Page 81 of Beautiful Enemy

I walk right up to the door and shoot the lock with a silencer. The doorknob breaks right off and the door swings open.

Slowly, I step inside.

An arm swings right for my head and I duck out of the way at the last second. A guard. He grunts as he throws another punch. I block it and hit him right in the nose. He stumbles back, clutching his face. Matteo joins the fight and grabs the guard from behind. I land a hit to his stomach and his balls for good measure.

His groan is loud in the quiet dark house as he falls to his knees. I shut the door behind me. I don’t need any pedestrians walking by and seeing this. This is Mafia business.

The guard whimpers when I press my gun to his head.

“Where is Ivan?” I don’t bother keeping my voice low. I want him to hear me coming.

As if on cue, I can hear footsteps upstairs. Running. The low murmur of a few voices, male and female.

“Ah. There they are.” I shoot the guard in the head and he falls right to the floor.

Another guard comes running down the stairs, shooting at us. Matteo and I dive behind a wall that leads to the living room.

“This is why we should have had a plan,” Matteo mutters.

“Plans are for pussies. This is a lot more fun.” I run out from behind the wall and fire at the guard like a madman. A bullet lands in his leg and knocks him to the ground. I quickly shoot him in the head after that.

I pause. No more guards come running down the stairs. That was all Ivan had. Just two fucking guards. Idiot.

My footsteps are loud on the creaky stairs. “Oh Ivan? I’m coming for you.” I chuckle at my own dramatics.

I hear the sound of crying coming from a girl. The sound makes me stop in my tracks. It reminds me so much of Nadia, I almost lose my nerve. When I first kidnapped Nadia, she was so afraid. It shocked me how shy she was considering her sister is a spitfire.

But Nadia has become more brave and strong since I’ve had her.

This girl, who’s crying, sounds so afraid, it makes guilt hit me right in the stomach. And I fucking hate feeling guilty.

“Whoever is crying better stop,” I snap.

The girl only cries harder. I hear a man shush her and tell her that everything will be ok. It’s Ivan. I would remember the voice of the man who stabbed me. I’ll probably remember it for years to come.

I reach the top of the stairs and look around. The hallway is empty and all the doors are closed. Ivan is a Bratva man so there’s a good chance he has a gun with him. I can’t just walk into any of the rooms. He could blast me to fucking pieces.

Slowly, I inch to the closest door and press my ear to it. The sounds of the crying girl get louder. Bingo.

I test the doorknob but unsurprisingly, it doesn’t open.

“Don’t come in here!” Ivan shouts. “I have a gun.”

“No shit, sherlock. I figured you would. But I’m getting in no matter what.” I glance behind me. Matteo isn’t there.

With a quick look down the stairs, I see him at the bottom. “What are you doing?”

“In case anyone else shows up. I’ve got your back.”

I know Matteo does, despite him not agreeing with what I’m doing.

That only means I’m on my own up here. That’s fine. I’ve been on my own for a long fucking time.

Taking a deep breath, I shoot the doorknob and kick the door open, sending it banging against the wall. A girl screams and the sound stops me in my tracks.

In the room is Ivan, holding onto a young woman – a teenager by the looks of it. Another woman is on the other side of him. His wife, I’m assuming.

The sight of Ivan’s daughter crying reminds me so much of Nadia, it hurts. If Nadia were here, she’d say that this girl is innocent and doesn’t deserve to watch her father get murdered. That if I were a better man, I’d walk away. I would put my anger to the side.

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