Page 84 of Beautiful Enemy

I lower my gun and back away from him. Matteo lets out a relieved sigh from the doorway. “It’s your lucky day, Ivan. You get to live. Tell Erik this is an act of mercy. Tell Erik to stop coming after me. If he does that, we can have peace.”

“But there will never be peace until you can return Nadia to her home. To her family.”

“Her father doesn’t give a fuck about her.”

“Her sister does.”

I crack a smile. “I find you amusing. Enjoy the time you have with your daughter. Who knows how long it will last.”

“Why are you letting me live?”

“You really want me to answer that? Just take the win.” I leave the bathroom before I change my mind and shoot Ivan in the fucking head.

“What are you doing?” Matteo murmurs as we head down the stairs. “Why are you letting him live?”

“I thought you’d be happy.”

“I mean… I am. But why?”

“Call it a change of heart.”

We head for the front door when the door bangs open and Viktor Smirnov comes inside.

We both freeze when we see each other.

“What are you doing here?” I ask.

“I could ask you the same thing. Got a call about you breaking in. I was the closest in the area. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to kill the man who kidnapped my fiancée.”

“You do know that if you kill me, you’ll never find Nadia. I have her locked up right now. She’ll die otherwise.”

Viktor hesitates and in that moment, I raise my gun and fire. The bullet lands in his arm, knocking him back. He doesn’t hesitate to fire right back at me.

Matteo and I run towards the back of the house. Viktor is relentless in his shots. He’s not a family man like Ivan. He’s a cold, ruthless Bratva man who wants revenge himself.

Matteo and I duck behind a kitchen counter as I reload my gun. “You want to know something, Viktor?” I call out. “I’ve tasted Nadia. And she tastes delicious. Have you tasted her yet?”

Viktor’s snarl tells me that he hasn’t.

I dive out from behind the counter and shoot at him. He has no choice but to run away out of the line of fire.

I keep shooting as I run for the back door. Matteo flanks me and together we make it out of the house.

“That wasn’t part of the plan,” Matteo mutters as we run across the street. Viktor tries chasing us but we make it into the car and drive away before he gets the chance.

“I know. But it was fun, wasn’t it?”

“You’re fucking crazy.” Despite his words, there’s a smile on Matteo’s face. “I have to say, I’m proud of you tonight. You didn’t kill Ivan. Maybe we’ll be able to find peace after all.”

Only if I put aside my anger. I took one step in the right direction and honestly, I don’t feel bad like I thought I would. I actually feel… proud of myself.

Maybe doing the right thing isn’t such a bad thing after all.

Nadia

Dante storms into my room, waking me up from sleep.

“Dante?”

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