Page 103 of Beautiful Enemy

“You’re not giving me a choice. I have to see my sister again. She has to know that I’m all right.”

“But if you go with Erik, he will keep me from you. We’ll never see each other again.”

Erik looks between me and Nadia with a stoic expression that I can’t make out. What is he thinking?

“Nadia,” he says in a low voice, “you need to come with me. Dante has gotten into your head. You don’t want to be with him.”

“I… care for him,” she admits.

Erik’s face crumbles. I have to resist the urge to laugh.

“We can stop this war,” she says. “Allow me to be with Dante and see Anya at the same time.”

“Funny,” I say. “I was just offering the same deal. Marriage in exchange for ending this war.”

Nadia blinks at me with wide eyes. “Marriage?”

“Why not, baby? How else am I going to get you?”

She takes one step towards me when everything happens so fast. Erik lunges forward and grabs Nadia and whips out his gun. “I will shoot you, Dante. Don’t follow us.”

“Let me go,” Nadia says, struggling against him.

“Anya misses you,” he tells her. “She’s your family. Not him.”

“I thought you would try to get out of my offer,” I say, taking out my own gun. “Nadia is mine. Let her go.”

Nadia stomps on Erik’s foot and his hold on her loosens right as Erik fires his gun at me. I fire back.

Nadia falls to the ground. Our bullets barely miss her.

“Nadia!” I shout, running to her side. “Are you hurt?”

Erik looks around the crowded plaza before backing away. “This won’t end until you’re dead.” Then he takes off at a brisk pace, keeping his head down.

I quickly help Nadia back up. “Are you hurt?”

“I didn’t get shot.”

“Good. Let’s get you back home.”

Home. I see Nadia as my home now.

But does she see me the same way?

Nadia is quiet on the drive back to the cottage. Matteo takes the other car, which is smart because I’m fucking pissed at him for bringing Nadia to that meeting.

The moment Nadia and I get back home, I turn to her and say, “What were you thinking? You were being stupid!”

“I was being stupid?”

“You could have gotten hurt! Killed! You put yourself between Erik and I, two dangerous men with guns. What the fuck were you thinking?”

“I was thinking that I didn’t want you to kill Erik!” It’s the first time she’s ever actually screamed at me.

“I wasn’t going to kill him!” I shout back. “I was offering him a deal!”

Nadia’s mouth snaps shut. A cute confused frown crosses her face before she speaks again. “What kind of deal?”

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