Recap:

Walking into one of the unused classrooms I turned and waited when Mazur and his Guardians came to the room I waited; it was his show he was the one who wanted to talk to me so he could start.

Chapter 5: Rose's POV

Ibrahim Mazur stepped into the room and sat down gracefully on a chair that seemed a bit too small for him.

"Well, what do you want to know?" he asked me.

"You're my father?" How was I going to do this? I crossed my arms.

"Yeah,"

"So why the hell did you just decide to visit me now after all these years?" I practically growled.

"You can thank your lovely mother, Janine Hathaway," he spat, "for this. She didn't want me to see you; figured I'd be a bad influence on you."

Well, I could see where I got the attitude from at least. And I guess our hair does look a little alike, but I still think my hair is way better.

"Obviously she was wrong –I have a pretty bad rep as it is and I've never even met you. Until now, that is. You'd think she'd notice and let me see you regardless eh?" I said. I was beginning to like him already. I loosened up a bit and uncrossed my arms. "This still doesn't tell me why you're here now."

"Even though I couldn't see you, I always had someone checking up on you," he said, gesturing to one of his guardians.

"You had someone spy on me?!"

"Not spy, check on you whenever you were in a public setting at school," he explained. "My guardian, Kurt, has been showing up every once in a while. I've even gotten your report cards since kindergarten thanks to him. Kirova will let anyone do anything with a bit of cash."

I raised one eyebrow. Oh really now? Seemed like useful information.

"Why couldn't you do it?" I retorted.

"I'm a mob boss, among other things, you think I have the time? I barely have enough time to be with my becermek arkadaş."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"That's Turkish for 'fuck buddy', or should I say, fuck buddies."

"That's way too much info!" I looked at his four guardians, embarrassed. Surely they understood him; I bet they came from Turkey along with him. Or at least would have to learn Turkish so they could work with him easier. They kept their faces expressionless whether they understood or not. Okay, maybe next time he speaks Turkish, I won't ask. "Fine, whatever, but you're here now. Why?"

"Your mother is never here to stop me, you're almost 18, and I finally got some time off to see you –okay, I got the guts to go around your mother's rules. She's scary!" he amended, looking at my expression. "The point is I'm here now because I want to make a proposition. Aren't you happy to see me?"

"What's the proposition?" I asked, ignoring the last comment.

He blew out a breath like he had been holding it and muttered something about me not responding to being happy about seeing him.

"I was wondering if you'd like to come with me to Turkey for the summer. You can take Vasilisa with you, of course,"

Of course he'd know about Lissa.

"Her name's Lissa, and why would I want to go with you? I technically don't even know you, despite you being my dad and all," I replied.

"You don't have to spend your life watching over a spoiled brat, you have options you know," he said.

"Okay, Lissa is not a spoiled brat!" Maybe I wasn't really going to like him.

"Look, the Queen is thinking of having you look after Rufus Tarus, definitely a spoiled brat,"

"Who the hell is that?" The only thing I recognized in the name was the last name, a royal of course.

"He's a royal around Vasili—I mean, Lissa's age, one of the more unimportant royals. Tatiana thinks that's since you're so reckless, she doesn't want you around the last of the most important royals," he said, shifting in his chair. "You're almost 18, and I want you to take over for me in a few years."

"What if I don't want to?" Who does he think he is, telling me what to do?

"Who wouldn't? You'd have money, power, men, people would be terrified of you –I've heard that it's what you've always wanted. Respect," he made it sound appealing.

"That's not the kind of respect I want,"

"Respect is respect, no matter how it's earned. So what will it be?" he asked.

"I want to stay with Lissa of course! She needs me!" I couldn't explain the bond we had to him, not yet at least, though I felt like he already knew.

"I didn't expect you to leave her," he sighed. "She's your best friend. But I still want my daughter to be part of my life, see what it's like to be a Mazur. What if I take you to Turkey for a week, excuse you from school, you and Lissa. I have some great bars I'm sure you two would be interested in," he winked.

"It sounds like a good idea, but—"

"What the hell are you doing with Rose?" exclaimed Adrian as he walked into the room, slamming the door open.