Page 14 of Beautiful Enemy

God, it’s tough to kick her when she’s already down.

“I never said anything about love,” I growl before turning to the stairs. “You’re going to be staying here for the time being. You better get used to it.” I stomp up the stairs just to get away from Nadia as fast as I can.

She’s in my head and she doesn’t even know it.

Anya

The gunfire finally stops.

When I lift my head off the chapel floor, I see that Aiden and Finn, Dante’s hired hitmen, are gone. Dante is gone.

Nadia is gone.

The quiet in the room is almost deafening. After a long moment, people begin scream and run for the entrance. A few people are dead. Gunned down. Their blood is splattered on the walls.

Erik gets off me, helping me up. I pull away from him.

“Why didn’t you save her?” I hiss.

The pain in his eyes hurts me almost as much as losing Nadia. But not enough. “I had to save you first.”

“No. She’s my sister. You should have saved her, Erik.”

“I will save her. I will get her back. That is my promise to you.”

I believe him. My husband hasn’t let me down in years. But this feels different. Dante taking Nadia feels final, like I might never see my sister again.

My father storms over to us. “What the fuck was all of that? That bastard took my daughter!”

“And I will get her back.”

“How? Do you know where she is? Do you know where that fucking Italian took her?”

“He doesn’t,” Viktor grunts from the altar as he stands up, clutching a hand to his bleeding shoulder. “None of us know where he took Nadia. But she was promised to me. I don’t appreciate him taking something that doesn’t belong to him.”

“You’re hurt,” Erik says. “You need to get that looked at before you can go after Nadia. I’ll send my men out. We’ll find her.” His eyes soften as he cups my face. “I will find her, Anya. You have my word.”

I lean into his touch. This man I love so much; we’ve had to work so hard at our marriage. We’re finally at a good point. We’ve been figuring each other out for years,exploring new depths, learning new parts. Erik has walked into fire to save both me and Nadia before.

He’s shown that he is capable. I just have to trust that he can save my sister again.

Dante

“Dante, what did you do?” Elio Romano asks me when he finds me on his doorstep. I know how I must look – covered in sweat. Disheveled. Like I just kidnapped someone.

“Have you heard yet?” I saunter into his house.

“I’ve heard rumors. But nothing concrete. What did you do?”

“I took her, Elio.”

“Who?”

“Nadia Belov. Sergei Belov’s daughter. I’m finally getting revenge on the man who kidnapped Aria.”

Elio shushes me and points upstairs. That must be where Aria is. “That’s still a sensitive subject for her. She still has nightmares of that day.”

I fling myself onto his couch and stretch out my legs. They’re tired from carrying Nadia over my shoulder. It’s a lot of work kidnapping somebody.

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