Page 16 of Final Installment
“Careful,” Luka warned, also in Albanian to keep their conversation private from the onlookers.“We’re about to be family.It’s better we don’t start comparing who has more blood on their hands.”
“Are you afraid you’ll come up short because you make others do your dirty work and my father always handled his personally?”She seemed just as shocked as he was that those biting words came out of that pouty mouth.She kept her chin high, but she gulped nervously, chin quavering as she realized what she had said and to whom.
“Your father was a treacherous coward.”
“And yours was any better?”
“You don’t know the first thing about my father.He was a great man—.”
“Yes,” she said with a bitter laugh.“A great man who killed my pregnant aunt when—.”
“That was an accident,” he interrupted brusquely.“She shouldn’t have even been there.”
“Oh, so it’s her fault that she was getting into her husband’s car in front of her own house to drive to a doctor’s appointment?”
“Your uncle knew better.He should have kept her home where she belonged—.”
“She should have lived like a prisoner because the men in our families were being stupid and reckless?”
“It was a war your family started!”
“According to your side.”
“According to all sides!”He hated that he was raising his voice and losing his temper, and she was calm and responding in measured tones.“Your father killed mine.”
“And your father murdered a pregnant woman and a baby that never had a chance to be born,” Elona cruelly reminded him.“Whatever my father’s faults—and I’m sure he had many—he never broke the rules.He abided by the code—and your father trampled it.Your father was a murderous pig.”
How dare she act like her father was some fucking saint!She had no fucking clue, and he burned with the urge to put her in her place.
“A pig?”He raked his gaze over her from head to toe, all while scowling with contempt at her high-handed haughtiness.“I suppose you would know best.”
She reared back as if he had slapped her across the face.Maybe he should have.He suspected the pain would have been more fleeting.
As soon as he made that fucked up dig at her weight, he hated himself.His chest tightened, and he felt like the biggest, meanest piece of shit on the planet.He had no right to say that.None.He had crossed the line in the cruelest way possible.
And why?Because she got under his skin?Because she was brave enough to tell him the truth?Because she had a point?
She had wounded his pride, so he had slashed at hers, cutting through to the vulnerable marrow and leaving her exposed and injured.
“Yes,” she said calmly in English.“I suppose I would.”
His heart hammered against his chest, and the apology he owed her remained on the tip of his tongue.He just had to open his mouth and say the words.
But he couldn’t do it.
He pivoted toward the door and left the tense, silent kitchen.He barely had a chance to compose himself before he stepped into the reception.Instantly, his gaze settled on the bombshell beauty standing between Artan and Nikolai.Dafina.In the flesh.
This sister favored the mother.Silky, shiny blonde hair.Gorgeous face with perfectly applied makeup.Glittering jewelry.Artfully manicured nails.A pale pink dress that bared one shoulder and a teasing triangle of skin along the right side of her ribcage.She looked effortlessly sexy and was exactly the sort of woman he would have chosen as his future wife.
Except, when she smiled at him, he felt nothing.Not excitement.Not hope.Not even distaste.
“Luka.”Dafina strode toward him with a welcoming grin.She grasped both his hands, and her floral perfume swirled around him, leaving him a bit dizzy.“I’m so glad you’re finally here!”
“I’m glad to be here.”Why was it so easy to lie to her?Why was it so easy for her to lie to him?Was this what his future would be?Fake smiles and lies?
“So far so good with our families all in the same room again.”Dafina kept hold of his hand.
“Yes.”He mustered a smile and hoped it was convincing.
