Page 54 of Beautiful Enemy

“Aria, do you know something?”

She stares back at me defiantly. “No.”

“So, you don’t know where Nadia is?” I turn to the guard. “Weren’t you supposed to be watching the front door?”

A guilty expression crosses his face. I know immediately what has happened.

“Nadia is gone, isn’t she?”

Aria’s gaze finally drops. She can never look me in the eye when she lies.

“God damn it. Why, Aria? You hate her.”

“Because I realized that she’s not to blame. She’s just a victim like I was. She’s hates her father. And she said that if I helped her escape, she was the only one who could convince Erik to kill him. I want Sergei Belov dead for kidnapping me. I don’t see you managing that.”

I run my hand down my face. This fucking girl.

“What’s going on?” Elio asks, coming into the living room.

“Nadia is gone. Thanks to your daughter.” Without another word, I run out of the house. Where would she have gone?

I quickly dial Finn. “Be on the lookout for Nadia. She escaped.”

“You know she’s going to her sister’s house.”

“Are you close to it?”

“About ten minutes away.”

“Go there and see if she shows up. I’m on my way.” That’s the beauty of Nadia – she is so innocent that she’ll go straight to Anya for help. It’s her only play.

After observing Erik from the shadows, I know exactly where he lives. I could have attacked at any time but his house is guarded twenty-four seven. He usually has at least four to ten on guard at any moment. It didn’t make sense to attack him in his own home. Besides, stealing Nadia away on her wedding day was much more dramatic.

And a lot more fun.

I get into my car and slam my foot onto the gas pedal and go after my missing prisoner.

Nadia

“Get behind me,” Anya’s guard says, pushing me back into the house.

Finn slowly approaches with his gun drawn. “I don’t have to shoot if you just give me the girl.”

“No.” The guard fires at Finn and he fires back. A bullet lands right in the guard’s head, making him fall back into the house.

Anya gasps and slams the door shut right as Finn barges at us. “Oh my god. Nadia. Are you ok?” Her eyes search my face and body. “Wait.” She grabs my hands and looks them over. “You have all your fingers. I knew it. I knew it wasn’t really your finger.”

“A girl from the morgue. Already dead,” I explain. “Where’s Erik?”

“He’s gone today, at a meeting with Ivan and Viktor.”

“So Erik isn’t here?”

“No but there are other guards. They patrol the house. They should have heard the shots.”

Finn bangs against the door, shouting at Anya to let me go.

“Where are the guards?” I ask.

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