Page 94 of Beautiful Beast

Nadia goes over to Elena. “Hey, we need to leave.”

Elena’s only response is to bury deeper under the blankets.

“Elena, I know you’re scared,” I say. “But you shouldn’t see this. Come with Nadia. She’ll protect you, ok?”

Slowly, Elena peeks over the blanket and blanches when she sees Alek’s dead body. “Are we in trouble?”

“No. Just come with Nadia. Ok? Please.”

Nadia holds her hand out for Elena, who takes it after a long moment. I get them into my bedroom and tell them to lock the door before I go into the bathroom and wash my hands and face. Some of Alek’s blood is on the front of my dress, but I just have to hope no one notices.

I just killed a man. Yes, it was self-defense. He hit Nadia. I had to stop him.

But I still killed him. If I’d wanted to save his life, I would’ve run out of the room and gotten Erik. But I didn’t do that.

I froze, and Alek died, and now, his death is on my hands. I’ve become the thing I judged Erik for being.

A murderer.

And now, he’s the only one I can go to for help. How ironic is that.

My hands shake as I leave the bathroom. I curl them into fists and walk downstairs. The party is in full swing. No one seems to have noticed what transpired upstairs.

“There you are,” my father says, grabbing my arm the second I reach the bottom floor. “Where’s your sister? You haven’t kidnapped her again, have you?”

“You beat me for every single day of my life. You don’t have the right to ask me that.” I rip away from him and leave him standing there, open-mouthed and in shock.

Erik is talking to Ivan when I finally find him.

“Ah, Anya. There you are. I was wondering where you’d gotten off to.”

“Just needed some time alone with my sister.”

“My daughter seemed taken with you,” Ivan says. “She’s shy, so the fact that she took to you was astounding. Thank you for that. I’m assuming she’s been with you.”

“She has been. She’s uh… upstairs. I think the party was too much for her.”

“She does tend to get overstimulated when it comes to these things. So, thank you for that.”

“And thank you,” Erik says to me, placing his hand on my low back. Always showing everyone I’m his in some way. “Ivan has been a little bit worried about working together, but he told me that after seeing you be so kind to Elena, he’s not as concerned.”

“Oh,” I say tightly. “That’s great. Uh, Erik. Can I talk to you in private? It’s important.”

He motions for Ivan to give us a minute before we head to a quieter corner of the room. “What’s going on?”

“Uh … I need you to come with me upstairs.”

“Why?”

“Because something bad happened, and I …” I can’t believe I’m about to say what I’m about to say. “I need your help.”

Erik’s eyes narrow. “What happened?”

“It’s better I show you. I’ll explain everything. Please, let me explain everything.”

“Anya,” he warns.

“Just come with me. I can’t tell you in front of all your men.”

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