The Player (The Game Maker #3)(47)

CHAPTER 20

“He, uh, wants to get hitched. Today,” I told everyone on the conference line. “In fact, he gave me an ultimatum. Marry him, or never see him again. Ironic, huh?” I’d already relayed the fight with Brett and grilled them about that e-mail. Nobody had copped to it.

Pete said, “Where are you now?”

“At the courthouse, in some little room. He asked me to wait here for him to return.” I felt like I was getting sweated by Johnny Law. What was taking Dmitri so long? His family had left Vegas, so he couldn’t be waiting on them. He hadn’t mentioned anything about mine.

“Find him! You’re letting him get away!” Mom cried. “Right now his lawyers are telling him all the reasons why he can’t marry you. At best, they’re cobbling together a prenup. You need to be hauling Sevastyan over the finish line!”

“Mom’s right,” Benji said. “You’re losing the heat of the moment. If he gets out of crisis mode and starts thinking clearly—”

“Vice isn’t ready for this.” Dad’s tone was stern. “A marriage con can play with your mind. I know this.”

Gram made a sound of agreement. “It’s so true.” After losing my grandfather, she’d married a string of wealthy men.

Pete said, “Then what if Vice kept him?”

“How would that work?” I asked, longing for a deck of cards to soothe my frayed nerves. “Hi, Dmitri, I know we’ve only been married a few days, but I need a blank check for a fortune, and I can never tell you what it’s for.” I pinched my temples. “Besides, I thought I was going to settle down with a grifter, someone I could take home to meet my family. My real family. If I keep Dmitri, what kind of future will I have with you guys?” I’d belong in neither world. “I’m not talking about cutting him loose this minute, but we must be getting close—without a wedding.”

Dmitri opened the door. “My apologies.”

I said into the phone, “He’s back. Gotta run,” which was code for stay on the line, because I’m only acting like I’m hanging up. I set it facedown on the bench. “What’s happening?”

“I’ve been making arrangements.” Pulling together a prenup? He sat beside me. “You’ve probably dreamed of a certain kind of wedding, not a courthouse ceremony, but we will host a celebration for our families once we’ve settled in.”

“Settled in?” Oh, f*ck me. He was planning to take me to the motherland! “In Russia?”

“No, in California. We have an estate on the northern coast.”

We have. Wait, California? Oh, come on! My dream location. Lady Luck seemed to be smiling down on me.

He tucked a curl behind my ear. “I would never expect you to live far from your family. The flight there is only a little over an hour by jet.”

“Just hold on a second. I need to talk to you about all this—”

“Here.” He pulled a ring box from his jacket pocket and handed it to me. “Perhaps this will make up for the abruptness of everything.”

The weight sent a tremor through me. “This ring box is heavy,” I said, secretly narrating. I opened the lid and sucked in a breath.

Monster rock . . . jackpot . . . don’t scream, don’t scream!

“Dmitri, it’s unreal. This marquise diamond must be . . . fifteen carats.” The band was platinum, my favorite! “How did you get a ring like this so quickly?” That was where he’d been!

“I have ways. Do you like it? We can get you another—”

“NO.” Monster rock MINE.

“I’m pleased you approve. I also sent one of my men to collect your bag and lock up your apartment. The car remains. Perhaps your family would like to use it? I will get you another one.” Another? He took my hand and stood. “Come, they’re ready.”

So soon? “Where’s the paperwork? Surely a prenup will take some time.”

He frowned. “We have no need of that.”

“Pardon?”

“I intend to make you happy in our marriage. What’s mine will become yours, and you will never make me regret trusting you with all that I have.”

My brain exploded. I could make five hundred million dollars in the next ten minutes. If I were an awful person.

But the threat to my family . . .

I wished I could just nibble enough to save my parents; why did Dmitri have to force me into this major commitment?

Think, think! What would my sister do? Karin would be on her honeymoon by now. “Your brothers and everyone will think I’m a gold digger.” They would make him get this annulled. He’d plead insanity or something.

“My family wants us to be happily married.” Dmitri looked so trusting, and I was so . . . rotten.

“Don’t you want them to be here?”

“At present, I have some matters to resolve with them. It’s not important. What’s important is you. What does your instinct tell you?”

No prenup? “That you’re too good to be true, big guy.” All my life I’d wondered how people could be so stupid as to get grifted. If something seems too good to be true, it motherf*cking is, idiots.

“I’m not,” he said. “There are things . . . issues I need you to face with me. We will prevail; we will be happy.”