Page 31 of Beautiful Beasts

She is okay, she is alive. Harley was here. Harley protected her. She is okay, she is alive.

My thoughts continue to race as I stare at the front end of a car that has stopped where the window seat used to be. Rain and wind blow into the hole in the side of the house. The house that I have been able to protect from my way of living until now.

I see my men running around the yard with their guns drawn while others are looking over the car. The driver’s side door is open. He got away. I assume he didn’t stay long after he did what he planned. He wanted to create panic and chaos but also remind me of what he wants.

I am assuming the fucker who did this is the same one that came to the front gate and told Harley that Bella’s father left her to him in his will.

My vision becomes blurred as my hands form into fists. I take a deep breath as I focus on Harley. He is staring at me, and when I look at Bella, she has her arms wrapped tightly around Harley’s waist, but she is looking at me. I watch as tears escape her beautiful eyes and roll down her face, making my heart ache.

“We need to figure out who the fuck is doing this,” I snap more to myself than to Harley. This isn’t his fault; it is mine. I should have hunted down every fucking man that has touched Bella. I should have been here, but I was upstairs in yet another fucking meeting.

“Agreed,” Harley replies softly.

Bella pulls back, forcing Harley to release his hold on her. She slowly makes her way over to me. I release my fists and wrap my arms around her, pulling her against me. She wraps her arms around me tightly and shoves her face into my chest, a gesture that Harley and I need to get used to.

We need to get used to any fucking gesture from her. Neither one of us is used to having someone show soft, gentle affection toward us, but now that we are experiencing it, I can’t fucking live without it.

“Why is this happening to me?” Bella whispers into my chest.

“I don’t know, Sweetheart, I don’t know,” I confess to her through gritted teeth.

If I could give her an answer that would help her heal from all of this, I would. But right now, I don’t have any kind of fucking answers for her, but I will find them, and we will make this right. We will make them all fucking suffer.

I have had a lot of people try to kill me and try and take what I have, but this fucking man doesn’t want me or my kingdom. No, he wants the one thing that has given me my soul back. The one thing that has helped Harley start healing from his past.

I would give anything for Bella, but I will not fucking give him her. I fucking can’t.

The car stops, and Harley turns off the car and looks into the mirror, looking me in the eyes. I nod, letting him know it’s time. I keep my hand on Bella’s leg and take a deep breath.

My men have already started to patch up the side of the house the car drove through, and they will have it repaired by the time we return. I didn’t want her to see what was about to happen, but the thought of leaving her at the mansion, even with Gus, was something I couldn’t fucking handle right now.

She wants to know the real me; she is about to meet him. The man we are going to see owns this club and knows every low life in this fucking city. If anyone knows anything about this fuck, it would be him.

She has finally calmed down and has stopped sobbing. She knows that if Harley hadn’t been there when the car crashed through the window, she wouldn’t be here right now. She has been through a lot in her life, but she has never been in a position where her life was in danger. Anyone who has had a brush with death, knowing someone is trying to hurt you, is bound to go into shock and become numb and scared. And right now, I know she is both.

I need to make sure I don’t lose her to herself, but right now, Harley and I need to talk to this fucker if we want to get ahead of the man that thinks she belongs to him.

Bella knows him, but she isn’t ready to relive what she went through to tell us much. She told us his name was Bruce, but she didn’t know his last name or address. We will have all the information we need to make him pay for what he has done and what he tried to do to her by the end of the night.

“We will not let anything happen to you, Sweetheart,” I say calmly, squeezing her hand.

She nods. “I trust you. I trust the both of you.”

I tighten my grip on her hand as Harley gets out of the car and opens the back passenger door. We slide out of the car, and I guide her to the club’s back door. Our men have been here for about an hour working him over, but he hasn’t given up any new information so far. He keeps saying the same shit over and over again.

Harley walks in first, and I keep Bella behind me as the door closes behind us. We walk down the long, dark hallway to the open-concept bar. The club owner is chained to a chair in the middle of the dance floor. The pussy is screaming at the top of his fucking lungs and is already covered in blood. We stopped at the edge of the dance floor, and I pulled a high back chair out for Bella to sit and watch as we unleashed our beasts.

Harley removes his jacket and hands it to Bella as he slowly rolls up his sleeves. He pulls his knife from the sheath on his hip and stalks toward the chained man. This fucker will talk soon enough. Once Harley starts in on someone, they don’t make it very long before they break. Many have tried but failed, and this prick will be no different.

This is personal now, not just for me but for Harley as well. I saw the look on his face when he held her against him, how she embraced his touch, and how she needed him in the library. He is in love with her just as much as I am, and now this city has two Beasts to fear when it comes to Bella. The streets will run red with all of their blood. We will keep her safe even if we have to burn our fucking city to the ground to do it.

Harley circles the man several times before he stops behind him. I feel Bella grab my arm when Harley leans down, locks eyes with Bella, and speaks into the man’s ear. “You will tell me what I need to know,” Harley says with desire and confidence.

“I don’t fucking know anything,” the man yells as his body shakes with fear.

“I don’t believe you,” Harley whispers before he slams the blade into the man’s left thigh. The man screams out in pain and pisses himself as he watches Harley circle him again.

“Who the fuck is he?” Harley asks, losing his patience. He rips the blade out of his thigh.

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