Page 52 of Beautiful Sinner

I inhale sharply. Viktor caught me the other night sneaking back inside. He seemed to believe my lie of just needing to get some fresh air but will he believe me again if I say that Connor is lying? Inessa also knows I’ve been sneaking out to see Matteo. She might eventually tell Viktor the truth if I wait too long.

Connor has the upper hand here. If I want to keep Matteo safe, then I cannot tell Viktor about Connor hurting me. But by not going to Viktor, I am essentially telling Connor that he is right. That I do have something going on with Matteo in secret.

Connor smirks when I can’t give him an answer. “Thought so.” He nods to my wrist. “You might want to ice that. I would hate for it to swell.”

All I can do is clutch my hurt hand to my chest and watch Connor leave, knowing he holds all the cards.

Chapter Nine

Julia

Viktor notices my wrist is swollen. There’s no way to hide it.

“What happened?” he asks over the breakfast table. I can tell he has the urge to grab my wrist and inspect it but he doesn’t want to hurt me.

Inessa meets my eyes over the table as she takes a bite of her eggs benedict. She knows that I should tell Viktor the truth about Matteo and Connor but I just can’t seem to get the words out.

“I… accidently smacked my wrist against my door.”

Viktor stares at me blankly. “How does that happen?”

“Uh, you know, I’m not really sure.”

“It looks like bruises on your wrist. Like someone grabbed you. Did someone grab you, Julia? You can tell me. Was it Connor? Because if it was Connor then…”

“Then you’ll kill him?” Matteo wasn’t able to kill him and it’s crushing me. That was supposed to be my chance and Matteo wasn’t able to do it. I don’t blame him. I’m sure killing someone as crafty as Connor is not easy. I’m just disappointed.

Viktor hesitates.

“You’d risk upsetting the entire Irish mob if you killed Connor and you know it. So you’re not going to kill him even if he did this,” I say.

“Fine. You’re right. But I would make sure you didn’t marry him.”

But if Viktor does that, then Connor will tell Viktor everything about me and Matteo. I need to keep Matteo a secret for a little while longer.

“Connor didn’t do this,” I lie.

His eyes narrow. “Then who did?”

“No one. I told you. I accidently hit it on my door.”

“It looks like finger marks on your skin, Julia. I’m not stupid. Someone did that to you. Tell me who and I’ll handle it. No one gets to hurt my sister.”

Connor,Inessa mouths to me.Tell him.

Subtly, I shake my head. I’m just hoping that Matteo can kill Connor before I have to marry him. That’s all I can hope for at the moment.

“No one did it,” I say, trying to sound as firm as I can. “So please stop asking about it. It’s fine.”

“It doesn’t look fine. It looks swollen. I’m taking you to the hospital at least. Come on.” He stands up.

“You’re not even going to finish your breakfast?”

“No. You’re more important. Let’s go.”

I give Inessa a helpless look and she only shrugs, silently telling me that I need to be honest with Viktor. But when Inessa’s secrets came to light, Viktor rebuffed her. He eventually forgave her but Inessa almost lost her life because of it. I’m scared that something like that could happen to me.

And I’m scared that Matteo might be the one to pay the price.