I hold her stare for a long beat, then shrug.
“Fine. I’ll take her.”
Artyom looks like he’s about to explode. “No. There has to be another way to settle this debt.”
I tilt my head. “In case you missed that part of the contract, read it again. I can collect anything I deem fit as payment. And right now, I deem one of your sisters a suitable bride. I’m not interested in anything else.”
He takes a threatening step closer. “Why my sisters? You can ask for territory, money, weapons, anything. We can come to another agreement.”
“No,” I reply calmly. “I want a bride from your family. And that is exactly what I’m going to get.”
Silence blankets the room. Artyom’s mind is clearly racing, searching for an exit that doesn’t exist. I let him stew for a moment, then speak again.
“Milana, and Calina excuse us.”
I immediately shake my head. “None of them are stepping out of this room until I’ve collected what I came for. One of your sisters is leaving with me tonight. And that sister,” I say, locking eyes with Calina, “is going to be you, Calina.”
Artyom’s face twists with rage. “What if I refuse?”
I smile coldly. “Then you’re asking for war. And we both know how that ends.”
He clenches his jaw. “Fine. Then we go to war. You know I will win.”
I lean forward slightly, voice dropping. “Maybe you win in the end. But at what cost? How many of your men will die? How much money and time will you bleed? And when it’s over, doyou really think your own clan will still want you as Pakhan for taking them to a war that could have been avoided?”
I watch the exact moment realization hits him. The fury flickers, replaced by cold calculation.
I thought so.
I adjust my coat, and brush a piece of lint from my sleeve. “If there’s nothing else, I’d like to leave with my bride now.”
“She's not yet your bride. You will not touch her,” Artyom growls, stepping closer until we’re nearly chest to chest. “I will find a loophole. I swear to God, if you lay one finger on her before?—”
“Oh, don’t worry,” I cut him off, my tone mocking. “I’m a gentleman. I promise not to touch her… until after the wedding.”
I zero my gaze on Calina. “Except, of course, if she wants me to.”
“You wish,” she snarls.
“Calina…” Milana calls, at the point of tears.
“I’ll be fine,” Calina assures, hugging her.
Artyom looks like he wants to put a bullet between my eyes. We stare each other down, breathing hard, the air thick with violence.
“I will find a loophole,” Artyom assures Calina.
“Good luck with that. Time to go.” I reach out and wrap my fingers around Calina’s wrist. The moment our skin touches, something electric shoots up my arm. Her pulse is racing under my fingertips, fast, frantic. Warm.
I feel her sharp little inhale, the slight tremble that runs through her body. She doesn’t pull away immediately, and that alone does dangerous things to me.
Fuck.
What the hell is that?
I’ve touched plenty of women. None of them ever felt like this. Like a live wire straight to my chest. I don’t understand it, and I don’t like things I don’t understand.
I drop her wrist like it burned me the second we step out of the office.
