Page 20 of Final Installment
I grew suspicious, and my lungs felt too small and tight.Dafina looked strangely out of it, and her gaze kept darting to the doorway.Was she expecting someone?Was she planning to bolt?What was going on with her?
I glanced around the table, wondering if anyone else had seen it.Rina Beciraj caught my attention, and my nervousness must have come across as guilt because she narrowed her eyes at me.
Oh, no.
Luka cleared his throat, and I balled my hands into fists under the table.“Tonight has been a long time in the making.”He cleared his throat again, this time from obvious anxiety.“Our two families have been separated by....”His voice trailed off, as if he had forgotten what he planned to say.“Tragedy,” he continued, “and grief.”
Oh my God.Is he serious?I gawked at him, wondering why the hell he hadn’t asked someone to write a toast for him.The awkwardness of his speech, and the now sickly look on my sister’s face stressed me out so badly I could hardly breathe.
To my right, my grandfather wheezed faster.If he tried to stand to add a few words, I was going to faint.I could feel my heartbeat pounding against my eardrums.Scanning the dinner guests, I realized I wasn’t the only one feeling tense.
Luka held out his hand, silently inviting Dafina to join him.She rose on wobbly feet and took a few unsteady steps around the table to stand at his side.He slipped an arm around her, his fingers visibly tightening on her trim waist.His mask slipped for a moment, and there was a brief flash of annoyance and anger at her drunkenness.
Luka recovered quickly and turned that handsome grin on my sister.He lifted his champagne flute.“To Dafina and the bright future ahead of us.”
The words had barely left his mouth before she made a strange gurgling sound and vomited all over him.
He tried to step back and escape the foul explosion, but she had clenched onto his arm, probably to keep herself from falling.He was painted from chest to shoes in a never-ending, viscous and putrid stream.
Shouts of horror and anger erupted around the table.Silverware rattled.Glasses shattered.Chairs clanked against the floor.Our guests fled the scene or backed away into corners.Mom screamed at Dafina, and my grandfather’s wheezing breaths were as loud as a jet engine as he sputtered with embarrassment and fury.
And I sat there.Dumbly.Frozen.Mortified.Disgusted.
Amused.
It was wrong.I was a terrible person for finding it funny, and I had to cover my mouth as if shocked when, really, I was pressing my fingers into my lips, smashing them against my teeth to stifle the eruption of laughter that threatened to escape.
Across the dining room, Luka’s gaze met mine.He must have seen the enjoyment sparkling in my eyes.He glared at me, and I couldn’t help myself.I let my hand fall away from my lips, and I smiled at his indignity, letting him know exactly how much I was enjoying his comeuppance.
If looks could have killed, I would have dropped dead.Instead, I reached for the champagne flute I had set down in shock, lifted it in his direction and then took a triumphant sip.
Fuck you, Luka Beciraj.
Chapter Five
Lukahadneverbelievedin karma, but as he stood there, dripping vomit and trying not to breathe, he acknowledged he might have been wrong.What was more cosmically correct than this humiliating display?
Down at the other end of the table, Elona sipped her champagne with a smug smile.She seemed wholly unbothered by the spectacle.After the horrible shit he’d said to her, he deserved this.
Sobbing hysterically, Dafina stumbled away, clutching at the wall and then onto one of the waiters who hastily helped her escape.He reached for her, wanting to reassure her, but she evaded his grasp.
Ana screeched unintelligible nonsense, and the old man looked ready to pass out as he gripped the table and shouted.Aston waved her hands and visibly gulped before running to the nearest door with Ben hot on her heels.Vivian and Nikolai murmured softly to each other, probably to plan their exit.
“Hold still.”Marley approached him with a handful of cloth napkins.“You’ll make a bigger mess if you move.”
As if to drive that spike of regret deeper into his heart, Marley gingerly helped him out of his filthy jacket and tie.She showed yet again what an incredibly giving and kind woman she was, and he couldn’t stop thinking about all the ugly things he had said to Besian about her.
Speaking harshly and meanly to women seemed to be a theme in his life, and one that he desperately needed to end.When had that started?And why?
You’re a fucking asshole, that’s why.
He silently chastised himself as Marley continued to help him, mopping at his chest with her elegant hands while Rina fled with everyone else.Only Besian remained behind, grimacing as Marley handed him filthy napkins that he hastily dropped onto a nearby plate.
“Here.”The housekeeper he had seen earlier in the kitchen appeared with a clean T-shirt and Target shopping bags.“For the dirty clothes.”
“Thank you, Mariana,” Marley said, taking the bags from the housekeeper.Of course, she knew the housekeeper’s name.
“From Elona,” Mariana said, handing him the shirt.“The powder room is open if you’d like to use it to clean up before you leave.”
