Page 60 of Beautiful Beast

I stand there, stunned, not believing what she just said to me. “Do you honestly mean that? You want me to stop fighting for you?”

“No, of course not. I’m just worried you’re going to get hurt if you do this.”

“I can handle Father. I can handle Erik.”

“Can you? Because you’ve always been so strong for me, but I don’t want to see you get hurt on my behalf. I think I need to fight some of my own battles for once.”

“And you can do that … once I get you out of here and out of Father’s clutches. You’ll always be under his control, Nadia. You know that. This is your chance. He doesn’t know I’m here. Let’s go.” I take her hand in mine. “Let’s try.”

Nadia exhales and, after a long moment, squeezes my hand in return. “Ok. Let’s do this.”

“Just follow my lead.” Even though I don’t have a lead since I have no idea what I’m even doing.

We head to the back yard. There are fewer guards out this way.

“If we can just get to the car, we can go.”

“But, Anya, they’ll try to stop us.”

“Not if they’re not expecting us to do that. Come on. We have to run.” I rip open the back door and poke my head out. There are no guards around, but I know they walk the perimeter of the house. They’ll be here soon.

We sneak around the side of the house and stop before we reach the front. Only Simon is out front at the moment, standing near the car Erik let me use. His stance is casual. He’s not expecting anything to happen.

“Ok,” I whisper. “I’m going to get into the car and start it up. He’ll think I’m just leaving. The second I have the car on, you run and get into the passenger seat, and then we’re off.”

“I don’t like this plan …”

“Nadia, what other choice do we have? Don’t answer that,” I add quickly. I know what Nadia will say. She would want me to save myself and not her, and there’s no way I’m doing that.

I give her a reassuring look—or what I hope is reassuring—and walk to the car. Simon nods at me.

“Going so soon?”

“I think it’s better this way,” I tell him, getting into the car. “Makes it easier to say goodbye to her.”

“I get it. You two were always so close growing up.”

“Thanks, Simon.” I close the door and start the car, trying not to look nervous at all.

And then, I wait.

And wait.

I glance in Nadia’s direction and see she’s staring at her feet. I love my sister, but I swear, sometimes I think she wants to stay stuck under our father’s thumb.

Simon frowns and taps on the window. “Waiting for something?”

That makes Nadia look up, and after hesitating, she runs right for the car. Thank god. She gets in before Simon can even react, and then I’m backing out of the driveway like a speed demon.

“Hey, wait!” Simon shouts. He pulls out his phone and calls someone. Probably my father.

We make it out of the driveway and onto the street, and then we’re off.

“I can’t believe I did that,” Nadia says, giggling a little. “I actually did that.”

“You did good. I’m so proud of you.”

“Where are we going to go?”

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