Page 110 of Beautiful Sinner

“What do you want to know?”

“Do you hate me?”

The question catches me off guard, I don’t even know how to speak for a long moment. “Viktor, have you been thinking I hated you this whole time?”

“Why else would you act the way you’ve been acting?”

A flare of anger hits me but I tamp it down. Screaming at Viktor right now is not going to help my cause. “I don’t hate you. I’ve never hated you. I only said I would hate you if you killed Matteo.”

“So, if you don’t hate me, then why did you do what you did? Why did you give private information to Matteo, the enemy? Are you that naïve?”

“Viktor,” Inessa says softly. “Don’t be mean. Hear her out.”

“Maybe I am a little naïve,” I say. “But I only ever gave information to Matteo to help protect his life as well as yours.”

“How so?”

“The night you were going to attack Dante’s nightclub. I told Matteo about it in the hopes that he wouldn’t be there that night so he couldn’t get hurt.”

Viktor scoffs. “So you care about your boyfriend more than the man who raised you?”

“My husband,” I remind him. “And no. I never said I cared about him more. I also asked him to make sure Dante wasn’tthere that night so he couldn’t attack you. So you would be safe too. Matteo made sure Dante wasn’t there and he could have hurt you. He told me he saw you enter the club. He watched the whole thing. But he chose not to intervene. He chose to spare your life that night. That has to mean something.”

Viktor looks stunned. It’s an expression I’ve rarely ever seen on him before. “He did that?”

“Yes. Because he wants peace like I do. I never told Matteo anything else to hurt you. We would meet in secret. We would talk.”

“So he could have your body.”

I crinkle up my nose. “No. Matteo and I didn’t touch until after we had started seeing each other more but even then, we never had sex. I told him I was waiting for my wedding night.”

“So that’s why he married you. To fuck you.”

“Viktor,” Inessa says in a tired voice. “You’re putting words into her mouth. Be the kind brother I know you can be and listen to your sister. Hear what she’s really saying. Please.”

It’s clear he wants to object but he closes his mouth and nods. “Fine. Go on.”

“Matteo respected me enough to wait for our wedding night, which was ruined because of Connor. He shot me. You know this.”

“He told me it was an accident. That he didn’t mean to shoot you.”

“And you believe him?” I ask.

He huffs, his hands flapping onto the desk. “I don’t know what to believe anymore. You’re so different from the sister I knew.”

“No, I’m not. I’m still Julia. I’m still the girl who wants peace. I never wanted to make you angry. I never wanted to start an even uglier war. I just wanted to be happy.”

“And are you? Happy?”

“Not right in this moment. You stole me here without my consent. You just did the same thing you blame Matteo for. I know you think he kidnapped me the day of my wedding to Connor. But he didn’t. I never wanted to be with Connor. I hate Connor.”

“Sometimes we have to marry people for the greater good.”

I roll my eyes. It’s something I’ve rarely ever done in front of Viktor. “You married Inessa when alliance wise, it was smarter to marry Aria Romano. You married for love. Why don’t I get the same?”

He has no answer for that.

“I hate Connor because he’s hurt me. And fine, maybe when he shot me it was an accident. But Matteo has never ‘accidently’ shot me. He’s only ever touched me with care. Whereas Connor has hurt me before. Remember when my wrist was hurt? I never slammed it against a door by accident. Connor gripped my arm so tight, he made me bruise.”