Page 58 of Final Installment

His lust evaporated in an instant.Deep shame twisted around his heart, leaving him speechless.

She misinterpreted his silence for cowardice and roughly shoved him out of the way.“Watch where you’re going.”

“Maybe if you put your phone down, you wouldn’t be running over people,” he snapped.

“Some of us actually have to work for a living.”

“I work!”

“Everything you have was handed to you by your father—and from what I’ve heard, you’ve squandered all of it!”

Fucking Kristo!Had he been telling her the family secrets?Was he that drunk in Shanghai?

The way she lorded her success over him was so fucking irritating.“You don’t know anything about me.”

“I know enough to know that you’re not worthy of my sister!”

“I’m not worthy of her?”He laughed harshly.“She’s nothing special.”

“She’s more special than you’ll ever be.”

“You know, I was going to apologize to you,” he snarled.

“Like I want your apology?”She scoffed.“You can take it and shove it right up your ass.”

Stunned by the vulgar way she spoke, he was caught off guard when she barreled into him.She checked him with her shoulder, sending him stumbling to the side, and then shot him the finger while mouthing, “Fuck you.”

Incensed, he stalked after her.“Hey!”

She picked up her pace.The high heels she wore enhanced the swing of her wide hips, and he was momentarily dazed by the sight of her big ass wiggling like that.He quickened his steps, but she moved even faster, staying right out of arm’s reach.

“Elona!”

She glanced back at him, her face a mask of panic, and practically ran to the French doors that led to the garden where the ceremony would be held.She burst through them as if running from Satan himself.

Not wanting to run outside and make a spectacle, he slowed his pace.He clenched his fists at his sides.The pit of despair in his gut deepened and swirled.

Marrying into this family is going to be the death of me.

Chapter Thirteen

“Hasshestoppedcomplainingyet?”Skender appeared at my side looking both irritated and amused.We were only minutes away from the start of the wedding ceremony and corralled in a beautiful drawing room with part of Luka’s family.

“Nope.”I couldn’t stop staring at my brother.I kept expecting him to disappear, to be dragged away by the Beciraj or Raffaelli henchmen skulking about the estate.

He had recently cut his blond hair, adopting a more stylish look with a fade and careless curls.He seemed to have grown taller since I’d last seen him, but I was certain that was only my imagination.Maybe it was his bespoke suit that made him seem bigger

“What do you think it is this time?The menu?The color of the tablecloths?I don’t think our mother’s mouth has stopped moving for one single second.”

He wasn’t exaggerating.She’d had nasty remarks about the historic mansion hosting the wedding ceremony and reception.It was too plain, too old, not updated correctly.The delicate floral vines in the garden smelled too strongly.The chairs for the ceremony were too small, too hard.And on and on and on.

“He’s not helping things any.”I noticed our grandfather hadn’t left our mother’s side the whole night.

“He never does.”

Skender frowned as our mother stopped one of the venue employees and began to berate them.“You’d think she would be happy to have all of her children together again.”

“I don’t think she’s capable of feeling happiness.”It was something I had been thinking about for years.Mostly in therapy sessions.I didn’t have a single childhood memory of her smiling authentically.