Page 82 of Beautiful Revenge

“But you don’t have to be that way anymore. You can spare Dante’s life. You can try to make amends with him again. If you go back to working with Dante, you’ll have power.”

He scoffs and gives me a look like I’m an idiot. “Dante will never take me back at this point. I’ve done too much that he’ll never trust me again. The only option now is to kill him.”

“If you do that, then I’ll never forgive you. Can you live with that?”

“You speak like I care how you feel.”

I flinch. “Don’t you? I saw the way you looked when I was strapped to Sal’s table. You care about me, Finn. You can try to deny it all you want but you care about me. And if you care about me, you won’t kill Dante.”

“If I don’t kill Dante, he will eventually find me and kill me. Then I’ll be dead. Can you honestly say you’d be happy if I were dead?”

A part of me would be relieved if Finn was out of my life. It would make everything more easy, I can say that for a fact. But… I’m not sure I’d be happy if he were dead. I think deep down that I know I would be upset and that’s terrifying.

There has to be a way out of this. There just has to be…

An idea hits me.

“You know where Dante is. Take me to see him. Show him that you haven’t hurt me. Show him that you saved me. That could be a way to make amends with him. It’s a way you could start to rebuild trust with him.”

“But that would require me to want Dante’s approval. I don’t. He fucked me over when he sided with Erik Koslov in the first place. I kidnapped you because I wanted to hurt him. No other reason. I don’t want to work with him again, princess.”

I can feel the desperation bubbling up inside of me. “But this could be your chance to make peace. This way I could have both you and him. Show him that I’m safe. He’ll calm down. He won’t do crazy things like go after Viktor like he did. Maybe he’ll listen to you. He’ll hear you out. Understand why he hurt you and why you did what you did.”

He squints at me. “How do I know you’re not just wanting me to take you to Dante so you can try and escape?”

“You’ll just have to trust me. Finn, after what Sal did to me, which you’re partially responsible for, you owe this to me. Take me to see Dante. I need to know that he’s all right.”

“You’re going to hold that over my head forever, aren’t you, princess?”

“You know it. It’s not a bad idea, Finn. A chance to make peace. You kidnapped me because you’re angry. But you don’t have to be so angry. You can choose to be happy. I can vouch for you. Dante will listen to me. And then maybe you can start to regain his trust and he can start to regain yours.”

“I never do things like this,” he grumbles. “I’m not a man who makes peace.”

“I’ve already seen a change in you. Don’t stop now.”

“Fuck, princess.” He gets out of bed and begins to pace around the room. “I would be going against everything I’ve ever believed in just to help you.”

“You’re my husband now. That’s what husbands do. They help their wives and taking me to Dante would be helping me.”

“It could go wrong. Your father could be there and take you away from me.”

“I won’t let him. I’ll tell everyone how you saved me. Just take me to see Dante. Don’t kill him. If you want me to be yours, then show me that I can trust you. That’s the only way this works.”

“You don’t call the shots, princess.”

“And you don’t have as much power as you think you do.”

“Ouch. Hit me where it hurts,” he mutters.

I sigh and get out of the bed to approach him. I place my hands on his solid chest. “I have feelings for you, I’ll admit. I don’t understand them. But I know they’re there. Do this for me. Please.”

He stares at me for a long moment before he sighs and pulls me into his arms. “You’re just lucky you just got tortured by a psychopath. I’m a little soft right now.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t make me regret this.”

I can’t promise him that because I have no idea what’s going to happen. It could be chaos. Or it could be the start of something new. Something good.

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