Page 106 of Beautiful Beast

“The fucking boogeyman.” Dante chuckles, shaking his head. “I finally caught you. How does it feel?”

“It feels like you fucking talk too much.”

“You’re just bitter that I won. And that you’re going to die. Are you at all concerned about your wife? What will happen to her?”

“Leave Anya out of this,” I growl.

“I touched a nerve. You do know she’s firmly planted in all this. Once you’re dead, Aiden will kill her. We’ll have no use for her otherwise. How does that make you feel?”

“Why do you ask?” I shift my arms behind me, but there’s no getting out of these dam zip ties. Not when my arms are behind my back.

“I ask because Anya wasn’t sure if you would come for her. I’m sure that’s got to hurt. Your own wife isn’t sure if you’ll save her. Ouch.”

“My relationship with my wife is none of your concern.” It does hurt a little, though. But I deserve it after how I’ve treated Anya. She has no real reason to trust me. I did that.

“Doesn’t matter anyway. We’re here.” Dante pulls up to a secluded area by the docks. Since it’s nighttime, no one else is around. Perfect time for a murder.

Finn forces me out of the car with his gun pressed to my back. Dante whistles as he heads closer to the water.

I’m running out of time. It’s a feeling I’ve never felt before. Panic.

We reach the edge when Dante faces us and nods at Finn, who pushes me onto my knees.

“You don’t want to torture me first?” I ask.

“What’s the point? I want you dead, and I want you to know it was me who did it. I won’t bother wasting either of our time. This was inevitable.”

He raises his gun.

I react.

I slam my head back against Finn’s stomach, making him stumble back. I jump to my feet and take off running. Dantefires at me, but the bullet misses by just a hair. I use the large shipping containers as cover.

I use all my strength to break the zip ties, and they finally snap, giving me use of my hands.

Then I hunker down behind a shipping container and wait.

“Where did he go?” I hear Dante snarl and Finn’s mumbled reply.

With no weapon of my own, I don’t really want to take them on. I just want to get out of here to find Anya and save her.

But if Dante doesn’t get the chance to kill me, he’ll call Aiden and kill her right then and there. The problem is: I have no idea where Anya even is.

I hold still and hear footsteps getting closer to my spot. Then it’s showtime.

Finn turns the corner, and I’m ready for him. I barrel into him, knocking him to his back. A gunshot goes off. I punch Finn square in the face, and his grip on the gun loosens enough for me to grab it. I stumble to my feet, but by the time I have the gun up and ready to shoot, Finn has scrambled behind the shipping container, moving out of sight.

When I turn around it, he’s gone, having run away.

“I don’t like it when you don’t play by my rules,” Dante growls behind me. Spinning around, we come face to face, both our weapons raised.

“Tough fucking luck. Where’s Anya?”

“Why would I tell you?”

“I’ll make your death quicker.”

“You’ll never find her. She’s where I live, and do you know where I live, Erik?”

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