Page 24 of Beautiful Enemy

Aiden shrugs. “Your jokes are ok. I’ve heard better.”

“Et tu, Aiden?” Finn clasps his hand to his chest. “Et tu?”

“Both of you, stop it,” Dante snaps. “We’re not here to banter. We’re here to get a job done. And you” – he sets his electrifying eyes onto me – “are the job that needs to get done.”

“I-I don’t understand.” I stumble away from him but my foot hits the mattress and I fall right onto my back with a huff. The sight of all four men standing above me is something from a nightmare.

“I need to get this show on the road,” Dante explains. “The picture I sent to your sister was fun but it’s time to up the ante. Erik needs to know that you’re in danger. It will drive him fucking mad. So, get up. Don’t look up at me with those eyes. You’re the enemy here, Nadia. I have no sympathy for you.” It’s almost like he’s trying to convince himself of that.

My tears hit me with a sudden abandon. “Please don’t hurt me. Please.” I lay there and cry and I don’t even care if I look pathetic. I’m terrified out of my mind.

“Poor baby is hurt,” Finn mocks. “Someone should give her a bottle to suck on.”

“Don’t make a disgusting euphemism,” Aiden mutters.

“I wasn’t but you did it for me.”

Matteo only shakes his head, looking utterly annoyed, with me or the brothers, I’m not sure which.

I can barely see through my tears so at first, I’m not sure if I’m imagining it or it’s really happening, but Dante holds his hand out to me.

“Come on,” he says in a softer tone. “Let’s get this over with.”

“No,” I whisper. “Please. Just leave me alone. I don’t want this. I’m not your enemy. I’m not the answer.”

“It’s because you’re so innocent and mean so much to the people in your life that you are exactly the answer. I can’t hurt Erik. It wouldn’t hurt enough people. Same with yourfather. And if I hurt your sister, I would only be hurting you and what good would that do? I don’t want to drive you mad. You didn’t try to kill me.”

“So, don’t hurt me.”

He kneels down next to me and pushes strands of my hair out of my face. “But you did stand back and watch as your sister stabbed me. I don’t trust a Russian and I definitely don’t trust someone who is related to Sergei Belov. So, I’m afraid, sweet Nadia, that you have to pay the price. Now, are you going to lay there and cry or are you going to do something about it?”

My last hiccup leaves my body. Dante does have a point. Maybe if I do as they say, they’ll let me go. I’m not a fighter like Anya but I do have one thing at my disposal: my brain. If I’m smart, I can play along until I can find a way to escape.

Dante holds his hand out again. “Well?”

My hand only shake slightly as I place my palm in his. The second our hands touch, all I can think about is how warm his palm is. How strong. How dangerous. And yet how… thrilling.

Dante pulls me to my feet, then lets me go. I feel instantly colder without his touch.

“Matteo. Here.” He hands him the camcorder. “Make sure it’s recording.”

“Why not just use a phone?” Finn mutters.

“Because this will make it harder for them to track where we are. And it’s more theatrical. Don’t question me.”

Finn looks like he has more to say but Aiden nudges him and subtly shakes his head. Finn doesn’t say another word.

Matteo points the camera right at me. “What do you want me to do, boss?”

“Just keep recording. Don’t lower it.” Dante stands right beside me, his breath tickling my cheek, his chest intimidatingly large. Right now, I feel no bigger than a mouse.

The lion has come to play with me.

Dante takes my chin in his hand. It’s not gentle but it’s not rough either. “Look at this face. Isn’t it beautiful? What do you think… Erik? Anya?” He smiles at the camera as he holds my face in his hand. “Does it drive you both insane wondering what I’m doing to her? What I’ll do to her in the future? Tomorrow? The day after that? And the day after that?”

Aiden and Finn stand behind Matteo, watching everything with rapt attention.

“What would happen if I hurt her? Maybe I already have? You don’t know. Nadia, do you want to tell them what the past twenty-four hours have been like for you?” He lets go of my face.

---