Page 120 of They Break Beauty

Brianna hissed. “Your plan is foolish. Neither of us are heir apparent. Steel Dawn MC won’t accept a woman as President. And Levi isn’t destined for the family business either, he’s treading his own path. My dad showed me an announcement that Roman was a couple of days away from making to that effect. So doing this is completely pointless.”

Wow, she was good. Amazing, actually. None of that stuff about me was true. My dad was training me to take his place one day, to carry on our legacy. Or, our dynasty, as he called it.

Lynch walked up to Brianna, his lip curling. “You’ve inherited Curt’s smarts, I see. His defiance too.”

I yelled out as he shot out his hand and grabbed her jaw in a painful hold.

“His overconfidence too, pretty princess.”

“Get your fucking hands off me,” she seethed.

“Daddy’s not here to save you now, so I wouldn’t be making demands if I were you.”

“Get off her!” I shouted, bucking in my chair.

He swung his head toward. “Getting worked up already at this? That doesn’t bode well for you, boy. I’ve barely touched her yet.”

Yet? Oh my God.

“Don’t. Don’t hurt her.”

“It’s okay, you won’t be left out. You’ll get to enjoy the show.”

“Take me instead. Hurt me. My father is way more powerful than hers. It’ll be a much bigger coup to break me and mess with his empire.”

He released her roughly and spun to me.

“No, Levi!” Brianna cried. She fought against her binds wildly. “Don’t hurt him, you monster. He’s just a kid! Just a fucking kid! Kidnapping him is traumatizing enough, you don’t need to do more to him. I’ll take it all. I’ll be compliant, or I’ll fight… whichever pleases you.”

Lynch pulled up short and eyed her incredulously. “My, my, what an offer.”

He stepped up to her and trailed his thumb over her lips, exerting painful pressure that made her grunt. “Such a pretty mouth.” He ripped open his belt. “Prove to me you’ll give what you’ve offered first and I won’t touch the boy.” He paused as my yells became more vehement with every passing second, his fists clenching in agitation.

Brianna noticed and tried to save me in yet another way, telling him, “Let him go.”

“Can’t do that. Roman needs a lesson.”

“Then at least take him out of the vicinity. He doesn’t need to see any of what’s coming. He’s already traumatized like you wanted.”

“Best to take it all the way then, isn’t it?”

He ignored Brianna’s protests as he stormed to me and drew a flip knife from his pocket.

Before I could even react, he was sweeping it across the left side of my throat, cutting painfully through my flesh.

“Won’t kill you, but it’ll certainly serve as a warning for you to shut the hell up. Know that I’ll do far worse if you don’t.”

Brianna was bucking in her chair, and shouting. She looked so pained for me, it was hard to stomach, much more than the brutal burning pain in my throat now.

With a roar, Lynch thrust his boot into my chair, sending it careening onto its side. I cried out as I remained bound tightly to it as it hit the concrete with a bone-jarring thud.

“That’ll do for now,” Lynch said, striding predatorily back to Brianna.

He grabbed her jaw again to stop her screaming protests on my behalf. And then, with his free hand, he opened his pants.

No. No. No!

I saw Brianna’s fingers tightening around the chair arms, her body trembling, even as I could see her fighting to hide it, to muster courage.

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