Page 75 of Beautiful Enemy

“Like I’m dying.”

She’s silent the whole way to the hospital.

“The doctors are going to ask what happened,” I warn. “You need to be prepared to answer their questions.”

“I got you, boss,” Matteo says, helping me out of the car.

“I wasn’t talking about you.” I give Nadia a pointed look. “Just let Matteo do the talking.”

Her only response is to nod.

“We need help here,” Matteo calls out as we enter the ER.

Multiple nurses come running over and get me onto a gurney.

“What happened?” one of them asks.

“He was stabbed. I stuffed the wound with gauze. I’m not sure how bad he is,” Matteo explains.

“What’s his name?”

“Dante.”

“Dante what?”

“Moretti,” Matteo says like he doesn’t want to say it at all.

“Ok. You two stay out here,” she says to Matteo and Nadia before rushing over to my side. Another nurse closes a curtain, blocking Nadia and Matteo’s view of me.

The last thing I see is Nadia’s eyes. They’re full of worry.

For me.

Nadia

Matteo and I remain in the waiting room while the doctors look over Dante. They took him into surgery a few minutes ago.

“You could leave, you know,” Matteo says, watching me pace back and forth. My masquerade mask is long gone but my red dress draws the attention of other people.

I quickly sit back down. “I’m not going to leave. I want to know if Dante will be all right.”

“Why do you care? You hate him.”

I touch my neck where he held a knife to it earlier. Dante was willing to kill me to save himself. But I have to believe he was just bluffing to get himself out of that situation. Otherwise, I just helped save a man who would never save me.

“Dante may think of me as his enemy. He hates my family. But I never hated him. I feared him, yes. I don’t want to be hurt because of him. But things are not black and white for me. I don’t hate Dante because of his last name or because he’s Italian. I’m not my father.”

“But you do hate him.”

“I do,” I say, sighing. “But I also… don’t. Like I said, I need to convince Dante to stop his war on Erik. It’s only going to lead to more people getting hurt. That’s the last thing I want.”

“So you sacrificed yourself to save those you love, not because you love Dante.”

“Correct.” I can’t meet Matteo in the eye though. His gaze bores into the side of my face. “I’m going to get a snack. Can I have some money?” I just need space from Matteo. It’s like he can read my expressions too well.

After he hands me a couple of bills, I head to the nearest vending machine and get myself a bag of chips. It does nothing to help calm the worry in my stomach.

While I am doing this to save those I love, I am also doing this because I just don’t want Dante to die and that is something I could never admit to Matteo.

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