice me standing just outside the doorway, and I listened in now in shock at what these two were up to. I know those men upstairs, especially Gideon, think that their women are these meek little stay-at-home moms whose only interest is in their kids and the latest designer handbag or some such crap, but I know better.
I’ve caught Ash more than once up to some shit, and it’s only gotten worse since she met this new crew of females. And if this one is going to be sharing the shit with them that she’s about to with the kid, there’s going to be trouble.
ROXANA
This kid is not normal. How the heck she talked me into teaching her how to fight first before showing me how to build a bomb like she was about to is anyone’s guess; I’m still trying to figure it out myself. “You can teach me the basics, and then I’ll bring Lily-Anna, and you can teach her as well. But first, I have to make sure she won’t get hurt.”
“Aren’t you afraid that you’d get hurt?”
“No!” That’s all she said with that look in her eyes from before. Okay, kid, you’re the boss. Geez, did she get all of her dad’s genes or something? The guy looks like there’s a whole lot more going on behind his eyes, and the way he’d talked me into feeling calm is still a mystery. His kid seems to have inherited his traits and then some.
We stepped away from the table because she insisted that we get started right this second, which I didn’t question because whatever.
“Okay, before we get started, the first thing you need to learn is where to find the pressure points on the body. That way, you can debilitate an opponent with ease.
“Oh, I know those already.”
“Really? Show me.” The kid walked over to a human diagram in the corner of the room that I hadn’t noticed before and marked off each of the twenty-two known pressure points without hesitation. Once again, I found myself wondering just what the hell I was dealing with. Isn’t she eight?
It’s obvious she’s some kind of genius if she’s building bombs and that guy had given her free access to this state of the art lab, but just how smart is she?
“Okay, the thing with Krav Maga is, it can be used to kill, to injure, to maim or to restrain. It all depends on the strength you use. Which one do you want to start with first?” It’s not a question one would usually ask, but I had a feeling and wanted to see how accurate my assessment was.