Page 4 of Beautiful Enemy

“You’re not allowed in here,” Anya growls, blocking him with her body.

“Don’t make me hurt you. Your husband isn’t here to protect you. I saw him down by the chapel. He wouldn’t get here in time to stop me.”

Anya’s shudder is visible. Erik has been the only person to save her from our father. He stood up for her. He stopped our father from hitting her. And he broke off his partnership with our father to save her.

I moved in with Anya and Erik four years ago when I was only seventeen. As a minor, legally, Erik kidnapped me by taking me from my father but I was glad to go.

Of course, my father never forgave Erik. Things have been tense between them ever since. He tried to get me back over the years but Erik always stopped him.

Now, I’ll be married to Viktor and my father still won’t be able to get his hands on me again. At least, I hope not. Maybe it’s a good thing Viktor locks the women in his life up to protect them. I’ll take spending my days trapped in a room rather than be with my father.

“Leave,” Anya growls.

“I have a right to wish my daughter congratulations on her wedding day. Besides, I’ll be walking her down the aisle after all. I should be here.”

“Erik is going to walk her down the aisle.”

“But people will talk. I’m not dead. They’ll wonder why I’m not the one to give her away.”

“I don’t fucking care,” Anya snaps. “You will not touch her. You will not get even close enough to touch her.”

He looks over Anya’s head right at me. Like prey, I’m rooted to my spot. I want to run but my legs refuse to move. “Nadia, you want me to walk you down the aisle, don’t you? You don’t want me to hurt your sister, do you?”

“Don’t listen to him,” Anya tells me. “Even if he does hurt me, Erik will make sure our father can’t hurt you. Don’t let him walk you down the aisle.”

My throat is suddenly raw as all the moisture in my mouth disappears.

I’ve barely seen my father in the past four years since I moved in with Anya and Erik. A part of me pushed him from my mind. I almost forgot what he looked like.

But now here he is, standing right before me. He could so easily push Anya to the side and grab me and take me back to his house where he could beat me to death.

“Come on, Nadia. I am your father. Stop being ridiculous and let me walk you down the aisle.”

“Don’t,” Anya repeats.

He finally does what I was worried he would do.

He pushes Anya to the side and storms into the room, advancing on me. I stumble back and trip on my dress, falling right to the floor, and landing on my back. I gasp as I stare up at my father hovering above me.

“Your dress is going to get wrinkled. People will talk about how I have a messy daughter. You will not ruin this for me, girl. Now get up.”

“Leave her alone,” Anya snarls, charging at our father and pushing him to the side. Without hesitating, he backhands her across the face. Anya falls to the floor like a block of ice. Hard and sudden and cold.

I scramble upright and shove our father back. “No. I will not walk down the aisle with you. You do not have the right to give me away.”

“I will hurt her.” He grabs Anya by her hair and tugs, making her gasp. “Do not test me, Nadia.”

My throat seizes up. I can’t speak. Everything goes numb.

I want to save my sister but I can’t find the words. It’s in this moment that I still feel like the little girl who was terrified of her father. I haven’t changed at all. I haven’t grown.

I’m still so afraid.

“Let her go.” The deep voice cuts through my senses. Erik. He’s here.

He rushes over to my father and jerks him away from Anya. “I told you to never talk to either of them again.”

“You might own Anya but you do not own Nadia. I can talk to my daughter.”

---