Page 119 of Beautiful Enemy

“No. We make peace. Dante works with you.”

He scoffs. “Never.”

“I have to agree,” Viktor says. “I don’t want to work with him.”

“I was talking to Erik. Erik? You know it’s a good deal. If you marry me and Dante, it will ensure he doesn’t backstab you. He wouldn’t want to put me in danger. I know it. I will be the thing that keeps Dante in line. You can make an alliance with the Mafia. It’s a good deal and you know it.”

Erik runs his hands over his face with a sigh. “I mean, it’s not the worst deal I’ve ever considered.”

“And what about me?” Viktor asks. “The deal for us to work together was to marry me to Nadia.”

“You can marry someone else instead,” Anya offers. “Someone else who will give you an alliance with Erik. Just not Nadia.”

“Who?”

I hate to even think it but I know who. “Elena Romanov. She’s Ivan’s daughter. He works closely with Erik and my father. If you married her, it would be like marrying me.”

“Except, it won’t be you,” Viktor says flatly.

“You don’t even know me. You don’t love me.”

“But you were promised to me.”

“I want to be with Dante,” I say clearly. “And I think that a marriage alliance with him will lead to peace. It’s a good deal.”

“Elena Romanov would be a good alternative,” Erik says. “You have to agree, Viktor. It would bind you to Ivan and Ivan is a loyal member to us.”

“I would have to think on it,” Viktor says stiffly. “I need the time to consider it.”

“That’s fine,” I say, “But in the meantime, let Dante go. At least don’t torture him. Keep him under observation until he’s healed. Then marry us. We can have peace. We don’t have to kill each other any longer.”

“This is what you really want?” Erik asks. “To be with Dante?”

I know it with all my heart. “Yes.”

Anya looks at me with pride in her eyes. “You’ve grown up,” she whispers just for me to hear.

“Well then.” Erik’s eyes say it all: he’s made up his mind. “If you came all this way to save him, then that means something. And making a deal with the Mafia would be beneficial to us. To all of us,” he says pointedly to both Viktor and Father. “If we kill Dante, we’ll probably just have more Mafia men coming after us. Case in point.” He nods at Matteo.

“It’s not a bad deal,” Viktor admits. “But my pride has been wounded, Erik. Nadia was promised to me.”

“Elena will be a good alternative,” he says. “She has just as high of a status as Nadia does. Ivan is a respected man in our business. It’s a good deal. You know it.”

“Well, I don’t agree with it,” my father snarls right before he brings the saw close to Dante’s neck.

“No!” I scream rushing forward. I run into my father’s path and the saw cuts my arm.

“No!” Dante shouts.

And then a gunshot goes off.

My father grunts and falls to the floor. A bullet hole is in his stomach. When I look down at my bleeding arm, I see that it’s intact but it’s a bloody mess and the pain of it is unmeasurable.

And then I look up to see who shot my father.

Matteo stands there with his gun raised. Smoke leaves the barrel.

He shot my father.

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