Page 132 of Beautiful Beast

Are we going to make it out of this alive?

ERIK

I run into the basement at full speed. My system is hidden insidea panel on the wall. It requires a special combination to set the bomb off. I didn’t want someone just pressing a button by accident and blowing up my entire fucking house.

It’s a reckless plan. It could end with Anya and me dying instead of Dante. But it’s all I have now.

The machine guns I bought are stored in a safe house to ensure Dante couldn’t get at them. I have my own gun and a few others to help, but my entire plan has gone up in flames.

I send a text to Ivan and Viktor, explaining that Dante is at my house and I could use the backup.Send men.I message James as well to send more men. I have an arsenal of men at my disposal, but none are here to help me now.

And by the time they see this, their men might not be able to get here in time. Sergei is out. He’s caught by Aiden, if they haven’t killed him yet.

For now, I’m on my own.

I plug in the combination and push the button that will activate the bomb in my house. Ten minutes. That’s all I have to get Anya and Nadia out and Dante and his hitmen inside.

I rush upstairs and fling open the front door where Dante is waiting for me. “You want to fight? Let’s fight.” Once glance behind him tells me Sergei is still alive.

Dante smirks as he steps foot into the house. “I thought you’d never ask. Why invite me in?”

“You have my house surrounded. I can’t get out. I thought it would be better to fight like men and end this instead of being bitches about it.”

“Interesting. You kidnapped my friend’s daughter. I would call that little bitch behavior.”

“That was all Sergei.”

“Didn’t stop you from asking her where my home address, though. She told me everything.”

“I didn’t expect anything less. Why don’t you invite your men inside? They’re gonna want to watch as I kill you with my own hands.”

“Aiden is busy with your father-in-law. And Finn is stationed outside so your wife can’t leave. Once I kill you, I’m coming for her.”

“Doesn’t matter.” I swing my fist at Dante, and he dodges out of the way. I’m just going to have to improvise.

He attacks me from the side, slamming me into the wall. I’m still holding my gun, and I angle it toward the open doorway where I can see Aiden. I fire.

The bullet misses him, but it draws his attention.

“Playing dirty,” Dante snarls, punching me in the jaw.

Aiden pistol whips Sergei, making him go unconscious, before stepping over his body and heading inside the house. “Do you need help killing him?”

“Grab his gun.”

Dante holds me against the wall as Aiden takes my gun from me. During that distraction, I knee Dante in the stomach, which makes him double over with a gasp, and grab the back of his hair before kneeing him right in the face.

I grab the other gun from my ankle holster and fire at both Aiden and Dante, but Aiden kicks my hand, knocking the gun from my grasp.

“What the hell is going on in here?” Finn asks, coming in through the kitchen. “A fight? And I wasn’t invited? Shame.” He glances around the room. “Where are the girls?”

Dante barrels into me, knocking me to the ground. He holds out his hand, and Aiden places a gun in it. The gun is cold as he presses it to my forehead.

“Say goodnight, Erik.”

“No!” It’s Anya.

She runs into the room and takes a swing at Finn with a knife, who clearly wasn’t prepared for her. She cuts his arm, causing him to drop his gun.

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