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I couldn’t do that to either of them, and suddenly I realized I was worried about someone other than myself. For the first time, I was considering what my actions meant, not for me, but for those around me. I had always discounted Casper’s feelings because I was hardly allowed to see him, but that wasn’t his fault.
It was mine.
“Whoa, okay, okay. I’m good if you’re good, man,” I said, putting up my hands in surrender. The bald guy repositioned his knife.
“I am not good,” he said with a wheeze. Yeah, I had definitely broken a rib.
“I understand that. Listen, I’m not 100 percent sure what’s going on here, but I think a deal isn’t going to come about this way. Can we have some more time? Discuss this a little more?” I asked. Ivar looked at me with a cold stare.
“You are not man of your word,” Ivar began. “I still require eight hundred thousand American dollars for first shipment. Now you come asking for second but complain about price? This is poor relationship.” I looked over at Daniel, whose face had gone from determined to sheepish.That liar.I had given Daniel the money instead of giving it directly to Ivar myself so that Daniel could show Ivar he was a reliable client. It was his chance to start proving himself and get contacts. But he never paid Ivar the money I gave him. He was the cause of all this mess.
I could feel my anger rising, but I pushed it back down. I couldn’t afford to lose my head right now. There was too much going on.
My father looked over at me, confused. I gave him a look that told him to stay quiet. I needed to play this in a very specific way, or we might all end up dead. That image of Casper and Natalia passed through my mind again, and I took a deep breath.
“Ivar, can we talk man-to-man for a moment? Just you and me?”
The larger man thought about it while the bald guy in front of me grinned like he was picturing disemboweling me with the knife he held in his hand.
“Da,” he said finally and started walking towards me. The bald guy looked at me with a glare then went back to where he had been standing before. Ivar grabbed me by the arm and escorted me away from the group until we were certain we were out of earshot. “Speak.”
“I was unaware that my brother didn’t give you the money I had provided to him for you. I would have paid you myself, but I felt like my brother needed to take the initiative and establish his link with you—show that he was worthy of your trust, even if it was partially because of my backing. He assured me it was taken care of.”
“It was not,” Ivar stated. I nodded.
“I believe you because you and I have no reason to lie to each other. Look, I am not a part of this deal. I’m just a bystander. My father knows I’m decent at negotiating, and he thinks that’s what we are doing now. My father doesn't know about my brother’s prior deal with you. He thinks this is the first deal because, officially, it is.”
“Ah, so the brother is not trustworthy.”
"Unfortunately, yes," I shot a disappointed look in his direction. "I will personally get the money to you for him. Come to the office on Monday, and I will get it to you. If you could please discount that amount and give my father his price so he can close the deal, I would consider it a personal favor."
Ivar stood there and raised an eyebrow at me. I could almost see the wheels turning in his head. Finally, he smiled at me and nodded.
"Okay. I will make this deal at smaller price," he agreed. "And I will see you give me what is owed on Monday."
"Perfect, thank you," I said, knowing that it sounded a little like groveling, but I didn't care. All I wanted to do was get this business dealt with, so I could go home and lay next to my wife for the next few hours. I had already decided I was going to text Caroline and tell her I would be in late. There was no way I was going to be able to concentrate on anything after only a couple hours of sleep.
“Do not thank me yet," Ivar laughed and headed back to the rest of the group.
I had no idea at the time what he had meant by that, but I sure wish I had. Maybe then I could have protected her better.
Chapter 16
Natalia
Ithadbeenseveraldays since Jimmy had come back home safe after being out with his brothers and crawled back into bed beside me. He slept next to me until the late morning and then went to work without telling me much about what had gone on the night before. I hadn’t expected him to tell me, but I was concerned. He had a black eye forming, which was proof that things had not gone entirely smoothly. However, he had gone to work, business as usual, even if a little late that day.
He didn’t come home that night, though. He sent me a text letting me know he had a lot of work to catch up on and would be sleeping at the office. The same story repeated every night this week. Tonight was Sunday night, though, and I had plans for us. Homemade lasagna-type plans, which I had learned were his favorite.
I knew it was silly to miss him so much, we had slept in the same bed a whopping one time this week, but still. I guess I had expected him to be here more. I occupied my days with crafts and painting, which I loved because I didn’t have to worry about work, but it got lonely in such a big house.
On Wednesday, the day following the horrible sleep interruption, I had Logan, Donte, and Kiwi over to help me set up my art studio. I was so excited to be able to decorate the room the way I wanted to and to be able to see all my art things. In fact, I didn’t have enough things to fill the size of the space. Donte had made a good suggestion about getting a desk for the corner. I could put a computer there where all my prints could be handled, and I could concentrate on my social media presence— which Kiwi had a hand in creating because, for the most part, I was technologically inept.
“It’s really not that hard to set one up,” Donte said as he sat on the couch in the living room with my old laptop. His fingers were going a mile a minute as he typed. Kiwi was sitting on the couch too, going through some prints I had had made up at Staples a while back—before I had married Jimmy. They weren't all that good, and I had thrown them in a box and forgotten about them. But Kiwi had made it her mission to find anything and everything art-related that she could use for advertising.
I really did have the best of friends.
Logan, on the other hand, was sulking in the corner near the TV, looking out the window over the city. He looked so stoic standing there—brows furrowed and lips turned down in a pinched frown.
