Page 73 of Savage Little Lies

The waiter nods and heads off, leaving Artur and me alone once more.

Artur sets his glass down and folds his fingers together in front of him. “What did you want to talk about? Something urgent?”

“You could say that,” I reply. “It’s about the arrangement between me and Annika.”

Artur’s eyes narrow in suspicion. “What about it? You want to delay even longer?”

The waiter comes by at that moment to hand me my drink, which I immediately down in one go before handing the glass back to him. “Another, sir?”

I shake my head before handing him the cash to cover my drink. I don’t think I’ll be here long enough for another round. Once he walks away, I turn back to Artur, who still has the same cynical expression on his face.

“I’m calling it off.”

Shock ripples across his face, then anger. Here we fucking go. “What the fuck did you just say?”

“I’ve been thinking a lot about the marriage, and I don’t believe it’s going to work out in the long run,” I tell him, watching his face get redder and redder with each word that I say.

Artur slams his fist down on the table, making his glass shake and rattle. People stop what they’re doing to turn and see what’s going on, but the spike in attention doesn’t faze him in the slightest.

“This isn’t about Annika! This is about you!” Artur growls at me. “You don’t want to marry her, even after all the effort that she’s put into planning the wedding!”

I clench my teeth as I stare at him, agitation firing within me as he continues to yell at me like he’s disciplining a child. “We can renegotiate terms.”

“I don’t want anything else from you or your fucking family!” Artur replies with a scoff. “My daughter deserves to be with someone who will take care of her for the rest of her life. You have the money and the resources to do that.”

I blink at him, more confident than ever that I made the right decision. “That’s the only value that you see in me and my family? A caretaker for your adult child?”

Artur points at me, fury etched across his face. “You shut your mouth! You have disrespected my daughter, and you have disrespected me. I will not tolerate it!”

I don’t care what he chooses to tolerate or not. This is my decision.

“You need to calm down,” I warn him, feeling more gazes on us as our argument becomes the main source of entertainment in the entire bar. “Let’s discuss another option that works for you. I can give you a bigger cut of the business done in your casinos and clubs. Or throw in a discount on any products you want to buy from us. We don’t have to figure it out tonight. Think on it.”

Artur clenches his hand into a fist, his shoulders broadening as his muscles tense in anger. “I don’t need to ‘think on it.’ Do you know how Annika will feel about this? She was so excited to marry you, and you’re going to discard her like she’s trash? What kind of snake are you?”

I’m not sure why I thought we could speak like respectable businessmen. Artur’s throwing a tantrum in public, and I’m losing my patience.

I slam my palms down on the table and stand, leaning closer to him as he scowls at me. “I’m not a snake just because I don’t want to marry your spoiled daughter.”

Artur abruptly stands as well, making the table shake enough for his glass to fall over. It rolls off the edge of the table and hits the floor, shattering into pieces at our feet. “We agreed on this arrangement, and you’ve thrown it back in my face! You damn Ivanovs…acting like the world revolves around you. Like you arrogant fucks are better than everyone else.”

“Don’t speak a word about my family,” I bite out as we glower at each other, only separated by a little table that won’t do anything to break up a physical fight.

“Fuck you,” Artur grits out.

“You two need to leave the bar and sort this out outside,” one of the bartenders calls out to us from the bar.

I wave him off, knowing we’re causing a scene. “We can still talk about this, Artur. We can come to another arrangement. Just find another rich guy for Annika to marry. Maybe one who will even love her back.”

Artur lets out a cold laugh. “Do you really think I’m going to work with you now? How can I trust you? You’ll just back out at the last minute again if you change your mind again.”

“I keep my promises,” I tell him. “But this marriage, my personal life, will no longer be part of any business terms.”

Artur shakes his head at me as his eyes narrow once more. “You don’t want to screw this up, Dmitri. All you have to do is go along with what we agreed. We could both get what we wanted, and all would be well.”

All wouldn’t have ever been well. I would’ve woken up every day resenting my own life.

I would’ve been the one to sacrifice my happiness, and I can’t bring myself to do that. Not after being with Cara. Being with her made the choice obvious.