Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 105803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
That’s when I notice the necklace the little girl is wearing. It’s the letter B on a black leather choker. The same necklace I lost as a teenager while swimming at the beach.
But how can that be?
I squint and bring the photo closer. It’s definitely the same necklace.
Happy birthday, Bluebelle. The long-lost memory hits me hard, and I stumble backward. It’s blurred and fractured. But I can see my mom and she’s smiling at me as my dad helps me unwrap the birthday present because my little hands are struggling with the paper. He holds up the necklace and the gold letter B glints in the early morning light before he secures it around my neck.
Oh my god.
The little girl in the photo is me.
And I just know the little boy is Beast.
It’s an absolute knowing inside of me.
Another memory hits me. Us as children, playing outside. Laughing and squealing as my dad sprays us with the garden hose on a hot summer’s day.
Emotion surges through me as more memories follow. Each one getting stronger than the one before it.
Little splintered moments of days long gone.
Of my mom and dad. Of a childhood best friend.
Something outside draws my attention out the window. And then to the west tower where the forbidden room is.
The answers are there, I just know it.
In a split second, finding out what secrets lie beyond the thick wooden door and cast iron lock of the tower is the most important thing in the world.
But I’ll need a key because I know it’s locked.
Abandoning my domestic goddess duties, I start to look for it.
But after half an hour of searching, I am a worked-up, sweaty mess and no closer to finding the key.
Standing in the center of the room with my hands on my hips, I scan the room for any hiding place I could’ve missed.
But I’ve gone through this room like a tornado and there is no key.
I swipe at the hair sticking to my sweaty brow.
Fine.
If I can’t unlock the door, I will break the fucking thing down.
CHAPTER 55
BEAST
“You evil son of a bitch,” Boney seethes. “You knew about this?”
“Of course I did.”
“So you hunted down the only living heir and coerced her into marrying you.”
“And what’s hers is now mine. The land rightfully belongs to the club now.”
“Not if she finds out the truth.”
“It won’t change a thing.”
He scoffs. “You really expect me to believe she’s so enamored by you she won’t bat an eyelid to find out you used her because of who she is. That she’s nothing more than a pawn to keep your clubhouse.”
“My wife would be very upset to hear you talk about our marriage like that, Boney. Our love runs deep.”
Boney has gone as red as a beet.
I take a step forward and lean closer. “When are you going to learn? No matter what you throw at the Knights, we’re always one step ahead. That land is ours and you’ll never get your hands on it.”
CHAPTER 56
BELLE
Shaking, because now I know Beast has kept so much from me and I’m not sure what it means, I tuck the photo into my jeans pocket.
Determined to find out the truth, I rip open the bedroom door but walk straight into my husband.
“Little one—”
I hold up the photo and his expression changes.
“This is me, isn’t it.”
He takes the photo and studies it.
A second passes.
Then two. Then three.
“I’ve looked at this picture a thousand times,” he says finally.
He swallows, and I watch his Adam’s apple bob in his throat.
“Is it me?” I ask, watching his reaction and feeling the emotion I can see on his face.
“And me.”
I shake my head. “How is that even possible?”
He lifts his gaze. “Belle—”
“Tell me,” I demand.
“I can’t.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
“It’s not time.”
I duck around him. It’s one of the advantages of being tiny in comparison to my gigantic husband.
I flee along the hallway and up the stairs toward the old turret.
Unfortunately, he catches up to me outside the forbidden room.
“Belle.” His deep voice rumbles my name.
But I slay him with a glare. “Open the door.”
He thinks for a moment. Our gazes locked, I notice the rapid pounding of his pulse in the thick vein of his neck.
Without a word, he unlocks the door.
I don’t wait for him to stand aside, I shove past him and storm into the forbidden room.
The room is vast with stone walls and ceiling-to-floor arch windows. It’s been set up like some kind of office or a den. I scan the walls in the dim light. Pieces of paper stuck to the brickwork grab my attention and I charge over to them.
They’re photos.
Of me.
And there are a lot of them.
I feel Beast come up behind me, but I don’t turn around. “You were following me?”
“Yes.”
“Since I returned to St. Bon.”
It’s not a question. But he answers anyway. “Yes.”