Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 47716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 239(@200wpm)___ 191(@250wpm)___ 159(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 239(@200wpm)___ 191(@250wpm)___ 159(@300wpm)
Well, he kind of did, Anton supposed.
That, and Ana’s place.
“Marry her,” Anton said, giving a single nod to confirm his decision. “But I want two more years.”
“What?” Koldan asked.
“Two years before you can have a wedding. It’s my only request, Koldan. I want two more years of Ana in New York. She’s not done school ever since she changed her degrees and I want her to finish first before she marries. I know this probably isn’t what you wanted—it’s a little wait, sure.”
“How long did you wait?”
Anton smirked. “A decade. Not by my choice, either.”
“I guess two years is okay, then.”
“Well, you don’t really get a say, do you? Not if you want my approval, and we both know you do.”
Koldan didn’t respond.
“Does your father have a heirloom to pass on to you for Ana?” Anton asked.
“No. And I hadn’t quite got that far in my own plans yet.”
“You have now,” Anton said. “Because I do have one, but I would have let Adrik have first pick as you’re his only boy.”
Anton pushed back in his chair, turning the seat around so he could spin the dial on his safe in the wall. Four dates were spun on the dial. The day of his wife’s birthday, his son’s, his daughter’s, and finally, the day of the month when he first laid eyes on Viviana. The safe popped open. It only took Anton a few seconds to reach inside and find what he needed near the very back.
His wife had access to the safe if she needed something, but as far as he knew, she didn’t purposely go digging for something to do. If she had, Viviana never mentioned it.
Anton pulled the little box out and spun back around, sitting the white velvet box to the middle of his desk. Koldan eyed the obvious jewelry box, saying nothing.
“Open it,” Anton urged.
Koldan reached over and flipped the top of the white velvet case up, his smile forming. “It’s ...”
“Beautiful,” Anton finished for the kid.
A lot like my daughter, he added silently.
“Ana would love this.”
“She does like her pearls,” Anton agreed, chuckling. “That’s going to end up being an expensive habit you pick up, given the way I spoiled her with them growing up. I’m not going to apologize for that.”
“Wouldn’t expect you to.”
Anton knew what lay in the white velvet without having to look at it because he had surely looked at the engagement ring more than enough in his lifetime. Double the time, actually, ever since his daughter made her way into the world. In fact, he could close his eyes and name every single millimeter of the band by memory alone. A peach toned pearl rested nestled in a case of diamonds. Glittering jewels encrusted the entire white gold band. It wasn’t necessarily a common style of an engagement ring, but it was important.
“It belonged to my grandmother. Nicoli buried her with her wedding band, but not this. She only wore it for the time during their short engagement and after, the only jewelry she wore was her wedding band. It belonged to his father’s mother.”
“Why didn’t you give it to your wife?” Koldan asked.
“It wasn’t meant for my wife. I was instructed to give it to the man who would marry my daughter. Nicoli never said if I had a daughter, or if she married, just that it would happen and she would eventually marry, so that was who it belonged to.
“Besides,” Anton said, waving off the suggestion it should have been for Viviana. “My wife only has one set of pearls she wears. This kind of piece isn’t her style.”
“But it is Ana’s.”
“It is. Two years, Koldan.”
“Thank you.” Koldan cleared his throat, shaking his head like he was trying to get rid of the remnants of whatever nervousness he must have felt stepping into Anton’s office. “This was easier than I expected it to be.”
“Not really,” Anton muttered, sadness still burrowing in deep. “It’s not over yet.”
A brief flicker of panic flashed in Koldan’s eyes, making Anton laugh.
“Oh?” Koldan asked. “What’s left?”
“We’ll bypass all the usual nonsense because you already know if you hurt her or break her heart, I’ll shove my fist down your throat and rip yours out while it’s still beating.”
“Yeah,” Koldan said, his voice turning a little hoarse. “I got that already.”
“Good. Saves me time, then. I hate you.” It wasn’t often Anton uttered those words.
Koldan’s head snapped up instantly. “What?”
“I hate you,” Anton repeated. “I mean, I like you, so hey, you’ve got that going for you and you should feel damn lucky there’s a little piece of me that does give a shit about you. But I really fucking hate you right now. And if I didn’t already know how much my daughter cares for you—loves you—I’d waste no time burying you alive. I hate you.”