Page 131 of Beautiful Deception

“Enough,” Erik commands, getting between me and Dante. “We’ve come for peace. We can still achieve it.”

“No.” My one simple statement makes everyone go quiet. “I can’t trust you. I can’t trust either of you.”

“That’s why you’ll marry Aria,” Erik says through gritted teeth. “It’s a way to make peace. You can’t back out now. It will only piss Elio off if we set him up and pull the rug out from under him.”

“I’ve known Elio for years,” Dante says. “He’s a kind man but a proud one. If you upset him or insult his daughter, he’ll be coming for your head. You said you’d marry Aria. You came to us with an offer of peace.”

Fuck them. They’re right.

I look behind them to see Julia, cowering in the corner. I’m doing this for her. For the one person in this life I can trust.

“Fine,” I spit out. “I’ll do my duty. But I’m pissed that you stopped me from killing Finn. He’ll need to die one day. You know that.”

“Trust me,” Erik says. “I do.” He gives Dante a pointed look.

With a sigh, Dante nods. “I know, I know. Finn needs to go at some point. But it should be up to Aiden. They are brothers and Aiden is our partner.”

“Wait,” Julia says, stepping forward. “You’re still going to marry Aria? After all of that?”

“Are you hurt?” I storm over to her side and look her over. She’s not bleeding. Thank god. I pull her into a fierce hug. I’m never one to show this kind of vulnerability in front of my enemies but I don’t care right now. “I’m glad you’re ok.”

“I’m fine.” She pushes away from me. “But Inessa isn’t.”

“I don’t want to hear about Inessa. I told you. Me and her, we’re done.” I start to turn back towards Erik and Dante when Julia speaks again.

“She was kidnapped. By Natasha and two men. Natasha tried to kill her once before. I know she’s going to do it again. I heard Natasha with my own ears, Viktor. She is going to kill her.”

My chest constricts in pain. No. I do not care about Inessa. She broke my heart. I trusted her and she stomped all over that.

But I can’t move. I can’t say ‘fuck Inessa’ because that would be a lie.

“Viktor.” Julia grabs my arm, making me look at her. “One of those men tried to hurt me. Natasha was going to take me too. She has nothing to lose anymore. I would have been kidnapped too if Inessa hadn’t given herself over. She made Natasha let me go. To save me. She knew by going with Natasha she was going to her death and she still made a deal to save my life. Because she’s a good person. If she was some cold hearted person who didn’t care for you, then why would she save me?”

“Enough.” But the word doesn’t come out as strong as I’d hope. This one word shows my weakness. Inessa has always and will always be my weakness.

“You know I’m right. Viktor, she has no one. Her own dad stole all of her money and tied her up. I found her like that. She is going to die unless you go and save her. I saw the van they put her in. I saw the license plate. We can find it. We can find her. But we have to go now.”

Everything inside of me wants to save Inessa. But my pride has been wounded.

“Julia-,”

“No,” she snaps. “Don’t give up on her. It doesn’t matter that she lied about who her real name is. She loves you, Viktor. She told me herself. I could see it on her face and hear it in her voice. She loves you. And she saved my life. Clearly that’s reason enough to forgive her. She was willing to sacrifice herself to save me. You still love her. I can tell. Don’t be stubborn. Don’t let your pride win. Follow your heart and save her.”

“We can help,” Erik says. “We have resources. Think of this as another step towards peace.”

“But you should know,” Dante says, “that if you save Inessa, you still have to divorce her. You made a promise to Elio and Aria. You can’t insult Aria by backing out of an arranged marriage to her. It will hurt her prospects if people think there’s something wrong with her.”

Julia’s eyes flash with anger. “No offense, but I don’t care about any arranged marriage. Viktor is married to Inessa. He loves her. He made a promise toher.To protect her. Viktor, do this. Go save her. You have to. She will die. Do you hear me? She willdie.”

I look between my sister and the two men. One is my family and the other are my enemies. I know what choice I have to make.

Inessa

Natasha laughs as I’m dragged into the basement of the house she took me to. It’s a nondescript house that looks like every other one in the neighborhood.

Owen pushes me to the ground and I fall onto my hip, hard. My body took a long time to heal the last time I was kidnapped and beaten. I guess this time won’t matter since I won’t be making it out of here alive.

“I want to watch as you two beat the life from her,” Natasha says, leaning against the wall. “This is going to be good.”

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