I know my wife. This is just another one of Budimir’s mind games.
“Go ahead,” I say with a shrug. “Ask her.”
“Are you so sure of her response?”
“I don’t have a single doubt.”
Budimir’s smile is less convincing this time. He looks towards Esme. She freezes instinctively, her body cringing back as she’s forced to meet his eye.
“I’ve given your husband two choices,” he tells her amicably. “He’s overpowered, in men and in strength, but I’ve decided to be generous.”
She doesn’t move a muscle.
Budimir continues, “His choice is simple: give up his claim to the Bratva and surrender his son to my custody. I will raise the boy myself, give him all the perks and luxuries of a don’s son and when the time comes, he will take over the mantel of don.”
It strikes me that Esme listens to all of this without much of a reaction. Her eyes widen for only a moment before she seems to get a hold of herself.
“What will happen to me?” Esme asks, after a moment’s pause.
I hadn’t expected her to ask questions, but I wonder if she’s trying to buy time, too.
“You will have a choice just the same,” Budimir says with a sickly-sweet smile that I don’t trust at all. “You can stay with your son on this compound as my concubine.”
“And Artem?” she asks without blinking.
Budimir raises his eyebrows. “Artem cannot be allowed to live,” he says calmly. “But you already know that.”
Esme doesn’t even look at me. I see her fingers twitch.
“What’s my other choice?” she asks.
“Well, then, you will die,” Budimir says matter-of-factly. “Just like your husband will die and your son will die.”
She glances in my direction but she’s still not looking me in the eye. It’s starting to make me feel strange.
Why the fuck is she not looking at me?
“Artem,” Esme says to me. But she’s still looking square at Budimir. “Phoenix is my son, too. I should get to decide.”
Fear wraps itself around my chest. “You can’t trust him. Fighting him is our only way out of this.”
“If he wins, we all die,” Esme says. “Including Phoenix.”
“See, Artem?” Budimir smiles at me. “Even your woman can see that’s there’s only one viable path here. Sometimes fighting is not the smart choice.”
“Esme…”
“I can’t risk my son, Artem,” Esme says, her eyes meeting mine for the first time.
She looks terrified, but determined. She looks like she’s made up her mind and she’s not going to back out now.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers, moving forward.
But she doesn’t move towards me—she moves toward Budimir.
“Try and understand. I’ll lose you both. But this way… I can save my son.”
“You’re making a mistake, Esme,” I say, my voice carrying across the room to her.