Page 49 of Romi
“Son, I wish you had called me sooner,” he sighed heavily.
“I would have given you my blessing and spoken to the boys and Miki for you, but I can’t really interfere now.”
Shit.
“Miki told me about his plans to safeguard the Estate and lab on Friday. He also told me about the arrangement Glowacki instigated regarding his son marrying Sonia, and I agreed. I didn’t know about your feelings for each other at that time, or I wouldn’t have,” he continued.
I felt like a bloody fool. This was my fault. I should have contacted our dyadya days ago. If I had, this might not be happening now.
I scrubbed the back of my neck and listened as he talked.
“An agreement of this kind will have been shaken upon, and that is something that cannot be easily broken; if Miki tries to break it, there could be a great deal of trouble.”
He was quiet for a minute.
“Miki has exposed some of our biggest secrets to Glowacki due to this deal, and if Glowacki gets mad, he could cause us all a lot of difficulty, and the alliance would indeed be broken. If you go up against him, you risk losing everything and becoming an outcast. You could end up being hunted down and killed because you have gone against your Pakhan. Miki would have to punish you regardless of how he felt about that. Also, if you were to take Sonia with you, she would have to spend her life on the run, too.”
He tutted and huffed out a breath, obviously mulling things over.
“This is a bad situation, Romi; let me think on it and see if I can come up with an alternative arrangement we can make Glowacki instead of this marriage,” he said, but he didn’t sound too hopeful.
“Get through the battles ahead first, and then we will talk again. Don’t do anything stupid in the meantime, okay?”
He sounded weary as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders, and I knew exactly how he felt.
“Fine. I’ll wait until this bloody war is over. I’d planned on doing that anyway, but I won’t be able to wait forever,” I warned.
“I’ll see what I can do, Romi,” he promised before hanging up.
A couple of hours passed while I sat there wracking my brain for ideas on how to get Miki to change his mind, but I couldn’t come up with any viable alternatives. It was bloody frustrating.
Checking my watch, I saw how late it was getting. I had stuff to do.
I headed back to the Estate feeling dejected but determined to get through the next couple of days and then talk with Uncle Maxim again. I had to believe he would have some good news for me by then. There had to be a way out of this agreement. We just had to find it.
CHAPTER 24
SONIA
THURSDAY AFTERNOON – AN ARRANGED MARRIAGE?
It was Thursday, and the house had been buzzing with activity all week, so Aunt Marta, Gracie, and I decided to spend a few hours of peaceful bliss reading in the library.
Aunt Marta was sitting in an oversized armchair with her feet propped up on a footstool, totally engrossed in the first book of a new series she was reading. Gracie was over in her writing corner, tapping furiously at the keys of her laptop, obviously working hard on her own first novel. I was sprawled out on a sofa pretending to read but far too distracted by thoughts of my tall, dark, and sexy secret lover to actually manage to do so.
In fact, I’d been on the same page for at least the last hour. I read and reread the same paragraph about a hundred times, unable to get any further before my thoughts slid effortlessly to what my mind considered a more interesting topic for one, my Romi. I didn’t remember a time when anything else could distract me from reading as much as that man could. Not that I minded. Not at all. It was absolutely wonderful to have a real man in my life for once, and not only that but one who actually gave the best book boyfriends a run for their money.
I bit my lip to stop from giggling as I remembered how Romi had seemed a bit jealous when I’d told him I was heading to the library to talk romance books and compare book boyfriends with Aunt Marta and Gracie. We’d just stolen a few moments of bliss together in my room, so how he thought he had anything to be jealous of, I have no idea, but it was super cute when he pursed his lips in displeasure at the mere mention of “book boyfriends” then tried to hide the fact.
I chuckled and reassured him that none could compare to my very own Mr Sexy Abs, and that had delighted him if the brightness in his eyes was anything to go by. Well, it was true. While we women who loved our romance books enjoyed a good book boyfriend or two, there was nothing quite like having the real thing.
As a feeling of utter contentment washed over me, I let my eyes flutter closed. I couldn’t help but smile as my imagination ran wild, creating all sorts of fantasies about my secret lover. Hot Damn! My man was sexy! I was just indulging my inner sex goddess with thoughts of running my hands all over that Adonis-like body of his when Miki appeared, wanting me to go to his office for a chat.
He looked serious, and I was suddenly filled with a sense of trepidation. My mind bombarded me with questions as I followed him down to his office.
Why did he want to see me? Was this to do with Romi? Did he know about us? I really hoped he hadn’t found out about Romi and me today, of all days. As much as I wanted him to find out about us soon, now wasn’t the time—not when he was already under so much stress over the impending attacks.
“Sit down, Sonia,” Miki said as we entered his office.