Page 115 of Beautiful Sinner

And sure enough, a car is following me right now.

I’m not sure who it is and I can’t lead them to Matteo’s safehouse so I continue to drive around for a while, watching as the person following me does the same. They’re not letting up.

Finally, I pull the car off to the side and walk to the nearest café. Once I’m inside, I get a table near the back that still lets me look outside.

And that’s when I see him. Connor.

He strolls into the café and right up to my table. “Hi, Julia.”

“What are you doing here? Why are you following me?”

He slides into the seat across from me. “Didn’t you hear? Your brother fired me. He doesn’t want to be allies anymore. He won’t give you to me.”

“I’m not a trophy to be handed over.”

“But you’re my trophy.” He grabs my hands across the table and squeezes tight. “And I want you.”

“Why? What will taking me achieve? It will only upset Viktor. You’ll never get the chance to marry me.”

He shrugs. “So I just kill him and your husband and then I marry you. Problem solved. And through you, I’ll gain more power than I’ve ever had before.”

“Let me go. I’ll scream.”

“You can do that. But I have my gun on me. I’ll just shoot you in the throat to get you to shut up.”

I shiver and try not to show the fear on my face. “But then I’d be dead.”

“True. So I’ll just hit you in the throat instead. How does that sound? If you don’t want me to shoot up this entire café full of people, then you will follow me out to my car.”

“I will not let you kidnap me.”

He lets one of my hands go and pulls out his gun, quickly showing it to me before putting it away. “I will shoot everyone in this café. You know I will.”

“Your face is all over the news. People are looking for you.”

“I will be fine once I have you as my wife. The power of the Russian Mafia will save me. Now, follow me out of here.”

I know Connor is reckless enough to do this so with no other choice, I follow him to his car and get inside. He whistles to himself as he drives, taking me somewhere I have no idea where.

Matteo

Julia asked me not to tell Dante about what happened to me but I cant keep that promise. Viktor needs to die so I can be with Julia. It’s the only way. I see that now.

Dante’s eyes widen when I show up at his house and he motions me inside. “What the fuck, Matteo?”

“I got into a fight with Viktor. He did this to me. It’s time to kill him. I want Julia and he’s keeping her from me.”

“We can’t just attack his home. He has too many guards.”

“We have a lot of men ourselves. Erik can lend you even more. We go to his house and we kill all of his guards and we kill him and we end this.”

Dante frowns. “Are you sure? Will Julia be ok with you killing her brother?”

I hesitate but I tell myself to keep moving forward. This is the only way I get to be with her. It has to be done. “If you kill him, then she won’t blame me. It has to happen, Dante. He has to die for me to be with her.”

“Ok. I’ve wanted Viktor dead for a long time. I want this war to end. I’m fucking tired of it. So let’s go end it.”

Viktor