Page 60 of The Chosen Heir

I gave him an incredulous look. Jesus, did he think I’d turn a blind eye to this? Having a mistress was one thing. Beating a woman half to death was an entirely different matter.

“After what happened tonight, there’s nothing you can say to convince me of that. Honestly, knowing what I know now, I would’ve terminated the condition of Tasa’s marriage in our contract.”

“Well, you can pat yourself on the back for saving Cat from my family, you sanctimonious prick,” he snarled, his eyes snapping with fury. It was his way of saying that, regardless of what happened, I wasn’t off the hook for his daughter.

“One of my best soldiers is dead,” he continued, “with a wife and snot-nosed kids I’ve got to feed for the foreseeable future. My heir is in a goddamn hospital bed. You owe me in blood.” He took a dramatic pause before demanding, “I want Stegan.”

“That’s not happening,” I clipped out. While I was willing to give him some leeway since Stegan had worked Cristo over, that didn’t give him the right to dictate to me.

He leaned back against the chair, folding his arms across his protruding belly that pressed against the buttons of his shirt.

Eyes narrowing, he ground out, “I. Want. Retribution. How are you going to make it right? And don’t for a second think this is about money. Fuck the money, and fuck you if you bring it up. Money’s off the table until the issue of blood is dealt with first.”

“Isn’t it enough that you lost your grandson?” I’d made that up. I didn’t have any actual proof the fetus was a male, but in our regressive society that made him worth more, bastard or not.

He laughed. A false, brittle noise, like the clacking of window shutters let loose in the wind. “Sure, it’s a tragedy, but another grandson can be produced in the future. It’s not like Cristo is dead. I have a reputation to uphold, especially to my own kin. They want proof that you understand we lost a good man and my son’s been injured for no good reason. And don’t tell me a domestic incident was good enough. We both know that doesn’t mean shit to my people. Cristo may not have had the license to kill her, but shit happens between a couple,” he ended.

What a cocksucking bastard. Then again, could I expect anything less ruthless from this prick?

I could see the blatant greed etched on his face. My upper lip curled. “What the hell do you want? Spit it out.”

“You. I want you to marry Cat. You’re the sef, not Luca. You control your family, and nothing’s more prestigious for my only daughter than marrying the boss of the Lupu clan. Nothing. So either you marry Cat or hand over Stegan, and I’ll make an example of him. I swear, I will drag out his death for days. That’s the only thing that will make this right,” he pronounced.

Fuck. Fuck, fucking fuck.

Stegan’s life or my happiness.

My gaze flicked up to Nicu for help, but I couldn’t step away from the negotiating table to discuss this with him. It would make me appear weak.

“Otherwise, it’s war, Alex,” he warned. He knew he had me where he wanted me. What I would pay to wipe that smug look off his face. “And by God, I will make you suffer.”

He wasn’t bluffing. If I didn’t either hand over Stegan or marry Cat, I’d trigger a war because his demand was considered reasonable in our world. Dragging the Lupu clan into war would be a blatantly selfish thing for me to do to my clan. On a personal level, I could deal with the violence. I’d already coped with it once, to avenge my father’s death. Of course, the difference was that I’d done it knowing he’d approve of my course of action. Not this time. This time, I could feel his disappointment bearing down on my shoulders. My oath to my father to make good with Nelu would go up in smoke.

And Nelu was not to be underestimated, ever. He could hurt us. We’d hit back of course, but it would be considered shameful when our clans had finally reached the tail end of a decades-long feud and entered an era of peace. To bring war so I could keep Nina, an outsider, would be seen as rabid, crazy by my people.

No, war was not an option.

That left me with turning Stegan over to this madman. Stegan was a good soldier who’d found himself in an untenable situation. I couldn’t send him to his death for choosing to save an innocent’s woman’s life. That would be counter to the tenets the Lupu lived by, and my men would see it for what it was, forfeiting the life of a loyal member to keep an outsider in my bed.

Even if I made Nina my wife, Stegan’s death would taint our marriage. Romanians were superstitious people. To them, our marriage would always be linked to Stegan’s death. It would never be clean and good, which my wife should symbolize. In the filth that underpinned our lives, our women and children were our only vessels of redemption. Right or wrong, that was how it was. And while I didn’t believe in ridiculous superstitions, my people did. Deep down, I couldn’t deny that it might bring a dark cloud over our union. It had the power to taint the love we had for each other.

Nina was a woman who loved to please people, who needed to be liked and accepted. Scorned by my clan, I would be dooming her to a life of misery. All to be with me. I couldn’t do that to her.

Leaning forward, elbows on knees, my fingers steepled together. There was also a much, much deeper problem. Black clouds brought black luck, and bad luck could end up getting Nina hurt or killed. If not by Nelu for revenge, then possibly by one of my own kin. Someone might take it upon themselves to purge the clan of such bad luck. Behind my back, of course, but that would put Nina in the line of danger.

It was bad enough that they’d never accept Nina under these circumstances, but to not be able to trust my own people with her life? To not know if I was sending an assassin to slit her throat? I’d never survive that.

Stegan would die for no reason, and Nina would end up getting killed. No, nothing inside me could allow that to happen.

My heartbeat pounded in my ears like tribal drums, and I felt a little light-headed. Shaking off the dizziness, my gaze slammed into Nelu’s, and I forfeited my life.

Between clenched teeth, I spat out, “I’ll marry Cat.”

Triumph lit up his eyes in an unholy shade of silver.

He clapped my shoulder, and I stiffened under his touch as he said, “Good choice, son.”

“I don’t need your fucking approval,” I snapped, but Nelu was too ecstatic to notice my wrath.

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