Page 23 of Beautiful Enemy

“Would you… stay?” I whisper. “I just don’t want to be alone.”

Matteo sighs heavily. “I have work to attend to. Besides, Dante won’t appreciate me staying down here and talking with you for too long.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re his.” He says it like it’s the most obvious thing in the entire world. It’s not obvious to me at all.

“I’m not his.”

“He thinks you are. Why do you think Finn and Aiden weren’t allowed to touch you? I know they came in here earlier, messing with you. Dante was angry about that.”

I startle and look up at Matteo, finally meeting him in the eye. “Why was he angry?”

“Because he doesn’t want another man touching you. So, you don’t need to fear me. I won’t hurt you. But I will not sugarcoat this. I work for Dante. I will do anything he wants me to do. Well, within reason. So, just because me and the brothers were told not to touch you, doesn’t mean you’re safe here. You should be afraid. Dante wants to hurt you. Hurt your family.”

“I know,” I mutter, pressing my head into my knees and squeezing my eyes shut. Maybe if I just fall asleep, I’ll be able to wake up back in my own bed and leave this nightmare behind me.

“Like I said, whenever you’re done with the bucket, knock on the door. I’ll attend to it. I have to go. I am not going to stay here and comfort you throughout the night. I am not your friend, Nadia. None of us are. Don’t mistake my acts of practicality for kindness. They are not.”

Matteo’s footsteps are heavy on the stairs as he leaves. At least he has the courtesy to leave the light on. I don’t think I could be down here in this basement all by myself in the dark. The shadows already present make me uneasy, like a ghost could come out of them and gobble me right up.

I have no friends here. The sad part is, this is not the first time I’ve experienced this. My father isolated me. Kept me from people. So, I know what it’s like to be alone.

At least then I could sleep in a warm bed at night.

My loneliness is nothing new. If I survived years of being with my father’s coldness, then I can survive this.

With my belly full, I actually manage to fall asleep. That’s the only blissful part of sleep: it gives me respite from the waking nightmare I am in.

Chapter Five

Nadia

I’m woken up to the sound of heavy footsteps coming down the stairs.

Jerking up, I clutch my hands to my chest but it’s pointless. I have nothing to protect myself against Dante and his men. My father made me feel weak most of my life but never have I felt weaker until this moment.

If Dante’s intention is to break me down, he’s already doing a good job of it.

Aiden and Finn appear at the foot of the stairs. Finn with his smirk and Aiden with his stoic expression. Behind them is Matteo. Even he can’t be trusted, despite being the nicest out of the group.

And finally, there’s Dante. In his hand is a camcorder.

“Hi, Nadia,” Finn says, wiggling his fingers at me. A weight like heavy cement sits in my stomach. None of this feels right.

I stand up – or try to anyway. My legs get caught in the heavy fabric of my dress and I trip and land on my hands and knees.

Finn’s laugh cuts me right to my core. “She’s like Bambi. Can’t even walk on her legs yet.”

When I look up, I see Dante watching me with a curious expression. It’s both hungry and pitying. I hate him for it.

Anya was the one who held hate in her heart more than I ever did. I had a tendency to forgive our father, even after he hurt us, because it was just easier than constantly hating him.

But I know what hate feels like now. And it’s in the form of Dante Moretti.

“You think your jokes are funny but they’re not,” Matteo says.

Finn shoots him a glare. “My jokes are hilarious.”

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