Page 59 of Beautiful Enemy

“Does it matter? I can’t be with you. You’re the enemy. So if you really do want me to choose you Dante, then you need to let me go.”

He barks a laugh and stands up, moving further away from me. “I’m not doing that.”

“Then you’ll always be my enemy. I’m sorry.”

He frowns. “Why are you sorry? I’m the one who kidnapped you.”

“My father would expect me to be sorry.”

“Well I’m not your father.” His eyebrows crease together. In fact, he looks upset by the comparison to my father. “Don’t think about running again. I managed to stop Finn from killing your sister but I might not always be there.” With that threat, he leaves the room, locking me back inside.

I slump onto the bed. What just happened between us? Dante is confusing me more and more by the second.

Dante

Fuck, Nadia is in my head.

I didn’t mean to tell her that she’s mine. I sounded like a possessive asshole boyfriend except, I am not Nadia’s boyfriend and I will never be. She is the enemy. I have to remember that.

It’s just so easy to forget that fact when she looks up at me with her brown doe eyes and looks so fucking innocent. She’s just ready for a man to show her pleasure and I want to be that man. I want to fucking murder Viktor for ever thinking he could make her his.

“Dante,” Matteo says, jerking me out of my thoughts.

“What?”

“What are you doing? With Nadia? Is this smart?”

“What am I doing?”

He gives me a pointed look. “You know. I see the way you look at her. You’re going soft on her. That’s going to lead to bad things. You’re going to get distracted and when that happens, Erik will be able to strike.”

“So what do you suggest? I beat the girl? Make her despise me?”

“No. I think you should let her go.”

I stare at Matteo, waiting for the punchline but it never comes. “I am not letting her go.”

“Listen to me. If you returned her to Erik, then he might not attack. We could call a truce. We could make peace.”

“With the fucking Russians? I don’t think so.”

“It’s either that or Erik will find you one day and kill you. It’s going to happen because you’re letting Nadia get to you. You’re already getting sloppy. She managed to escape today because you dropped your guard around her. That’s not good.”

“Nadia doesn’t affect me. You’re fucking seeing things. Now drop this, Matteo. Nadia isn’t going anywhere.”

The thought of letting Nadia go makes my heart clench. She is mine and I won’t let any other man have her.

Anya

“Dante was here?” Erik asks darkly after I tell him everything that happened. His dead guards are proof that something bad went down.

“Nadia was here, Erik. She was so close to me. Dante never cut off any of her fingers. He’s just toying with us.”

He grabs my arms, pulling me against his chest. My body sinks right into him. I used to fight this feeling for Erik but in the past few years since we’ve been together, I can’t imagine feeling any more safe than I do in Erik’s arms.

“Of course he is,” Erik says. “He wants us to worry. But he lost something today. Nadia came here, which means she escaped, which means that Dante has weaknesses. I can find those weaknesses and exploit them. I will hurt him, Anya. I will kill him. Are you ok?” Gently, he touches my neck.

“It was just a little cut. I’m fine. But that hitman, Finn, would have killed me if Dante hadn’t stopped it. Nadia gave herself back to Dante to save my life.”

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