Page 118 of Beautiful Enemy

“What?” Father exclaims while Viktor goes eerily still and Erik looks like he might die from shame.

And at that very moment, Matteo comes running down the stairs.

“No one move,” he shouts, pointing his gun at each of the men.

Viktor goes for his gun but I say, “Don’t. Matteo doesn’t want to kill anyone. I just went to him for help in saving Dante. Don’t shoot him.”

“He’s an Italian,” my father sneers. “He’s one of them. You’re saying you’re friends with him too? You fucked him also?”

I blanch. I wish I could stand up to my father better but my voice gets stuck in my throat.

It’s Anya who defends me. “Don’t talk to her like that.”

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

“She doesn’t belong to you,” Dante says, breathing ragged. The fact that he’s hurt and still trying to defend me shows me how much he’s changed.

“You.” My father points the saw at him. “Shut up.”

This is all getting out of hand. Someone is going to get killed if we don’t stop this.

“Matteo isn’t going to shoot anyone,” I say, stepping forward. “All we want is Dante safe. I propose a deal. It’s the same one Dante came to you with, Erik.”

“What deal?” Viktor asks.

Erik’s face screams that he doesn’t want to say the deal in front of Viktor but I’ve put him in a bind. “If I make an alliance with Dante by letting him marry Nadia, he’ll end this war. That’s the deal.”

“Bullshit,” Father growls.

Viktor looks stunned. “You didn’t seriously consider this deal, did you?”

“No. But now…”

“Now?”

Erik sighs and nods at me. “Nadia is here, risking hers and my wife’s life to save Dante. That means something.”

“You’ve gone soft,” Father says. “When we first met, you never would have given in to the whims of women.”

“I guess I’m a changed man. Forgive me for not wanting my wife and her sister to get hurt.”

“No one is going to hurt them,” Viktor says.

Dante’s laugh breaks through the conversation. “Sergei will try to hurt his daughters if he had his way. Am I right, Erik?”

“Unfortunately, he’s right.” Erik looks like he would rather die than agree with Dante but he knows the truth about my father.

“Don’t side with him,” Father snaps.

“Let’s just all calm down,” I say. This is my moment. It wasn’t my fault that I’m in this mess but it’s my duty to finish it. “Has anyone asked whatIwant?”

Father scoffs. “Why does that matter?”

“It matters,” Anya snaps at him.

I raise my chin high. No time to be shy right now. “I want to be with Dante. I know that it doesn’t make sense but it’s what I want. No, he didn’t brainwash me. We just… shared a connection. We still have room to grow but I don’t want him to die before I get that chance. I’m sorry, Viktor. But I don’t want to marry you. I gave myself to Dante willingly. He never raped me. You have to take me at my word.”

“And then what?” Father asks. “You just run off into the sunset with him?”

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