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I feel like I’m about to be initiated into a secret society, restless anxiety and excitement stirring in my belly. I want to know the truth, but I’m afraid of it. Will I be able to accept it, or will I learn something about my father that I never wanted to know.
Danya doesn’t give me the time to second guess my decision to ask, parading straight into an explanation. “Your father, James, is the owner of several uranium mines in the United States. I’m sure you’re aware of this, but what you’re probably not aware of is that I’ve agreed to trade him the deed to another mine in exchange for your hand in marriage.”
I fucking knew it. My father is just as slimy as I assumed him to be, and now I have confirmation of what he’s done. If he was in the room with us, I would throw a punch hard enough to knock his teeth out.
“But that’s not everything,” Danya continues, the sides of his mouth flickering up into a smile before returning to a serious scowl. “The mine I traded to James doesn’t exist. He was duped, and now you are my bride for nothing out of my pocket.”
I’m surprised that Danya would do something like that, even if he’s a crooked businessman like my father. He should know that it isn’t safe to cross rich people, especially not over something that’s going to hurt their pride.
“Are you considering the consequences to this?” I ask, feeling a bit sickened that Danya thinks this is an appropriate way to get a wife. I would’ve preferred being traded for something valuable, not for a lie.
Danya shrugs his big shoulders, unbothered by my palpable annoyance. “The only consequences are that we will inherit a lot of uranium when your father passes away, whenever that might be.”
My stomach drops. “You did this for an inheritance?”
“And a beautiful wife. Don’t forget about that part,” he says, looking just about as smug as can be.
I’m almost as disgusted with him as I am with my father for agreeing to this. Is it not possible foranyman to have an ounce of respect for women and stop treating them like toys?
I thought Danya was different. I don’t know why, but he seemed like he’d be above that.
But I was wrong.
So horribly wrong.
“This isn’t funny, Danya. Please tell me this is a joke. You can’t have possibly lied to my father about something like this. He’s going to kill you,” I plead.
None of this makes sense to me, and I feel sick just thinking about what’s going to happen as a result.
Danya laughs, his voice as cold as the subzero wind outside. “James is not going to be a problem. I can promise you that.”
My stomach twists, and my voice gets caught in my throat when I try to respond. He can’t be serious right now. This must be a sick joke, some sort of wedding tradition I’m not familiar with.
But the look on Danya’s face tells me it’s not a joke. He’s dead serious.
“James is a bit of a troublemaker, if I’m being honest,” he continues. “Your father has a lot more blood on his hands than you think, and I’m doing the world a favor by making sure he’s not going to be hurting anyone else.”
“He didn’t hurt me that bad,” I say, feeling my face where the bruise used to be. It’s already healed, and I want to forget he ever hit me.
“He will pay dearly for hurting you, but this goes much deeper than that, my darling,” Danya replies.
“Then stop screwing around and tell me,” I say, anger rising with my frustration.
He sighs, leaning back in his seat and looking past me. “Once you know, you’ll be guilty by association, but I suppose you already are as my wife. So, I will tell you. Just try to keep an open mind and understand where I’m coming from.”
Now I know it’s going to be bad, and I’m not sure I want to know where he’s coming from. I thought I could trust him, especially after we talked so much last night, and I realized he wasn’t the beast I had thought him to be. He’s rugged because he has to be, but now I’m wondering if I was too quick to change my mind.
“Your father isn’t just a guy who manages a bunch of mining sites and buys you purses with the money,” Danya says. “He makes extra by selling to some unsavory groups in Eastern Europe and South America. We’re talking rebel groups who make their message known through acts of terrorism. If he’s supplying them with uranium, we’re all at risk of a nuclear attack that could destroy the world as we know it. Your father isn’t playing with fire; he’s playing with a nuclear bomb and the timer is ticking down to zero.”
My breath is taken from me for a moment. “Why… why would he even do that?”
Danya shrugs. “Greed, I have to assume. He’d sell his daughter for another mine, so I assume it’s just that. I highly doubt he actually aligns with anything these groups stand for. He’s just trying to make a quick buck off the suffering of others, and that makes him quite pathetic in my eyes. The world will be better off without him.”
“What are you implying?” I ask, feeling an even deeper sense of dread than when I found myself tied to a chair with the lights off.
“You’ll see,” he says, getting up from his chair. “Breakfast?”
“What? No! How the fuck can I have breakfast after what you just told me?”
