Page 88 of Beautiful Deception

But the question is: do they know me?

I never actually spoke to them. None of that matters right now. What matters is that they’re making their way down the aisle.

Viktor shoves me and Julia behind him. “What are you two doing here? Leave.”

Dante raises his hands. “We’re not here to fight. Trust me. If we were, we would have killed you the second we walked through that door.”

“Not helping,” Erik mutters.

Both men are incredibly handsome. I remember being struck by that thought when I first saw them at Elena’s birthday party.

But I no longer think that. Not when they could kill me. Not when they could out me to Viktor and Viktor could kill me himself.

“What are you doing here?” Viktor growls. “And how did you find us?”

“There were rumors circulating that you were getting married,” Erik says. “I had to see it for myself.”

“But how did you find us here?”

“When I heard you were getting married, I’ll be honest, I put men on your house to keep an eye on you. They followed you here.”

Viktor tenses. “You’re fucking watching me?”

“We’re not here to fight.”

“Maybe we are,” Dante says with a smirk. He was always a bit more trouble than Erik was.

“Dante,” Erik snaps. “Viktor, we’re here to offer you a peace deal. When I heard you were getting married, I had to see it for myself. Now I know it’s true. I also heard that you’re marrying your maid and not a Bratva woman who could help you. I took that to mean you were following your heart. I wanted to offer you a peace treaty. Let’s put this war behind us. Then everyone can be safe.” He looks right at Julia as he says it.

“Don’t threaten my sister.”

“I won’t hurt her. You know me, Viktor. I don’t like to hurt women.”

“I don’t have the same qualms,” Dante says. “So if you don’t want us to blow up this church right now, it would be in your best interest to form another alliance with us.”

“I will not be threatened. I will not be forced into an alliance with men who fucked me over.”

Dante groans. “I married Nadia two years ago now. Can’t you get over it?”

I look at Viktor more closely as he responds. “No, I can’t. My pride won’t allow it.”

A pang of hurt hits me. Viktor is still hung up on Nadia and maybe Elena too. From my understanding, he never loved them but that doesn’t mean they’re still not with him. I want to be the only one in his heart.

What if I’m not?

“You didn’t even love Nadia,” Dante says. “I love her, Viktor. Can’t you accept that?”

“It’s not about love. It’s about the fact that you and Erik fucked me over when you stole Nadia out from under me. That I cannot allow.” He makes a show of looking around the church. “Is Aiden here? I know he’s working for you again. I’m sure he wants me dead too since I’m coming for him.”

“He’s waiting outside,” Erik admits. “We thought it would be better.”

“Like you’re one to talk,” Dante says. “You’re working with Finn now.”

“Guess we both have a Murphy brother on our side. I’m just glad mine is more crazy than yours.”

Dante huffs. “Finn is crazy, I’ll give you that. But he’s also unpredictable and you can never really trust him. I see that he’s not here. What does that say about your partnership with him that he’s not even at your own wedding?”

“Enough,” Erik says. “We didn’t come here to fight. Dante, stop provoking him. And Viktor, I am sorry that you got fucked over. It wasn’t fair and it was never my plan. I tried everything to make it not happen.”

---