Page 5 of Monster Bully

The man himself had been shocked to see him, but he’d also been high. Grim had grabbed the man’s ear and hadn’t let go, even as he screamed and wailed like a spoiled rotten teenager. He’d not stopped, and then, once he was in one of his warehouses away from prying eyes, Grim had unleashed all his rage onto that fucker. By the time he was through with him, there hadn’t been much left to identify, so Grim had disposed of the body and scattered the ashes into the air, like the man meant nothing. He had been nothing the moment he had sent men to hurt his woman.

Grim would hurt and kill anyone who tried to get close to Eve. She belonged to him, and he wouldn’t allow a single hair on her head to be out of place.

Gripping the lapels of his jacket, he tensed up and knew he had to go see her. He stepped out of his surveillance room and made his way up to their main bedroom. Eve had been shocked by his country home, but she also had fallen in love with it. When he suggested she make some changes to create a home she could spend the rest of her life in, there were no changes to be made. She loved every single room, including the kitchen.

Grim had lost count of the number of times he returned home from work to find her there in the kitchen, cooking up a storm.

Their only real disagreement during their short courtship and six months of marriage, was her refusal to stop working. She loved being around the care home as well as the animal shelter. Even though she had come home many times in tears as a resident had passed away, or an animal hadn’t made it.

One of those times, Eve had been beside herself because of an animal cruelty case. Grim didn’t give a shit about anyone or anything but Eve. She had cried in his arms all night, telling him about the neglect case, and how they might not have enough to prove the abuse.

Eve had cried.

Eve was hurt.

Someone had made Eve feel unimaginable pain through the cruel acts against a dog. The only way to fix it was to kill said person. He did that, made it look like a suicide, and Eve had been shocked, mortified, but he had also seen relief. Eve’s fear had been that he’d get dogs back. Grim had fixed it.

There was a lot he’d fixed in their one year together. He doubted she even realized the extent of what he had done for her, but she didn’t need to know everything.

Standing outside the bedroom door, Grim gripped the doorknob. He’d locked it from the outside with a single twist.

He didn’t want Eve to hate him. One day, she would forgive him. Eve was too kind and too good not to.

****

Eve couldn’t believe her husband had kidnapped her. It was insane for her to even think about it, but then, Grim wasn’t who he said he was.

No, she had thought she had married Graham. A sweet, hard-working, business-owning man, who yes, had been older than her by fifteen years. He’d been a man who made her heart flutter and have butterflies dancing in the pit of her stomach. She loved the feel of his hands all over her body, as well as his tongue.

She loved everything about him, and she’d been a little afraid of how quickly she had fallen for him. It was just insane. He’d worked his way into her life, and she’d fallen into him like he was a lifeline. Grim had made her laugh. She always looked forward to seeing him. After work, she would look for him, because he’d be waiting for her. Their dates had been magical. When she was in his company, she had forgotten about everything else, and all that mattered was being with him.

Grim—no, Graham—had become her whole world.

And it was all a lie.

She didn’t even know what titles he had. He was a monster, cruel, and a bully. From the moment she saw him handling that home invader, it was like everything else had slipped into place.

A few times over the past year, she heard the guards talking, and she assumed it had been about the enemy or someone else. It had been about Grim.

“He’s twisted.”

“I wouldn’t want to get on his bad side.”

“No one ever lives to tell the tale.”

“He’s a monster and a bully.”

And the rumors had gone on. Again, she had been so high on her love for this man and how quickly her feelings had developed. Her mother had always told her she would find someone who would make her forget the world was round. She hadn’t been wrong.

Eve knew she had found someone who morphed the lines between good and evil, and was known to be cruel.

In the few days she had made her escape, she had no choice but to take to the streets, which hadn’t been fun. In doing so, she had come to learn the truth of the man she had married.

Grim was exactly what his name suggested. A bringer of death. A darkness. A man to be feared. Cruel beyond words. There was nothing good to be said about him. No one liked him.

From the sound of it, she was the only woman to like him. To love him, to fall for his tricks. And she felt like the world’s biggest fool. He had known what he was doing, and yet she still fell for it.

She turned her head at the sound of the door opening, and there he stood, her lying husband.

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