Chapter 31
Dmitri
“Are you listening to me?” Mr Thomas patted me on the shoulder drawing back my attention to the meeting that I’d zoned out of.
If not for the importance of the meeting, I’d have excused myself and crossed over to her. Did she think that flirting around with other men would make me discard her? If it was that easy, I wouldn’t have married her, knowing fully well that she lived with Freud.
“Of course, I am,”
He passed me a knowing look and glanced in Ariel’s direction. “You don’t have to be uncomfortable with the man around your wife. That’s my son, Darrell,”
I massaged my forehead at the revelation and clenched my teeth in anger. His relationship with Mr Thomas was the only reason I wouldn’t plunge a dagger through his knife for attempting to rile me up.
“Oh, and is he aware that she’s married to me?” I questioned through gritted teeth.
He smirked smugly and raised his glass of champagne to his lips, taking a sip. “This isn’t why you flew from Seattle to this place, Mr Mikhailov. I’ve heard about how straightforward you are but talking with you right now isn’t proving that point,”
He was right, but how did he expect me to be calm when my wife was enjoying a chit-chat with another man?
I leaned closer to him, temporarily forgetting about everything else. “What is your rate for fifteen kilograms?” I went straight to the point.
“How does thirty grands sound?”
My lips stretched into a grin but my mask veiled it. At last, business would be good as usual.
“That sounds like good business but we’d have to arrange a meeting so that I can test the originality of your product,” I replied.
“Sure. I’m fine with that,” He nodded. “But before we proceed, I have a condition,”
I hated being on the receiving end of conditions, but after what I’d seen in the hands of suppliers and with the price he was offering, it would only be fair that I heard him out.
“Your wife,” He began. “How important is she to you?”
My heart skipped a beat at his question because I was loss for words, but then, the eyes of the other men were on me so I had to say something.
“She’s very important,”
“That’s my daughter over there? What do you think about her?” He nudged me.
I didn’t like what I was feeling, but I went ahead and stared at her for a while. “She’s young and beautiful,”
“Of course, she is. Do you know how many men are dying to have her? But I’d like to offer her to you. We’d be a force to reckon with if you divorce your beautiful wife and get married to mine. And maybe I can help you with those people that have been stirring up trouble for you,” He suggested, flashing his set of teeth that had faded into a yellow hue at me.
That’s what excessive smoking causes.
Now I understood the weird feeling I’d been having since yesterday.
“First of all, how do you know about them and will you reduce your rate for me if I agree to your condition?”
“You are Capo, and I’m sure you know how fast news flies by. And for the rate, that would be a bonus. Think about it,” He urged me, taking a pack of cigarettes from his suit’s pocket.
I sprang to my feet and tucked my hands into my pocket. “There’s no need for me to think about anything because I’ve already made my decision. And I want to ask you one question,”
“Go ahead,”
“Will you take me seriously if I easily divorce my wife just to get married to your daughter because of business? You’re a father, don’t you care about her feelings?”
He chuckled and puffed out a smoke. “This is business, Dmitri. Don’t drag your emotions into it. Have you considered what would be the benefit of this union?” He pressed on, getting me more irritated.
I didn’t have the energy to reply to his questions anymore so I turned away in search of Ariel. Darrell was still standing by the buffet stand so I went to him, giving myself a pep talk on why I should be calm with him.
“Hi, I saw you with Ariel earlier. Do you know where she is?”
His brows furrowed as he flashed a questioning gaze at me. “And who are you to her?”
“Her husband,” Strangely, it felt so satisfying saying that.
He gasped in shock and caught himself quickly. “Oh, I’m so sorry for approaching her. I thought she was single, anyway, she went toward the restroom after reading some notes. I wanted to accompany her but she promised she’d be right back. I’ve not seen her since,”
“Thank you, but be careful of the kind of women you approach. Not every man got some chills,” I warned him and headed to the restroom.
I dug my hand into the pocket of my slacks and brought out my phone to dial her number, hoping that she hadn’t gotten herself into trouble.
I dialed her number and called her, but she didn’t answer her phone. How annoying!
How did I even allow myself to get married to someone as childish as her?
While dialing her number again, Fedor’s call came through and I sighed. Why couldn’t I have a moment of peace in my life?
Reluctantly, I dragged my thumb across the answer button and placed the phone on my ear. “Is there any problem, Fedor? How’s Liora?”
“Please, come to the hotel, boss. Someone tried to attack Liora and Ariel got in the way. She was shot in her arm, but we have tried to reduce the bleeding and we are skeptical of taking her to the hospital because of the suspicions it would raise,”
For the first time since Anya’s death, I felt pain not just for my daughter but for Ariel who took a bullet for her sake. Only Anya had done that and I realized I was wrong for not realizing that Liora had someone capable of being her mother.
But who could have been responsible for this setup? No one apart from my aides knew about Liora’s presence here…
Then my mind flashed back to the wariness I’d been having all day and that motherfucker had to confirm it by asking me to divorce my wife.
I turned around and dashed off to the main hall. I had some confrontations to do.