Page 44 of Final Installment
She reluctantly took the phone and slowly turned her gaze on the screen.He watched the surprise filter across her face.Amusement followed, and it irritated him even more.“Is that—?Is Kristo with Dafina’s sister?In China?At Disneyland?”
“Yes.”
She tapped the screen with her thumb and played a short video of Kristo and Elona modeling matching tees and obnoxiously pink sets of Disney ears.She laughed at their antics but hastily squashed her smile when she noticed the perturbed expression he wore.“I, um, I guess this isn’t what you sent him to Shanghai to do.”
“No, it’s not.”
“I didn’t even know they were friends.”
“They weren’t.Not until two nights ago, apparently.They crossed paths on a sidewalk outside a restaurant in the business district.”He snatched his phone back, scrolled up and showed her the ridiculous photos and videos of the two of them drunk and singing yacht rock karaoke in a Shanghai bar.“Look at them!He’s out there cavorting with our enemy!”
“Cavorting?”Marley snickered and took the phone back from him.“Is that what this is?”Her eyes widened as she watched a video of Elona and Kristo singing some ridiculous song together.Kristo had obviously handed off his phone to someone else in the crowd to capture the memory.“Oh, that’s clever.”
“What is?”He didn’t think there was anything clever about those two drunken idiots.
“Come on!Rich Girl?It’s a funny song for them to sing considering her situation.”She seemed to notice he didn’t think there was anything clever about those two drunken idiots embarrassing themselves on a stage.“I mean, you know, because she’s, like,richrich.”
“Her stepfather is.She’s not.”He didn’t know why he felt the need to point that out.
“Okay.”Marley eyed him curiously.“What is this really about?Because I don’t think this is about you beefing with the Dushku family or feeling some kind of betrayed way about Kristo becoming friendly with your soon-to-be sister-in-law.”
Luka stretched his neck, trying to ease the tension gripping him by the throat.He could lie and insist it was exactly that.To himself and only himself, he’d admit the truth.
It was her.
Elona.
Seeing her with Kristo set his teeth on edge.Made his muscles tighten and knot.Made his lungs feel too small.
The photos and short videos had shocked him.Not because Elona and Kristo were doing anything inappropriate.No, because she looked happy.She was smiling.Grinning.Her eyes were a little glossy from the alcohol, and her cheeks were flushed from laughing.She was a completely different person with Kristo—and it infuriated him.
She only looks at me with disgust or fear or anger.
Not that he could blame her.He hadn’t done anything to show her another side of him.
“Luka.”Marley dared to touch his hand.Once she had his attention, she drew it back slowly.“You know it’s okay to change your mind about this wedding.”
“Even if I wanted to, it’s too late.”He wouldn’t admit that he’d been thinking about it.That he’d been staying awake all night, thinking about this wedding and Dafina and the money and the promises and the pressure.
“You’ve waited this long to marry her.What’s another year?Or two?”
“You don’t know.”All this time, he had assumed Besian had told her everything.Maybe his uncle still kept some family secrets from his wife.
“Know what?”
“We were supposed to get married three years ago.It was in the original contract.I agreed to the extension, and Dafina’s family agreed to pay the penalty.”
“Because she was in college?”
He nodded.“It seemed a fair ask at the time.”
“But, once you’re married, the money is released and it’s all done, right?”
Luka wished it was that simple.Shaking his head, he somberly clarified, “We get part of the money when the marriage is completed.Half of it comes as soon as the vows are said and the return of our trade routes comes the next morning.”
“And the rest?”
“It’s released when we have our first baby.”
