Page 120 of Beautiful Enemy

Chapter Twenty

Nadia

“Nadia!” Anya screams, rushing to my side and catching me as I fall to the floor. I’m suddenly woozy.

“Untie me,” Dante demands. “Let me help her.”

“Be quiet,” Erik snaps. Slowly, he goes over to my father’s side. He’s on the ground, clutching his stomach and gurgling. And then as soon as it happens, my father’s breathing stops and his eyes turn blank.

He’s dead.

“You just killed him,” Erik says in a low voice.

Matteo lowers his gun and begins to back away.

“Run,” I tell Matteo. “Leave.”

Without hesitating, Matteo takes off. Viktor starts to follow but I work up the strength to walk over to him.

“Don’t. He was just trying to protect me.” I stumble and fall against Viktor. He has no choice but to catch me.

“He shot a Bratva member,” Viktor says. “That cannot stand.”

“He shot my father,” I say, my words slurring as blood loss takes over me. “He would never stop. My father. He would never let peace happen.”

Anya runs over to me. “We need to get her to the hospital.”

Erik nods once. “We can deal with Matteo later. Anya is right.”

“No,” I mumble. “Not until you save Dante too.”

Something flashes behind Erik’s eyes. “You would let yourself die to save him?”

“If it means peace, then yes. Save him before you save me.”

“You can’t ask that of me.”

“Oh for god’s sake,” Anya mutters. “Stop arguing. Just save Dante so I can get Nadia to the hospital. Come on!”

That prompts Erik to move and he unties Dante’s hands. Immediately, Dante slumps to the ground, covered in blood. He’s barely able to stand up but he manages it. No one helps him, I notice.

“Let’s go,” Anya says.

“Sergei?” Viktor asks, nodding at my father’s body.

Erik pulls out his phone. “Get Nadia and Dante into the car. I’ll call my guy Charlie to come clean up Sergei’s body. Let’s go.”

Viktor looks like he would rather get punched in the face than help Dante but Viktor is an honorable man and he won’t let me die. He picks me up and walks me outside. When I look back, I see that Anya is the one to steady Dante and help him to the car.

Erik soon follows.

The last thing I can think before the darkness takes over me is that my father is dead.

And that thought sets me free.

D

ante

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