Page 98 of Beautiful Beast

Erik steps back, dropping his hand. “See? It seems Anya is telling the truth. Ivan, you need to vet your men better.”

“I want to see my daughter,” he growls.

Nadia goes back into the room, and a moment later, she comes out with Elena by her side. Ivan immediately pulls Elena into his arms.

“Are you ok?”

She nods and sinks deeper into his arms.

“So, if there isn’t any problem here,” Erik says, “then I’ll have Alek’s body moved. He can have a proper burial.”

“No,” Ivan says, letting Elena go. “I want to hear it in my daughter’s own words. What happened?”

“That man was scary,” she whispers. “Anya was just trying to save us.”

“She’s a hero, then,” Erik says. “I know we’ve been a little rocky lately, Ivan, but I hope this means you can trust Anya and me. She saved your daughter. That should mean something to you.”

“And it does. I’m grateful she saved my Elena. But that doesn’t mean she gets to go unpunished. My man died because of her actions. I want her punished, Erik, and I want you to do it in front of all your men down there.”

I scoff. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am serious.”

“What are you thinking?” Erik asks.

“You can’t actually be entertaining this?” I demand.

“Anything you want to do,” Ivan says. “Just let it be known that no one will get off for murdering one of my men.”

“That’s rich, considering how many men you guys have killed without punishment.”

“Ok,” Erik says. “I’ll do it if it will appease you, Ivan.”

“No,” I whisper. “Erik, no! I did a good thing. I don’t deserves this. If you do this, I will hate you forever.”

His eyes tighten. “I can’t risk losing all my alliances. I’ll make it quick, Anya. It’ll be done, and then we can move on from this.”

“No. No!” And before I can even think, I take off running down the stairs.

Chapter

Fifteen

ANYA

Imake it to the bottom floor before Erik catches me.

The party guests look at me with a mixture of curiosity, hate, and amusement as Erik holds me against him.

“Don’t do this,” I beg. “I saved Elena’s life. I don’t deserve to be punished. Tell Ivan he’s wrong.”

“I’m sorry, Anya. I need Ivan in this war against Dante. I can’t risk losing him. We’ll make it fast. And then, it’ll be done.”

“Do you not even care?” I ask in a low voice so only he can hear. “Do you not care about me? About what I did?”

His eyes soften as do his hands on my waist. “You saved Elena and Nadia’s lives from what I understand. I’m not punishing you for that. In fact, I don’t want to punish you at all. But this is the Bratva, Anya. You killed one of Ivan’s men, and that needs to be dealt with.”

“But if Alek had raped Elena, then Ivan surely wouldn’t have hesitated to kill him. And I doubt he’d be facing any punishment.”

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