Page 112 of They Break Beauty

“Because it was six years ago, shortly before the kidnapping. I thought you’d react worse given the timing.”

“No, there’s something more here. And because you’re so determined not to tell me, it just proves how dangerous this connection to her is to you, that it needs to be severed. She needs to go, Levi. Out of Stonewell.”

“There’s no fucking way—”

“Yeah, she’s not going to be doing that,” a voice boomed from the door.

We all spun to see none other than Brianna herself standing in the doorway.

Her fierce gaze drilled into Mason. “It’s time we had words, Scourge.”

23

~Mason~

Well, then.

Color me impressed.

The troublemaker had mustered the courage to venture into the lion’s den.

The shock of her showing up so unceremoniously had even managed to cut through the rage that had infected the living room—and me.

A biker princess.

It wasn’t actually a surprise that Lev would be drawn to somebody like that. He liked an edge and roughness to everything he did. And he was all about being wild and free, not living confined by society’s—or anybody’s—rules, which fit the whole motorcycle club thing to a T. Also, despite his upbringing being in the lap of luxury, he’d never felt comfortable with any of what he called the hoity-toity bullshit that went along with it, all the expectations of high society, something that was particularly prevalent for me, especially with my mom being a society queen—a famous socialite. Our attitude toward it was something the three of us had in common, something that had actually drawn us together during our school days.

The only thing Lev had cared for when it came to his life before Stonewell U, aside from Colt and me, was his dad.

Unlike my father, Lev’s actually cared about his wellbeing beyond him just being a toy to him or a piece on his board. There was a real father-son relationship there. Sure, they had their ups and downs, but somehow Roman Knight had managed to strike a balance between reeling Levi in and allowing him freedom too.

My father, however? Well, he was all about control and appearances.

Unfortunately, as had been pointed out to me tonight in a very in-my-face way, it seemed I had inherited much more of the former than I’d even realized.

Fuck me, I was becoming Peter Hall.

Just what he’d always wanted.

Just what I’d always dreaded.

I blinked out of my thoughts and tuned back in to the whispers being exchanged between Lev and the girl, which had been going on since the moment she’d walked on in here.

Levi had pulled her to the back of the room hastily. It seemed to be more than the mere act of protecting and shielding her from me. He didn’t want her here having words with me.

Just as I’d thought, there was something Levi hadn’t disclosed to me about his connection to her.

It had to be more than him merely encountering her during shared business between their fathers. That wouldn’t have led to him becoming so dangerously fixated on her or to him actually going against me in order to pursue her.

Levi had never stood against me when it came to dealing with a threat before.

But this girl, she had a hold on him, a very powerful hold.

It was fucking dangerous.

For all of us.

And because he’d refused to see it, I’d had to employ extreme methods. He wouldn’t let go of her willingly, so I’d worked to force her out of his life.

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