Page 122 of Ruthless Beasts

My hand shook as I crept toward the door. My ears strained as words filtered through the slightly ajar door. Pleas and cries, words of insanity, and I hated it. Hated that she was in this position while I was just downstairs, oblivious to her suffering. Rage boiled within me, disappointment with myself, my guards, the direction of my life that had led me to this point again. This point where my whole being pulsed with the fear of what I might lose. The point where my thoughts of loss had become nearly debilitating. The point where those I love were in danger, again, because of me.

Pushing through the debilitating fear seemed nearly impossible, but I forced my hand onto the door and pushed it enough to look inside. What greeted me froze my soul. I couldn't act in the way I needed to in order to save my wife. Not when my enemy stood over her small body, his stance too unsteady to aim, his proximity to her too much for me to risk. A single shot could bring down his dead weight on top of her fragile body.

I couldn't risk her.

Not my child.

Not my wife.

I did the only thing I could think of, the only thing that would put distance between the monster and my beautiful girl. I charged, my body rushing forward and slamming into Accardo's, forcing him off my wife. But I misjudged, an overstep I should have expected, and instead of landing against the rail, our bodies sailed over it.

The water soaking my shirt shouldn't have been so freeing. The icy air against my skin shouldn't have been calming. But as I fell over the edge to what could possibly be my demise, all I could think about was the peace I felt knowing Bellamy was safe to run, safe to hide, safe to live until Ace and Mercer came to her aid. And theywouldcome; I knew that for sure. Mercer didn't want to be away from our home longer than necessary.

I clung to my gun as I grew closer to the bottom, knowing the importance of protection if I survived the fall. But as the ground grew closer, fear took over. My grip loosened, and when my body finally met the grass below, the impact was too harsh. It shook my teeth and radiated pain through my body. My hand released my weapon. My gun skidded across the ground just out of reach. I struggled to breathe; the air stuck in my lungs as the pain in my body consumed me.

Frozen in time, I finally gasped, breaking the spell as air entered my lungs. A cough tore from my throat as I brought my arms up, placing my palm on the grass as I pushed myself up, then instantly collapsed as a sharp intense pain crawled up my body.

My leg.

My fucking leg wasn't working, and through my muddled thoughts, I couldn't figure out why.

I closed my eyes, trying to concentrate, and when I opened them again, my enemy, the man I loathed more than life itself, stood over me, laughing. Why? Fuck, everything was so fuzzy. Did I hit my head?

"Can't walk with your bone hanging out of your calf, can you?" His laugh made me grit my teeth. What was he talking about? He continued, ignoring the confusion I'm sure my face displayed. "Lucky for me, I landed in a cushy bush. You though? You deserve this; you deserve more than this. You deserve the death I'll grant you for killing my brother." His fingers threaded in my hair as he forced my gaze up. "You'll fucking die. And the pleasure it will bring me will nearly match the pleasure of fucking your worthless whore of a wife's cunt."

My wife.

I pulled back, forcing his grip to tear away from my scalp as I struggled to push my body up. "You'll never fucking touch her."

"You won't stop me." He disappeared out of sight, standing behind me for a moment before he slammed his foot down against my calf. My vision instantly greyed. Nausea rolled through me as I thought I'd lose consciousness. "You can't fucking walk by yourself. You think you'll stop me?"

His foot released my leg, and he stalked away. The moment he was out of sight, I pulled my body forward, moving slowly toward my gun. If I could reach it, I could end this. But even moving just the few feet to where it fell seemed impossible. I scooted, rocking my hips and slinking forward with my good leg, as I reached my arm out, stretching for the weapon. Only another few inches. I could do it. I fucking knew I could. But just as I was close... just as my fingers grazed the metal, a rope wrapped around my neck from behind.

My hands left their quest for the weapon, instead going to my throat as I gripped the rope, trying to prevent it from strangling me as my back arched. Accardo leaned down, his breath a disgusting odor that surrounded me as he spoke. "You thought I'd let you get that?"

I shook my head no because he would neverletme do anything. I'd do it on my own.

"I'm going to kill you. String you up from that tree in the garden your former wife loved so much. Gut you, maybe? Slice you up and hope that animals find you before your friends do."

Animals?

I suddenly noticed the barking of Lady locked up in the house, itching to get free. Would he set her free to consume me, to feast on my remains for Mercer to find? Would Belle find us that way? I hoped not. I hope she hid. I hoped she called for help. I hoped she removed herself from danger because the thought of my life being snuffed for nothing, for hers to not be safe...

I couldn't handle it.

Accardo pulled the rope, strangling any thought from my mind as he heaved and hefted my body, dragging me across the grass as I struggled against the rope and the pain that was fading into a numbing throb. Shock? It had to be. Fight or flight had kicked in, and I couldn't worry about the pain when I needed to fight. I lost my chance of retrieving my gun, but I could still fight against him, struggle, making anything he planned to do to me infinitely harder.

Sticks and stones ground into my body as I was pulled through the threshold and into the rose garden. Rocks created a painful pathway as I held tight to the rope at my throat, trying to force space between it and my neck to allow me air. How my neck hadn't snapped yet, I'd never know, but for now I was thankful for the reprieve.

He stopped in front of the oak tree that lived in the center of the garden and dropped the rope. I gasped as I took in the unobstructed air, savoring the luxury, even knowing it wouldn't last. "When your wife last sat on that bench and gazed at this tree, I bet she never thought it would be the place you died."

"Neither did I," I scratched out, my voice painful as it left me.

He carried on like he didn't hear me, like I wasn't struggling to get my lungs to work and my body to move. I hadn't given upthe fight. No, I'd never just hand him a win. But the longer I lay here, the more it became apparent that I was fucked.

Sucking in all the air I could manage, I closed my eyes, tightened my abs, and forced myself upward, curling around my knees until I was stable and sitting. A fucking mistake, as instantly, a bout of lightheadedness swam in my head before Accardo yanked on the rope, forcing me backwards so he could drag me just a little further. When I was close enough, he adjusted the rope under my arms and bound my hands, winding it in such a way that it no longer strangled me, before he tossed the rope over a thick branch and heaved, pulling my body off the ground and using his waning strength to dangle me from the tree. Then he took the rope and tied it to the water fountain, leaving me hanging.

"How's that leg?" The fucker smirked, knowing damn well that my leg was snapped in half.

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