Page 113 of Beautiful Beast

“How are things going with Alek’s funeral?” Erik asks, then takes a sip of his wine.

“I told his wife about his death, and she’s planning it. The funeral will take place in a couple of weeks. Of course, she asked how he died.” Ivan shoots me a look as he places his napkin in his lap. “And I had to tell her it was a freak accident. That heslipped and fell and landed on some broken glass, leading to the cut in his throat.”

I stare right back. “I saved your daughter’s life. You can stop judging me for Alek’s death.”

“Anya,” Erik softly warns. He needs me to try. More effort. I did promise I would.

“I am sorry,” I force out, “for killing Alek. But I don’t regret it. Not when it meant I saved both Nadia and Elena from harm.”

“Anya really is a hero,” Nadia adds. “You should be thanking her.”

“Be quiet,” our father snaps, making her flinch and look down at her plate.

“Don’t talk to her like that,” I snap back.

“She is my daughter. I can talk to her however I want.”

Erik clears his throat, drawing everyone’s attention to him. “Sergei, Ivan, I want to make amends. Dante came after me, as you already know. He almost killed me, and if he succeeded, you two would’ve been fucked. He would’ve taken over New York. We need to stand together next time.”

“I told you not to walk into that trap,” my father grumbles. “I said it was dangerous. But you went anyway.”

“Because I was kidnapped,” I say.

“So?”

“How can you be so cruel?” I whisper. It’s something I’ve grown used to, but at moments like this, it still surprises me.

“Enough,” Erik says in his firm voice. “Sergei, I had to save Anya. She’s my wife. It needed to be done. I will not have you judge me for it. But now, we have a better sense of where Dante might live.”

“Key word being might,” Ivan says. “We don’t know for sure.”

“We don’t. But we have an area to really hone in on, and that’s something we didn’t have before. We might actually beable to kill Dante. If we can just find his home, we can go in there and blast him to kingdom come.”

“I do like that idea,” my father says, scratching his chin. “Maybe Anya being stupid and getting herself kidnapped wasn’t such a terrible thing after all.”

His words send me straight into overdrive. I stand up and splash my wine right onto his face and white shirt.

The table goes silent.

Then my father stands and storms over to me. “You will show me some respect, girl.”

“Why? You never show me any. You never have.”

“Anya,” Erik says, grabbing my arm. “We need to talk. In the kitchen.” He walks me past my father and straight into the kitchen, where Edith is working on a pie. He motions her to leave and silently, she obeys.

Erik settles on the counter and crosses his arms. “Well?”

“Well what?”

“You said you’d try.”

“I know. But my father knows how to push my buttons. He says such terrible things to me and gets away with it, but when I respond to it, I’m the one who gets in trouble. How is that fair?”

“It’s not fair. I agree. But you said you’d make an effort. I need your father on my side. If he decides he’s had enough and leaves, I’m down one man, and then I’ll never be able to get Nadia over here. You’ll never see her again. Do you want that?”

“No,” I grumble. “But you don’t need to speak to me like I’m a child. I’m not a child.”

“Then quit acting like one.”

---