Page 33 of Beautiful Beasts

Dante and Harley have been keeping an eye on me. I think they are worried they are going to scare me away, but if I am being honest, what they are doing for me right now means more to me than I could ever explain. Knowing they will do anything for me turns me on, putting some of my pieces back together. The ones that have me believing I am nothing but an object to men. Dante and Harley are proving my negative thoughts wrong.

I told Dante and Harley what I knew about Bruce. The things he said as he raped me, the things he wanted from me, and how he dressed. I have told them everything I could remember or what my brain allowed me to remember.

The club owner appears to be close with Bruce, which would explain why he didn’t want to give up everything he knew. He quickly learned that my Beasts wouldn’t let him go or stop hurting him until he gave them what they wanted.

No one knows for sure if the person that drove the car into the library is the same man who raped me for years. From what I could make out on the cameras, it looked like him, but my eyes have always played tricks on me. I think it’s my brain’s way of protecting me, but it is fucking annoying now. The one time I want to remember shit I have been through, my brain is fucking telling me to fuck right off.

It made me want to puke when I watched the video. Whoever was driving the car knew what they wanted to do, and nothing was going to stop them from doing it. They drove through the men and the gate without any of the cameras getting a clear shot of him. The man was wearing a black hoodie that hid his face, but it seemed like he knew where the cameras were because he never looked directly into any of them.

But I can say with certainty that the man who spoke to Harley about Griffin putting me in his will, that man, that fucker, is the piece of shit that stole my innocence when I was a child and had been using, abusing, and raping me for years. There were times when Griffin didn’t owe him a fucking thing, but Griffin would charge him a heavy price to use me for the night, and he would do unspeakable things to my body. I have physical scars from him that will never fade.

We don’t know for sure if the man who crashed into the library is the same man who has haunted my dreams, but right now, I don’t think it matters to my two Beasts. They believe that it is the same man, so they will continue to torture this fucker until he gives them everything they want.

“Fucking tell us,” Harley screams.

“He wants her,” the man screams, nodding toward me.

“Why?” Dante asks in a concerned, low voice.

“He wants to make her his wife, and he won’t stop until he gets her,” the sobbing man finally confesses.

Harley drops the knife to the ground and turns around. I watch him closely as he shoves his hands into his hair and grips it tightly.

“FFFUUUUCCCKKK!” He roars. The look on his face breaks my heart, but the man’s confession twists my stomach into a million knots, and my anxiety shoots through the roof.

I want to ask why me again, but I know no one can fucking answer that question for me. No one knows why. Maybe this is just how it is for women like me; perhaps this was always my fate from the start, and Griffin was just making sure I was broken in until he forced me to marry the man who took so much from me. The man who whispered all those disgusting things into my ear and promised me that one day I would belong to him.

I guess he was telling the truth.

I guess my fate was written long ago, and I was kidding myself when I thought I could have a different life.

If this man is telling the truth, then Bruce is not going to stop. He is willing to do anything, including hurting Dante and Harley, and that is something I will not let happen.

I can’t control what happens to me, but I can control what happens to them.

23

Dante

Fourth Week Together

“River” by Bishop Briggs

B ella refused to go inside the house, so Harley stayed with her while some of my men and I went through Bruce’s house and ripped it apart. It looked like he moved out pretty quickly and took anything important with him. We didn’t find a fucking thing we could use to find him.

He is smart, too fucking smart. He knew we would put the pieces together and find out what was promised to him by Griffin, figuring out his plan.

It has been a few days, and my men are still looking for him. Everyone, including Gus, has been on edge, and Bella has refused to come out of the room except to switch between my room and Harley’s. We both give her different things, and whatever she needs in that moment is where she goes.

When she chooses to stay with Harley, I go out searching for the fucker that has turned our lives upside down. The drug and weapon deals have been slowing down since people have heard the rumors of what has been going on. My clients are fucking paranoid, and they aren’t going to make deals with someone they believe is being watched.

The fucked up thing is it isn’t the cops and FEDs watching me, but they don’t care. They just know that someone is playing with me and my family, and they are backing off until things go back to normal. And that is really fucking bad for business, but right now, I don’t give two fucks. They can go to someone else for all I care. All I care about is making sure Bella is safe, and we stop this fucker before something happens we can’t fucking fix.

I am sick and tired of playing these fucking games with this fucker and having to look over my shoulder and feeling fucking helpless.

I place my hands on either side of the window and lower my head, taking a deep breath. I hear the soft footsteps behind me, and the anxiety leaves my body without her even touching me. She wraps her arms around me, resting her hands against my chest. I open my eyes when she presses her lips against my back, sending chills down my spine. I don’t know if I will ever get used to her soft touch or her soft eyes looking into mine.

“Hey you,” she whispers against my skin.

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