Page 68 of Beautiful Beast

“She cries on cue and is an exceptionally good actress. She said that she had no idea and pretended to be grateful that I was okay. Plus, we lived in a neighborhood where no one cared about us, and the system is so overcrowded. But she sure as shit never brought another boyfriend around me.”

My father had everyone fooled, too.

“I just knew,” she whispers. “I knew that if he raped me, something inside me would break forever. I tried to be prepared, but sometimes it feels like he still… Like he ruined me.”

Emotion burns my eyes and throat, and I don’t even care that she’s witnessing it. This girl is now a part of my heart.

“I’m sorry that you had to kill him. But, princess, you are far from ruined.”

Even though it was my job, the faces of everyone I’ve killed live inside my head. They flash through my brain like a deck of cards every night before I fall asleep.

In most cases, they were abominations who deserved to die, but they had families and people who loved them. Forgetting someone’s lifeless form at your feet after playing judge, jury, and executioner isn’t easy.

And I’m a hard man.

Belle is a sweet, tender girl.

The act must haunt her.

Add on what he did to her…

“I question whether I meant to do it all the time. It was instinct, a gut reaction. But I guess that I should have stabbed him in the leg or something,” she whispers.

“You did the right thing, and now he can’t hurt any other little girls.”

“That’s what helps me sleep at night.”

“Why did you tell me? I mean, I’m glad you did. I want to know everything about you. But why now?”

“So you don’t think I’m such a sweet, innocent little princess. Your past isn’t the only dark one, Adam. And I’m more than meets the eye.”

“I know that by now. Trust me. You’re chaos wrapped in a very pretty package.”

She laughs without humor. “That about sums it up, yeah.”

The patio door slides open, and I turn around to find Uncle Dennis with an absolutely ghastly pallor. He’s sweaty with waxy skin, and he’s shaking so badly that I have to reach a hand to steady him.

“Uncle Dennis, are you okay?” I demand.

“We need to go to the hospital, Adam. Something… It’s not right.”

Belle can see and hear everything, so I don’t bother to explain and just shove the phone into my pocket. I help my uncle inside and call the hotel’s doctor to wait with us until an ambulance arrives.

This trip was too much for Uncle Dennis, and he pushed himself too hard.

But surely, we still have more time and tonight isn’t the end.

While we’re waiting for help to arrive, I sit beside Uncle Dennis, who is lying on the couch, with tears in my eyes.

“Are you okay?” I ask again.

He shakes his head. “I don’t… I don’t think so, Adam.”

His voice is barely a whisper and his body is trembling violently while he thrashes from side to side.

“Please, no,” I gasp.

“I don’t think I’ll be going back to New York with you,” Uncle Dennis says. And then because it’s him and he’s a much better, stronger man than me, he makes a joke and tries to make me laugh.

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