Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
Ryker
Sasha has hardly said a word the entire afternoon.
I’ve got to be honest, most women lose me when they start telling me all about their feelings and why I should sympathize with them.
But Sasha has done none of that.
Instead, she’s remained stoically by my side, her face frozen in lines akin to deep loss.
It tears at my gut, the way she’s willing to soldier through while clearly in distress.
I’ve got my arm around her, because I’ve been half afraid she’ll trip and fall in the dress, and half afraid she’ll bolt if I let her go, when my lawyer appears in the entrance of the sunroom.
He looks at me and I nod back, before I turn to Dimitri.
He whispers in his wife’s ear and then rises. Ava touches his arm and then pushes up from her chair as well.
I know Ava had a successful career before she married Dimitri, and I can tell by the shrewdness in her eyes that she’s seen a lot of life. I see her whispering to Dimitri, her bright blue eyes not wavering from mine.
She sees right through me. You can bullshit a man, but a woman like that…. She can sniff out an ulterior motive from a mile away. Fuck.
I’m not a man who gives into fear and I don’t flinch now. But I understand that whatever she is saying to Dimitri is not good for me.
He gives a single jerk of his chin and then starts across the room toward me. I look down at Sasha where she stands at my side, her hands clasped tightly together. “We need to step out for a minute.”
“Why?”
“Contracts.”
“What kind of contracts?”
I keep my face blank. “Your money, for one.” I sold her the, this is for your benefit line, knowing full well she’s desperate for money.
She gives a nod and lifts the hem of her dress. Taking her hand, I help her into the adjoining living room where the contracts have been spread out on a coffee table.
The lawyer waves us forward and I sit Sasha on the couch, keeping my face even, and my features blank. “Sign here.”
“What am I signing?”
“Our marriage license,” I answer smoothly. “And this one is the prenuptial that agrees I shall pay you a million dollars provided we survive a year of marriage.”
“A year?” she cocks her head and then signs the page.
The length is determined by the city of Las Vegas. It’s the time required to prove the marriage legitimate enough for the transfer of large property. Like a casino…
“Why a year?” Dimitri asks behind me.
I silently flip the page and point to the next line I need her to sign. Dimitri doesn’t know this, but he’s providing the perfect distraction. I don’t want Sasha to ask about this document.
“I thought that would be the time we’d need to complete a few of the promises I’ve given,” I give him a meaningful stare. “I know this marriage isn’t traditional. I thought Sasha might enjoy a possible out if she’s not as committed as I am.”
Dimitri’s eyes narrow as his jaw goes rock hard. He’s not buying it. “I’m going to give her a further out.”
I cock my brows, content to let him bluster. I’ve gotten what I wanted.
“If Sasha reports that her mental health is being compromised, or that you are not a loving and faithful husband, all contracts between us are dissolved.”
My mouth drops open. He has access to the tunnel because of this marriage. He wouldn’t… “You’d give up prime real estate?”
“She’s my sister,” he growls back.
I hear Sasha gasp behind me. But Dimitri’s not done. “I’m going to add that if I think you are not treating her well, this is also grounds for me to dissolve the contracts between us.”
“You get to weigh in on how well I’m treating her as a husband?”
I hear the scratching of the pen as Sasha signs the next document.
“You’ve added in money to buy her silence. I’m just making certain we’re all playing fair.”
Fuck. If I don’t agree, he’s liable to dissolve the entire thing before he’s signed the papers. Our original contracts were for Katarina, not Sasha.
I need his signature otherwise he can walk now, and I’d have nothing. No casino, no marriage, and no future away from my family. My entire plan hinges on marrying Sasha and then allowing her to dissolve the marriage a year from now and disappear.
Sasha has to leave with her money so that I can take over the casino she’s just inadvertently signed over to me, without rousing suspicion.
This is the plan. And it’s a good one for the most part. She gets her freedom. I get not one but three casinos on which to build my independent future.
I know that it’s a shit thing to do, taking the casino she doesn’t even realize she owns.
Maybe I should have been honest. Maybe I ought to have straight up bought it from her, made her a rich woman, and allowed her to do with her money whatever she wished.
But, I tell myself, this is better.
I really can protect her from her father.
And most of my capital is tied up in Smith Brothers. To pull it would be to alert them of what I’m doing. They could pull Dimitri’s property from my management before I’m able to gather the funds to renovate the other two.
And what if I’d asked Sasha and she’d refused? Decided she wanted to be a casino owner herself?
Besides, Sasha will have enough money to get started on a nice life.
She’ll be able to disappear just as she hoped.
And me? I’ll have my own chain of casinos. My own business, away from my family.
“I agree.”
Dimitri’s shoulders relax. “Add the addendum,” he says to my lawyer.
“I’m not quite certain how to quantify happiness,” the lawyer grumbles.
“We’ll do bi-monthly check-ins that can include a therapist,” Dimitri fires back.
The lawyer gives a terse nod and then sits in the nearby recliner, opening up his laptop.
I let out a long, slow breath.
Because my job just got way harder. I not only have to keep Sasha safe, I’ve got to keep her happy.
The woman who has looked like she’s been at a funeral all day.
How do I turn her frown upside down?
There is only one obvious way I can think of…and it happens to be the one way I’m quite skilled with women.