Page 36 of Cruel Honor

“Why do I get the sense this won’t go well?” Maxim asks as he, Nik, and I arrive at Abram’s house. His leather cut with the Knights logo on the back makes him stand out against Nik and me in our suits. Nik manages to wear his suit very well. Bastard.

I like to be the handsomest among the group.

“Don’t worry,” I tell him. “Abram will calm down once I tell him I’m an officially married man now. He’ll have no other choice. He’s only trying to hurt me to get me to marry Tatiana. Now that I’m off the market, he’ll have to back down.” I knock on the door.

After a beat, Abram answers. “Dimitri.” His eyes slide to Maxim, and he huffs.

But then he looks at Nik, and his eyes widen. Even Abram knows not to mess with Nikolai Petrov.

“I brought back up this time,” I tell him. “So, listen. I just got married. So, marrying Tatiana is off the table, and you can back down.”

Abram stiffens. “You got married?”

“Yes.”

“To whom?”

“Her name is Evie Anderson and she’s a whole lot better than your daughter. No offense.”

“Dimitri,” Nik warns.

“Sorry.” I say to Abram.

His face turns red. “But my daughter. You … you defiled her. You have to marry her.”

“Can’t. Already married. See the conundrum? So, Maxim and Nik are here to help get the message across. Back off, Abram. End this crusade now, and you won’t have to get hurt. Tatiana will find some other nice man to marry.”

“But you took her virginity! What man will want her now?”

“Plenty. Not every man wants a virgin.”

“High-ranking Bratva men want virgins. You know this.”

“Well, oh well. Not my problem. So, what do we say, Abram? We have a deal?”

He huffs, crossing his arms. “What deal?”

“You back down. No more potential war. And we all go about our merry ways.”

Abram looks between the other men and me before nodding. It’s barely there, but he does it. “Fine. No more war. I’ll drop the Tatiana issue.”

“Great. Have a wonderful day, Abram.”

He shuts the door.

I turn to the other men. “Well, that went well, didn’t it?”

Maxim just shakes his head as he walks away.

“What?”

Nik looks at me like I’m an idiot. “Dimitri, it’s a miracle you’ve gotten this far in life.”

“What?” I ask again. Personally, I think that went well. I avoided war, got a new bride in Evie, and didn’t have to bloody any of my nice suits.

I call this a win.

ABRAM

---