Page 82 of Beautiful Beast

I make my way over to him as Anya sits at our table, eating. I think I wore her out and made her famished. That idea makes me smile.

“I didn’t know you were going to be here,” I say in greeting.

Sergei’s smile is tight as it always is. “I see Anya is with you.”

“Of course. She’s my wife after all. How is Nadia? Not beating her, I hope.”

“Of course not. Nadia is my good daughter. There’s no reason for me to hurt her. As long as she stays in line.”

“Of course. And how is Ivan doing?”

“Better. He’ll be in a cast for a couple of months, but he’ll be fine. Still annoyed with you, but he’ll come around. He’s a good man. He knows what’s best for him.”

“Of course, he does. Ivan isn’t stupid.”

“Look how easy it is to get people to like you when they’re afraid of you,” a voice from behind me says. It’s a voice I know well.

I spin around and come face to face with my enemy. “Dante.” Even through the black mask he wears, I know it’s him. “What the fuck are you doing here? This is a charity event. Last I checked, you don’t donate to this charity.”

“That’s because you own it and launder money through it.” He nods at Sergei next to me. “Hello. You’re … Sergei Belov, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Is your daughter around anywhere?” He makes a show of looking around the room. “I thought she was positively exquisite when I saw her last.”

“That’s my wife you’re talking about,” I growl.

“Oh, you thought I meant Anya? No. I meant the other one. Her sister.”

“Her sister is only seventeen.” I state.

Dante takes a sip of his champagne. “Shame. I thought she was older. Well, I guess I’ll just have to wait until she is.”

“To do what?” Sergei asks.

“To make her mine.”

Sergei explodes forward and grabs Dante by the jacket. “You will not go anywhere near my daughter.”

“Funny. Seeing as you gave your other daughter to a man like Erik.”

I grab Sergei by the back of his jacket and yank him away. “Not here. You’re causing a scene.” I can’t risk someone callingthe police. I really fucking hate it when the police even glance in the direction of my endeavors.

“Nadia is promised to Viktor Smirnov when she comes of age,” I inform Dante. “And if you know Viktor, you know he’s a reserved man but a powerful one. You will not go after Nadia. Not when this war is between us.”

Dante straightens his jacket. “That’s never stopped you from using women to your benefit before. I promise you, Erik, I have no desire to go after Anya. I don’t care for redheads.”

“Don’t go after Nadia,” I growl. “You’ll only make things worse.”

“Isn’t that what I want? I want to start a war with you, Erik. Well, mostly I just want to kill you. Get you out of my territory. I heard you tried to make a deal with the Cartel? I work with them. Not you. Back off, or I’ll be forced to kill you at your precious little charity event.”

“Is that why you sent your hitmen after me? They suck at their jobs, Dante.”

Dante smiles. “Don’t worry about their skills. They’ll succeed in bringing you to me, and I’ll end you then. You have fun torturing people, but you seem to forget I’m also a skilled torturer. I want you so fucking paranoid that you’re losing your mind by the time my men come for you.”

“That won’t happen. So, if you want to end things, let’s just leave this place and fight it out now. Wouldn’t that be easier? Save everyone else the trouble?”

Dante nods behind me. “Your wife is approaching.”

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