Page 88 of Beautiful Enemy

Ivan lets out a shaky breath. “It’s just… I have to say that something strange happened. Dante was about to kill me. He had the gun to my head and everything. But then he just… stopped. He didn’t kill me. He said it was my lucky day.”

“Why would he do that?” Erik asks, glancing at me in confusion. I can only shrug. I don’t know Dante. He’s just the bastard who stole my sister away.

“I’m not sure. But I saw him looking at Elena a few times and he would get this sort of weird… guilty look in his eye. Like he felt bad that he was trying to kill me. I’m not sure if he’s going to come back for me. Was this just a game? Or was he serious in not wanting me dead, even after I stabbed him?”

Erik is quiet for a moment. I can see the thoughts swirling around in his head but I can’t quiet reach them. “Maybe Dante is getting tired of this war. Maybe he wants it to end. If that’s the case, then that gives me a chance to talk with him again. Maybe I can broker for peace. Give us Nadia and I won’t kill him.”

“Maybe,” Ivan says hesitantly. “But I don’t understand that madman. I think the best course of action would be to kill him.”

“Thanks for that advice, Ivan,” Erik says in a dry tone, then hangs up.

“So?”

“So… it seems that Dante has had a change of heart over something. I just need to figure out what.”

His phone rings again.

“You’re popular tonight,” I comment.

He makes a face and answers. “Viktor. What’s up?”

“I have the license plate for the car I saw Dante drive away in. I’m assuming Ivan already called you and told you everything.”

“Yes.”

“Well, I have the license plate. We can search for the car. Maybe it will lead us to Nadia.”

“Good work, Viktor. But listen, I don’t want you to tell Sergei about this. I don’t want him getting to Nadia first. If he finds her, he’ll force her back with him and it needs to be me who saves her. She’s only safe with me and Anya.”

“Well… Ivan already called Sergei. He told Sergei everything. Sergei’s already searching for the car too. I didn’t realize that he wasn’t allowed to know.”

That’s right. Viktor doesn’t know how my father has treated both me and Nadia over the years. We were going to tell him after he and Nadia were married.

Erik clenches his hand around the phone. “That’s fine.” His voice is tight. “But we need to find her first. Send me the details.” He hangs up and throws the phone onto the bed.

“What are we going to do?”

He gives me a long, hard look that I don’t like. “We have to find Nadia before your father does.”

Nadia

I find Dante in the kitchen, making breakfast, in nothing but pajama bottoms. The sight of his bare chest makes my stomach flutter. He is too handsome for his own good.

“You didn’t lock the door last night.”

He glances over at me and lifts up a skillet. “Eggs?”

“You didn’t lock the door last night. Why? You want to keep me here. But I could have left.”

“But you didn’t, did you?”

He’s right about that. I thought about it last night – just running away. Returning to Anya. And while I do desperately want to see my sister again, I also don’t like the idea of returning to my old life. I had to look over my shoulder constantly as I worried about my father trying to take me back.

With Dante, in a strange way, I’m safe from my father, since he has no clue where I even am.

“Why didn’t you?” he asks softly, not looking at me. It’s strange to see Dante looking a little bashful.

“You make me feel things,” I admit. He looks up sharply. “And I don’t know if I want to let that go.”

---