Page 89 of Beautiful Enemy

Setting aside the skillet, he comes over to me and cups my face. “But I kidnapped you.”

“You did. But the world we live in is a dark one. How is what you did any worse than what my father has done to me and Anya? At least you’ve never beat me.”

“So, you only like me because I haven’t beat you? Really low bar.”

“No. I like you because… I haven’t felt this alive ever before.”

“Not even with Viktor?” he asks.

“Viktor and I barely know each other. I was just marrying him because it was my duty. But I didn’t feel… anything for him. He doesn’t give me butterflies like you do.”

“You shouldn’t like me, Nadia,” he says in a low voice.

“I know I shouldn’t. I should have left you to die. I should have saved myself. I know all of this. But I also know that you have the power to end this war. And I know that I didn’t want to see you die, whatever that means. I just know that I feel drawn to you, even though I shouldn’t. Isn’t this what you wanted?” I whisper, setting my hands on his chest. He sucks in a breath. “You wanted me to come to you willingly.”

“And have you?”

My mind is a mess with conflicting feelings. A part of me wants to run from Dante and another part of me wants him to pull me into his arms and kiss the life right out of me.

I’m not sure any of that will ever go away.

“I don’t know,” I admit. His eyes dim a little. “I just know that I want to return home to my sister while I also want you to kiss me again.”

“I can’t bring you back home. It will be defeat.”

Before his words can make me too sad, he continues talking. “But I can definitely kiss you.”

He brings our lips together and instantly, I melt into him. It’s like waking up from a dream whenever we kiss. I feel more alive in this moment than I have in my entire life.

The front door bangs open and Matteo runs inside, forcing me and Dante apart.

“What is it?” Dante growls, still keeping his hands on me, I notice.

“We have to run. Right now.”

“What’s going on?”

“Sergei is here. He found us. He’s coming up the driveway right at this moment.”

Dante curses and lets me go. I feel the urge to call him back to me. “How the fuck did he find us?”

“You let Ivan live last night. Maybe he found us that way. I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. What matters is we need to leave.”

“Or we fight.” Dante opens up a kitchen drawer and pulls out a gun, startling me. “I say we just kill the fucker. It’s about time, don’t you think?” He turns to me. “Do you want your father dead?”

I hate my father but I can’t ask for his murder. It would go against who I am.

“Would you like me if I said yes?”

Dante’s expression says so much and yet, I can’t make sense of it. “He needs to die. You don’t have to agree with it. Go hide in the bedroom.” He pauses. “Unless you want your father to take you back home.”

“No,” I whisper. Just knowing that my father is here makes my body tense up. Even Dante has never made me this afraid before.

“So go hide,” he says softly, skimming the backs of his fingers down my cheek. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t get to you.”

I make another decision again by going back to my room instead of going to my father. A line will be crossed in the sand because of this.

And my father will not be happy.

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