Page 21 of 10 Days to Ruin

Gina rolls her eyes. “Maybe you should reconsider. I’ve seen your LinkedIn. The only thing on there is that sad internship atCat Fancy Monthly.”

“They were ahead of their time.”

“They paid you in Friskies coupons! And you don’t even have a cat!” She stabs her straw at me. “So what’s the play here, Ari? You’re really gonna let your dad marry you off to some Russian Terminator?”

“Fuck no.” The words come out sharp, final. “I’d rather gargle broken glass.”

“Then what’s next? A scathing exposé?‘My One-Night Stand Is My Mobster Fiancé: A Love Story’by Ariel Ward?”

“No. I’m going to do what my uncle said: burn it all down.” I throw back the dregs of my beer. “Disappear. Fake my death. Join a convent in Saskatchewan. Whatever it takes.”

Gina leans back, assessing me. “Saskatchewan’s a vibe, but have you considered a girl’s best friend instead?”

“Diamonds?”

“Arson,” she says flatly.

“Gee!”

She rests a hand on my forearm. “Hear me out. We torch Leander’s favorite yacht, blame it on Sasha, and then hop a flight to Bali. You can bang sexy surf instructors, I’ll seduce Australian heiresses. It’ll be iconic.”

I smile sadly at her. “You’d really set a yacht on fire for me?”

“Babe, I’d steal a nuclear submarine for you.” She grins back. “But only if you promise to name your firstborn in my honor.”

“Deal.” I clink my beer against her glass. “But first, I need leverage. Something to make both these psychos back off.”

“Easy.” She flags the bartender for another round. “Find Sasha’s kryptonite. Does he have a secret family? A crippling fear of clowns? An OnlyFans?”

“He’s a Bratvapakhan, Gina. His OnlyFans is probably just unboxing videos of human teeth.”

“Hot.” She pauses. “Wait, is that a thing?”

The bartender slides over two tequila shots. Gina downs hers in one gulp, licks the salt off her wrist, and smirks. “Relax, Ariel. We’ll figure it out. You’ve survived worse than a six-pack with a murder kink.”

I knock back my shot, the burn grounding me. “I’m not marrying him. Not ever.”

“Atta girl.” She slings an arm around me, her perfume—something aggressively floral she definitely shoplifted—filling my lungs. “Now, let’s get shitfaced and key your dad’s car.”

“His car’s bulletproof.”

“Won’t stop me from trying.”

As we stumble into the neon-soaked night, I cling to the promise like a lifeline.I’m not marrying him.

But somewhere, in the darkest corner of my mind, Sasha’s voice whispers back.

We’ll see about that,ptichka.

8

SASHA

I watch Ariel vanish through the exit, her dress swishing like a battle flag as she goes. Every step she takes is defiance. Every sway of her hips is a middle finger to everything her father and I have planned for her.

She isn’t going to make things simple.

Leander materializes beside me. “She’ll need time,” he says, squinting at the doors she’d stormed through.

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