Page 17 of Beautiful Enemy

Chapter Four

Nadia

“Did you really think you could get past us?” Finn asks, grabbing my waist. I struggle against him but he’s like a block of ice: cold to the touch and solid.

“I think she thought she could,” Aiden says behind me, descending the stairs until he stands beside his brother.

“How foolish. Little girl, you’re not going anywhere.”

“Are you going to hurt me?” I whimper. My voice sounds so shy and weak.

Finn looks at his brother. “Are we going to hurt her, Aiden?”

“The boss doesn’t want her dead. He never said we couldn’t have fun with her.”

A brick made out of cement lodges itself into my stomach. “Please. Don’t. Please.” I push and shove at Finn’s chest. I have to fight. I can’t let them hurt me.

Finn laughs as he lets me go. It’s so sudden, I stumble back and fall right onto the mattress. My wedding dress flares out around me, looking so out of place in the dark ugliness of the room.

“The one thing you don’t need to worry about is us being rapists. We don’t get our kicks off raping women. Only cowards do that.”

“It’s just fun to see the fear in your eyes,” Aiden says. “To see you cry. To see you scream.”

I feel like I’m in a nightmare. My body isn’t attached to my head. My vision is hazy.

This only happens in nightmares, I tell myself. This doesn’t happen in real life.

But it is happening to me. It’s all real and I can’t pretend otherwise.

Aiden and Finn are clearly brothers from their similar eye shape and nose. But their hair is drastically different. Aiden’s is reddish brown while Finn’s is jet black.

It’s like me and Anya. She’s all fire and red hair and spirit. I’m docile and shy and blend into a crowd.

Right now, I wish I could blend into a crowd. It would save me from the eyes of these two scary Irish brothers.

Aiden leans against the wall as he takes out his gun. The sight of it makes me gasp. “I just need to clean it,” he explains, taking out a rag from his other pocket. “Need something to do while I’m in here.”

“My brother, always needing to do something. Whereas I can just stand here and look at you.” He rakes his eyes over me. “Shame that you’re Dante’s. I would do dirty things to you if I could get my hands on you.”

If I could get my hands on you. Which means he can’t. Dante must have told them they weren’t allowed to touch me without his permission.

That thought doesn’t bring me any comfort.

Finn’s eyes narrow. “Not going to say anything? Cat got your tongue?”

“It’s obvious she’s shy.” Aiden doesn’t even look at me as he wipes down his gun.

“How is that obvious? She might just be afraid.”

“It’s in her entire air. She’s shy. And yes, she’s afraid.” He snaps his gun together and stuffs it back into his waistband of his pants. “Why wouldn’t she be afraid? Any sane person would be afraid in this moment.”

“True.” Finn frowns, almost like he’s disappointed. “I guess I was just hoping she’d have more fight to her. Making an already scared woman even more scared isn’t as fun as bringing a confident woman to her knees.”

Slowly, I push myself upright. It’s clear they’re not going to hurt me right now. While I am afraid, I can at least think more clearly.

“How long does Dante plan on keeping me?” I can’t look at either of them as I ask.

“What was that?” Finn mutters. “Speak up.”

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