Page 100 of Beautiful Enemy

“Can you blame her?” I ask with a huff. “You’ve been a terrible father to us. So, what happened after that?”

“Dante got his hands back on her. I don’t know where they went. Probably to a new house.”

“So… Nadia is in the wind again. You had a chance to save her and you blew it. Now, Erik will have even less of a chance of finding her. So thanks for that.”

“I had her in my car. How was I supposed to know that she’d try to stop me?”

“If you had just stayed out of the way, Erik could have tracked that license plate and found Nadia and saved her and she’d be back with me. Instead, because of you, she’s back with Dante again, who knows where. So fuck you.”

“You didn’t see her. She likes that fucker.”

I go still. “What did you say?”

“Nadia is gone. Lost to me. She sided with that Italian. I saw it with my own eyes. Your sister isn’t coming back to you.”

I slam the door on his face.

Then I promptly fall onto my knees because I can’t hold my weight up. Not when I’m so worried for Nadia.

Not when I think I’m losing her more and more as every second passes.

Chapter Seventeen

Nadia

You can’t have both.

Dante’s words rattle around in my head. It’s either him or my family. While I do feel close to Dante despite everything, I have to choose my family. That’s not really a choice at all.

But to tell Dante this won’t go over well. He might not even agree to let me go. There’s a good chance I could get locked back up again, putting me and Dante back to ground zero.

When I work up the courage to leave the bedroom and confront Dante, I find that he’s gone and in his place is Matteo.

“Where’s Dante?”

Matteo is on the couch, snacking on some chips. “He’s out. Business.”

My heart stutters at the thought. “What kind of business? Is he going after Erik?”

He sighs and sets the chip bowl down and faces me. “He’s getting desperate.”

“Desperate?”

“I probably shouldn’t be telling you this but I think Dante thinks that if he kills Erik, it will set you free. You’ll choose him then.”

“But that’s not a choice. He would be forcing me. You’re sure he’s going to try and kill Erik?”

“He didn’t say that in so many words. He just said he set up a meeting with Erik. Knowing Dante, he’s going to try and kill him.”

“No. That can’t happen. That would break my sister’s heart.”

Matteo’s eyes turn pitying. “I’m not sure that Dante really cares about your sister’s heart.”

“What about my heart? Doesn’t he care about that? He wants it after all. We have to stop this. Matteo, you know we do. Don’t you want this war to end?”

“I mean… I do. I’m tired of it. Tired of looking over my shoulder every second of every day. But I work for Dante. What he decides is final.”

“Not if we can go stop it. You must know where Dante is having this meeting. He would have told you.”

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