Page 78 of Beautiful Enemy

His words make me more angry than I’ve ever been in my entire life and before I can stop myself, I slap him across the face. Dante looks up at me with a stunned expression.

“The only reason I’m in this position is because you kidnapped me. Because you wanted to start a war. I am not to be blamed for that. I only came back with you because I wanted to get you to stop this war.”

“And I’m not going to.”

“Why not? You almost died. Don’t you just want to live and be happy?”

His eyes narrow. “How can I be happy? I have no one. No family. No loved ones. The only thing I have to fill my heart with is vengeance.”

“You could fill it with love,” I say softly, sounding foolish to my own ears.

Dante’s eyes soften too. “Love? For who? You? You don’t love me. You never will.”

Slowly, I sit down beside him. “There’s something else.”

“What?”

“I didn’t only go with you to try and convince you to stop this war. I also…”

“What?” he asks more softly. His fingers skim my cheek. “What is it, baby?”

“I didn’t want to see you die. I had to know that you were ok.”

His eyes widen. “You are so innocent. By making sure I survived, you’ve ensured the ruin of your family.”

“No. Because you don’t have to do that. You can stop. You can put aside the hate in your heart.”

“And what? Let you go? As a gesture of good will? Erik will still come after me to kill me. It’s either you stay with me forever and I kill your family or you return to your family and Erik kills me. This is how it ends.”

“It doesn’t have to.”

“It has to. I wanted you to care for me,” he admits. “I wanted to get you to fall in love with me.”

“I’m not in love with you.”

“Maybe not yet. But you did just help save my life.”

“So you could do good with it.”

“Oh, baby. Why would you think I could do good with my life? Me? The man who fucking kidnapped you.”

I flinch at his words. I don’t need the reminder. “I know I may seem naïve and foolish. But this is the only way I can think to help. If I went back to Erik, he’d lock me up for my own safety. I’d have to get married to Viktor.”

“I thought you wanted to marry Viktor.”

“It was an arranged marriage. I was going to marry him because that was what was expected of me, not because I loved him. I barely know him. He’s a stranger to me in so many ways. Ironically, I know you better than I know him. And if I were to return, my father would try to hurt me again. I don’t want any of that.”

“You want to be with me?”

“No.”

He huffs, letting his head fall back on the couch. “Then which is it?”

“I don’t know what I want. I just know that I’m drawn to you. I know that I didn’t want you to die despite what you’ve done. I just know that if I were to return to my old life, I’m not sure I’d be any happier than I am now. But by choosing to return with you, I am choosing to take action. I am choosing to do good.”

“I like that you think you can change me.” He tucks a piece of my hair behind my ear. “It makes me believe I can really change.”

“You can.”

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