Page 63 of Final Installment
He swallowed hard under his uncle’s glare.He wanted to argue that he wasn’t a child to be lectured and scolded, but he hadn’t behaved like a man.He had behaved like a little boy on the playground, throwing insults like a bully.
“You know what needs to be done, Luka.”Besian fixed his tie and cuffs.“If you want to save the lives of every person in our family, you have to make a choice—you or Rina.You’re the head of our family.Fucking act like it.”
Besian left him there, simmering in his own anger and embarrassment.Everything Besian said was true.There were only two choices remaining.He could sacrifice Rina’s happiness or his own.
I can’t do that to my sister.
Iwon’tdo that my sister.
Which meant he had to somehow convince Elona to not only marry him but agree to eventually have a child with him so he could get his hands on that second disbursement of money.
Sure.Simple.Easy.
“Let go of me!”Elona’s angry voice startled him from his troubled thoughts.“Give me back my phone!”
“No,” Ana shouted.
“Give me back my phone right now or I swear to God—.”
“What?”Ana shouted.“You’ll do what?”
Luka followed the voices down the hallway and through a propped open door to the lobby.Elona screamed in shock as her crazy mother grabbed a stone sculpture from a niche and began to beat the phone to pieces with it.The wedding planner and two members of the waitstaff stood by, frozen in terror.
“What is wrong with you?”Elona shouted at her mother.“You know what?Forget it!I’m out of here!I’ll walk!”
When Elona took a step, her mother launched the heavy stone sculpture, narrowly missing her daughter’s head.The sculpture hit the floor with a clank, breaking off a piece that sent stone shards in all directions.Ana rushed to the front entrance and threw herself against it, barricading it with her body.
“You’re not going anywhere until this is fixed!”Ana shrieked.“We’re not losing everything because you refuse to flop onto your back and open your legs for him!”
Elona looked from her mother to the crowd of late-arrival guests and staff now congregating in the hallway.Her gaze finally landed on his, and she paled.The look of utter despair on her face absolutely gutted him.Was he truly such a monster?
He took a step toward her, intending to ask her to speak privately with him, but she panicked and bolted like a scared deer.He chased after her, surprised by how fast and spry she was.She moved easily, even in those heels, and he accepted that he had badly misjudged her.
Even so, he caught up with her in the busy kitchen.His longer legs and bigger strides allowed him to gain on her.She glanced back at him in alarm and shoved a stack of clean plates at him.He nearly tripped but managed to leap over it.Her eyes widened in further panic, and she picked up a bottle of wine being used by a chef to flavor a sauce.She launched it at him in a desperate bid to escape.
“Stop it!”He snarled and blocked the bottle with his arm.The impact of the thick glass would leave a bruise, but he ignored the pain and kept moving.“Elona!Stop!”
With a wild, animalistic cry, she kicked over the rolling cart supporting the main section of the wedding cake.All four tiers of cake and confection tumbled to the floor right in front of him.He tried to sidestep the mess, but he slipped in a giant glob of frosting and narrowly missed slamming his face into a stainless-steel countertop.
Aided by the mayhem she’d created, Elona made it through a set of double doors and onto a small stone patio where staff members were taking their breaks.The cloying scent of flavored vape pods filled the air.The stones had been freshly cleaned, and they were wet and slippery.
Elona pushed over a patio table and cried, “Leave me alone!”
He hurdled the table as it clanged atop the stone.“Be careful!You’re going to fall and break your neck!”
“Good!I hope I do!”
Frustrated by her hysterics, he kept chasing her.He saw the slick patch of grass ahead as she darted off the patio and across the small rectangle of lawn.The fenced staff area had a gate that led to the parking lot, and if she made it out there, he worried she might be struck by a car.
“Wait!Elona!”
She made it six steps before her short heels slipped on the wet grass.She went down hard, right on her belly.Her head bounced, and he feared she had knocked herself out from the impact.
“Elona!”He crouched down next to her, but she came up swinging, rolling onto her back and throwing her elbows like a champion MMA fighter.She kicked him in the thigh, the heel of her shoe making him grunt in agony, and then she scampered away, half crawling, half stumbling.
He caught hold of her skirt, gripping the fabric so hard he heard it rip.He didn’t let go.He grabbed her bare leg in the other hand and managed to finally stop her.She fell onto her side and then rolled onto her back again, ready to fight him.She kicked at him, but he anticipated the move and blocked it.
What he didn’t anticipate was losing his balance and falling right on top of her.
