If you were married against your will, then there’s only one thing left to do… to obey…
— You’re offering me a service, and in return I must?.. — I raise an eyebrow.
— You didn’t mishear, Vladimir. Marry my daughter.
— And if she doesn’t want to?
— No one asks what she wants, — the future father-in-law snorts. — She’ll do as she’s told.
— If she resists?
Artyom Fyodorovich moves closer and asks softly:
— And what, in your opinion, should be done with resistance?
I hold the other man’s gaze and, squinting, deliver:
— Deal with it firmly.
_______
My father sold me. In the twenty-first century, in a legal state. And no one did anything to him for it. And no one will.