Page 41 of Final Installment

“And then what?”

“And then you get the business off the ground.”I sucked more of the syrupy sweet blue drink through my straw.“You can keep the prices stupidly low because you’re basically using the sales of the products as a cover.Then, once the business is off the ground, you can start using the warehouses the way you intended all along.”

Kristo made eye contact, silently daring me to say it.

I rolled my eyes.“You know exactly what I mean.You need a legit business to launder money and also to serve as a cover for the imports and exports from the warehouses.”

“Just like that, huh?”

I shrugged.“It’s not the business I would get into, but if it’s what you’re wanting to do, that’s how I would do it.”

“What business would you get into?”

“With tariffs and global political uncertainties, I would stay far away from anything that requires me to buy, store and sell an actual physical product.”I considered the puzzle before me.“Do you have the specs for your property?Warehouse size, infrastructure, power, access to and from the port, stevedore contracts, unions, what cargo can and can’t be stored there?”

Kristo grinned.“Now, I see why Luka is so obsessed with you.”

I rolled my eyes and tried not to think about why my heart was beating faster suddenly.“He’s obsessed with hating me.”

Kristo laughed.“They should have arranged for you two to marry instead.”He scratched at his jaw.“I can’t understand why they didn’t.You’re the oldest.He’s the oldest.It makes sense.”

“Nothing that happened back then made sense,” I argued.“And, anyway, Luka is a prize, and my mother was never going to let me win anything.Luka is a king.Dafina is her princess, and she’s the one meant to be a queen.Not me.Never me.”

“Well, I think it would have been more interesting if it had been you.I would have loved watching those fireworks.”

“Luka and I would kill each other before the honeymoon ended,” I grumbled.

“From all the wild sex?Yeah.Probably.”

I scowled at Kristo.“You’re gross.”

“And you’re in the wrong business.”

“Hardly!”

“Trafficking is in your blood.The black market is where you belong.”

“Not a chance in hell,” I shot back with disdain.“I left all of that behind when I was exiled from my home by your family.”

“But you’re coming home for the wedding.”

“I’m visiting Albania for a few days to support my sister,” I corrected.

“I didn’t think you two were very close.Not after you left to live in Dallas with your stepfather,” he clarified.

“We’re getting closer again.”Ever since the horrible engagement dinner, we had spoken every single day.It was usually just a few lines of text, but it was a nice change in our normally cold relationship.

“You nearly drove our family lawyer to a heart attack with all the back and forth on that marriage contract,” Kristo teased.

“It was downright rotten and dirty of Luka to give that garbage contract to Dafina,” I snapped.

“To be fair, he never looked at it before it was sent out to your sister.”

“Are you serious?”

Kristo shrugged.“It wasn’t a priority for him.”

“So who approved it?”