Savage

Chapter 36: Trois, Deux, Un...

One month later...

"You know Olaf has been terrorizing me, whenever I visit your mom," Ronnie complained. "I don't appreciate being harassed by your cat and my wedding is around the corner. I can't have scratches that aren't sex related on my body. What would Javed think?"

"Tsk." I laughed. "He would think that Olaf is giving him a run for his money."

"Haha, not funny. There's something else," Ronnie sounded concerned. "Branden hasn't stopped sending Bobby to hound me about your whereabouts. When Roman kicked him from your apartment... and your life," she laughed. "He has been worried about you. He's also married, so I don't see what his problem is."

I sighed. "He is an ass that needs to get over himself. We're done and he has a problem accepting that I am over his bullshit completely."

"So there's no going back anymore?" Ronnie said sounding surprised.

"I am off him for good. No rekindling that old tired-ass flame."

Ronnie laughed so hard, that there was feedback in the receiver of our cells. I couldn't help but laugh too.

"Oh, my God! I am so happy for you. You don't know how long I have been waiting to hear these words from you!"

"Was it that bad?" I honestly wanted to know.

"It was bad enough," Ronnie said tentatively. "I wanted you to be happy, but not on his terms. Come, come. Let's not ruin a good catch-up with talks of Branden Wong or Bobby."

I could hear the disgust and relief in her tone over the phone.

"What's new, babe? It seems I haven't heard from you in forever." Ronnie said dramatically.

I giggled. "I have some very interesting things to tell you."

Some days had passed since Kat and I had our chat. Things in the house have still been tense but at least I had someone's company instead of being left in the dark all the time.

"Roman has a brother."

Ronnie gasped. "The big boss has a brother. Older or younger?"

"Older. The news was a shock to me. Also, they don't get along."

"The mysterious brother is also hated. This is getting more and more interesting. Go on, hon," Ronnie insisted.

"Mahieu, the baby's mother, is sleeping with the brother."

"What in actual fuck is happening in Monaco? Tha fuck! Sage that's a lot," she practically screamed in my ear. "What's the mysterious brother's name? You must know that," she stated dryly.

"His name is Ekko," I answered ignoring her sarcasm.

"Echo?"

"Ekko."

"Echo?"

"Ekko," I repeated.

"Echo? As in E-C-H-O?" She queried. Extremely invested in finding out if that was the man's name.

"Ekko, short for Ekkehard. The name I saw on the placard in his office."

"Tha fuck you didn't say that before. You got me here repeating myself like a scratch recorder, S."

I was laughing. Ronnie eventually started laughing too. We were laughing for a good minute before we continued our conversation over the phone. I excluded details of Kat's personal life because it was the right thing to do since she was coming to terms with her sexuality. We ended the conversation with Ronnie giving me details of her wedding progress and asking me if I would be back in time for the wedding, which I assured her I would be. I asked her to send kisses to the baby, and she started making kissing noises on the phone. We laughed again. I told her that I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something more to the story between the brothers that I was missing. She told me to follow my gut, and I agreed. Then we said our goodbyes.