Page 62 of Final Installment

Besian gripped his shoulder when they were finally out of sight of the chaos still erupting back in that room.“I know this is a shit show, but we have to make the best of it.”

“How?”

“The priest is still here.We can sort out the marriage license later after you marry the other one.”Besian hesitated.“Or Rina marries the brother, Aleksander.”

Luka grimaced.“I won’t do that to Rina.”

“You may not have a choice.”

“Look at her!”Luka gestured at the arguing women behind them.“Rina is ready to stab Dafina with a shrimp fork.Skender Dushku won’t stand a chance against her.She’ll murder him on their wedding night.”

“Then that only leaves one option.”

“I can’t.”Elona’s wounded gaze flashed before him.The echo of his nasty words haunted him.

“Because of Kristo?I asked him about her yesterday, and he told me it was just fun, nothing serious.”

Luka’s fury flared at the idea that Kristo had been playing games with Elona’s feelings when they were together in Shanghai.

“Listen, I know she’s not the sort of woman you might choose for yourself,” Besian gently said, “but she’s a good person.She’s educated.She’s modest.She’s—.”

“I can’t marry her,” Luka insisted.“It’s impossible.”

“Why?She’s not dating anyone.I had Zec check into her relationship situation after she showed up at the dinner party in Houston with that black eye.”

Luka reacted with shock.“Black eye?”He thought back to Elona’s face that evening.“She didn’t have a black eye.”

“You haven’t spent enough time around women to know the tell-tale signs of makeup covering one.I’ve seen it too many times.”

“Did her boyfriend hit her?”Luka asked, enraged at the idea that a man would strike her.

“No.It was one of the kids on her softball team.She took a bat to the face.”

“Oh.”He supposed that was a better alternative than her being battered.

“So, why is it impossible for you to marry her instead?She’s single.She’s into men.She’s not pregnant.”

Luka grimaced at the realization that the requirements for marrying him were so drastically low.Single.Heterosexual.Not currently carrying a baby.Bar cleared.

Besian mistook his grimace and frowned.“I didn’t realize you were so shallow.”

“It’s not about her weight!”He scowled at his uncle.“I mean, it is, but not in the way you’re thinking.”

“What else am I supposed to think?”

“I called her a pig.”

Besian visibly stiffened.“You didwhat?”

Ashamed, Luka confessed, “Back in Houston, before the dinner, we met in the kitchen.She said some things.I said some worse things—and called her a pig.”

Besian slapped him.Hard.So hard he was shocked his head hadn’t flown right off his shoulders.

It had been a long time since anyone had dared to strike him.The pain blasted through his cheek and jaw and rattled his brain.

Luka sucked in a sharp breath and straightened to face his uncle.He gritted his teeth and muscled down the instinct to strike back at Besian.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been more disappointed in you than I am right now.”Besian shook his head with disgust.“To come into their home and disrespect their daughter in that way?You were raised better than that.Have some fucking respect, Luka.”