Page 128 of Beautiful Deception

“Julia, go!”

With one last gasp, she takes off running. Neither Owen, Natasha or the other man go after her.

“She’s going to get Viktor,” I remind Natasha.

“Of course she is. But he won’t come save you now. Word on the street is that he hates you. That he’s in talks to marry some Mafia girl. How sad for you. Now you’re like me. Outcasted by Viktor. How does it feel?”

“Not good.”

“Exactly. Not good. You did this to me.” She gets right up in my face. “And you’re going to pay for it. You steal him from me. Marry him. And yet, you can’t even keep him. How fucking pathetic.”

“Killing me won’t help you win Viktor over.”

“I know. But at this point, it’s just going to be fun. You shouldn’t have stopped Viktor from killing me. You know that, right? How stupid can you be?” She motions at Owen. “Get in the car. James, sit up front with me.”

Owen forces me into a large van. It’s the same one Natasha used before to kidnap me. I guess it all comes full circle.

I look at the motel as the van leaves the parking lot, wondering if my dad will ever return to it and find me gone. If he’ll try to find me. If he’ll even care to.

If he even returns at all.

Owen keeps his hand clenched on my arm so I can’t go anywhere. But where could I even go? I’m stuck in a van with two men and Natasha. I’m going to die.

It’s a fate I have to accept.

“Why aren’t you screaming?” Natasha asks from the passenger seat. “Crying? Begging for your life?”

“Because I know this is it. I tried surviving and it got me nowhere. It lost me the man I love. I have no money. No father. Nothing anymore. Why fight?”

She scrunches up her nose. “God, you’re depressing. I guess I’ll be doing you a favor by putting you out of your misery. I love knowing that Julia will tell Viktor you’ve been kidnapped again and he’ll do nothing about it. You can die knowing he doesn’t love you.”

Her words don’t even sting because all I feel is numb.

Viktor

I invite Erik and Dante over to discuss more terms of peace.

“Elio seems more on board,” Dante tells me. “I had a chance to talk to him after our meeting earlier and he’s warming up to the idea of you and Aria marrying.”

“Now you just need to divorce your wife,” Erik says.

“I know,” I say more harshly than I intend to. “Peace. I’ll actually be achieving peace. After all this time.”

“It’s not going to be easy,” Erik tells me. “It wasn’t easy for me and Dante.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“So you’re prepared. But this entire peace treaty hinges on you marrying Aria. If you back out…”

Dante cracks his knuckles. “I’ll have to go to war with you all over again for Aria’s honor.”

“I intend to keep my promise,” I growl.

The door bursts open and Finn struts into the room. “Heard there was a meeting going on. Figured I should be present for it.”

Erik sneers at the sight of Finn while Dante frowns.

“You need to leave, Finn,” I warn him. “Erik just might kill you.” I know Erik still hasn’t forgiven Finn for killing Ivan Romanov, Elena’s father.

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