Page 112 of Beautiful Enemy

“They didn’t tell me.”

He pulls out a phone and texts someone. “Viktor will tell me. Your father… I’m not so sure. We’re not exactly on speaking terms.”

“Wait, Erik. Are you going to go there to torture Dante?”

“Of course. I’m going to revel in hurting him. After what he all put us through for weeks, he deserves a slow death.”

My breath hitches right before tears fall down my eyes all over again. “You can’t.”

“Nadia?” Anya asks.

“You can’t kill him. Please.”

“Why wouldn’t you want him dead?” Anya wipes my tears away, acting just like a mother again. “He hurt you. He needs to die for us to be free of him.”

“No. He didn’t hurt me. I mean, yes. When he first kidnapped me, he did. I almost died in a cold basement he kept me in.”

“Oh, Nadia. So why do you not want him dead? He almost killed you!”

“But then he didn’t. He saved me. He didn’t want me to die.”

The way Anya is looking at me – with so much pity – makes my blood boil. I love my sister but she doesn’t know anything I’ve just been through.

“He didn’t let you die because you were worth more to him alive than dead.”

“I have to agree,” Erik says. “He wanted to torture us. Knowing you were still out there with him did that to us. If he had killed you, then… he wouldn’t have been able to go through with his plan.”

“But killing me would have tortured you,” I say to Anya.

“It would have. But Nadia, don’t talk like Dante cares about you. He kidnapped you. He must have gotten into your head. Do you need to lie down? Rest?”

I rip away from her. “I don’t want to rest. I want to save Dante’s life. I don’t want him dead. Erik, I was there for that meeting. I know what Dante offered. Peace for a marriage. He will stop coming after you if you marry me to him. Isn’t that what you want? Peace?”

Anya whips her head around to stare at Erik with wide eyes. “What is she talkingabout?”

“I didn’t entertain the idea. I didn’t think Dante was serious. And besides, I would have only agreed to the deal so I could get close enough to kill him. If I really did take him up on his offer, then I’d have to break my deal with Viktor. He expects to marry you. If I marry you to Dante, then Viktor might start a war just for that alone. It’s better if Dante dies. Then we can put him behind us and you can marry Viktor and we’ll have more power than anyone else in this entire city. You’ll never have to be afraid again, Nadia.”

I can tell Erik is sincere. He just wants to keep me safe. And he makes a good point: if Viktor feels spurned, he might start a war. If Dante dies, then we end one war.

But I can’t let Dante die. Not after everything I’ve been through with him. Not when I know that I love him.

Call it crazy and irrational. There’s still a lot I don’t know about Dante but what I do know is how he makes me feel and he makes me feel alive and brave and desired.

He makes me feel like a woman instead of a little girl.

I can’t lose that to have to marry Viktor, whom I feel nothing for. The thought of giving up passion for a cold numbness makes me want to die.

“No,” I say.

He raises an eyebrow. “No? You don’t really get a choice in this. Dante is going to die. You will marry Viktor like you agreed to. What’s changed? You were willing to marry Viktor a few weeks ago.”

“That was until Dante made me feel alive for the first time in my life.”

“What are you saying?” Anya asks softly. There’s pain and confusion in her voice – I put it there.

“I’m saying that I’m not brainwashed. I’m saying that despite the fact that Dante and I are on opposites sides of this war, he’s not my enemy. I… love him.”

Anya gasps. “You can’t mean that.”

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