“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 thenallowing 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.”
