Page 42 of Beautiful Revenge

Watching her torture Ian Murphy to death is the highlight of my week.

Ten nails. One for every finger he’s ever used to lay his hands on someone? Genius, and something only my devious princess could think of.

By the time she got the fingers of his second hand broken, he had thrown up again, and I had to dodge more splatter before she slammed the dirty rag back in his mouth. He didn’t say anything horrible to her this time, though. I think he was beginning to lose his fight at that point.

I’m just setting her down after she’s finished with the nails. Spinning her around, I catch her lips with mine, showing her just how strong and incredible she is, and how much I love her. I don’t know what went through her mind earlier, but I know that look on her face.

With everything her father and those bastards did to her, it’s obvious that she can sometimes get lost in her head, believing she isn’t good enough. More than once over the years, she’s told us she doesn’t think we should be with her because our lights are too bright for her darkness, but that’s bullshit.

She is our light. Without her, I don’t think Dylan and I would have ever found the happiness we have now. We were put on this earth to be hers, and vice versa. It’s something we remind her of as much as we can because we love her unconditionally.

“What’s next?” I ask, pulling back to smile at her.

“You’ll see.” She smirks, a devilish glint in her eye, and I’m so hard it’s painful.

I stand back and let her do her thing. I watch on as she cuts into him over and over again until he passes out from the overload to his system.

“Lift me up?” she asks, looking back at me.

“Sure. Anything you want,” I remind her with a smile, moving to pick her up by the waist.

Once she’s settled over my shoulders, I see the cloth drop to the ground and brace for what’s coming next. A whole lot of screaming and blood.

Briar grunts as she gets to work sawing her knife through is tongue. He wakes up screaming, choking on his own blood as a huge chunk of it falls to the ground before me.

My stomach churns at the sight. I love how happy it makes her, but there’s something about seeing his tongue that’s just a little gross.

“Perfect!” She claps her hands, moving to drop off the back of my shoulders.

“Good job,” I praise her when I look up, seeing the life draining from his eyes a little more as he bleeds all over himself. “You’re losing him, baby.”

“I know. It’s time to finish it,” she says, sighing.

She grips her knife and starts swinging it into his body repeatedly, screaming different things at him.

“You all think you’re so strong!” Stab, stab. “But you’re not! Fucking look at you!” Stab. “You can’t handle someone giving back to you what you deserve. You’re the weakest men on the planet.” Stab, growl, stab.

I step back, watching her take out her anger on him. Anger she holds toward any man that’s ever done despicable things to women and children. She continues to wreak havoc on his body for a few more minutes until he’s silent. No more crying or screaming as I watch him take his final breath.

“Weak, weak, weak!” Briar screams again before dropping the knife at her feet.

Her shoulders are heaving with every breath she takes, but I give her the space she needs. This wasn’t just about making her client’s husband pay. This is the first time she’s gotten to fully let out all the anger from her past by bleeding someone out.

“She good?” Dylan asks in my ear, and I know he’s stopped his voice from going into her earpiece.

“She needs a minute,” I say under my breath as Briar turns to face me.

Her cheeks are covered in blood and tears as she tries to get her breathing under control.

“I’m okay,” she says to us both.

“Are you?” I ask, stepping toward her, holding my arms out as she walks into them.

“Yes.” Her voice shakes a little and she takes a deep breath. “I’ve been holding that in for so long,” she says quietly.

“We know, Brie,” Dylan assures her.

“I need to pace myself better next time. Get more creative and not let my anger take over,” she states, pulling back from me.

---