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)
I remember the ache I felt when I knew Blue was gone and I didn’t have a place to escape to anymore.
Over time, I had blocked it out because the pain was unbearable. But five minutes ago, it all came rushing back when I saw those familiar blue eyes.
For twenty-five years I’ve missed her.
Every cell in my body explodes with rage. I feel the venom sink into every atom and neuron.
I move so quick, I don’t think he even sees me before my gun is pressed under his chin. “You stay away from her.”
But he only laughs. “You really think you can stop me? Any threat to the club and I’m a fucking freight train barreling down the tracks to run down whatever the fuck is in my way. Don’t think I won’t hurt you, boy.”
I press the gun deeper. “You are not hurting her.”
“Maybe I’ll fuck her sweet little pussy with my gun right before I put a bullet in her—”
I squeeze the trigger, and the bullet tears through Dodger’s skull. In seconds, his face blows apart and splatters across my leather cut.
He falls to the ground in a heap. Missing half his head.
I swing around to make sure Belle hasn’t heard or seen anything and am relieved when I see her laughing with the old man sitting at the table with her, undisturbed by the murder outside her window.
I look at Dodger and back to her.
And a plan begins to form in my head.
The Present
The memory is a cold blade running along the length of my spine. I can still taste his blood on my lips and smell the ocean as I threw his body off the cliffs.
I thought his death would weigh heavily on my conscience. But by taking Dodger’s life, I ensured Belle’s safety and it’s all I needed to accept what I’d done.
I knew if the club found out, I’d be sent into The Well, or out to sea alongside the man who I detested.
And Belle would die. They would understand the threat and eliminate it somehow.
So I devised the plan.
I would marry her so I could protect her for the rest of her life.
But the likelihood of her wanting to marry me was slim, and I didn’t have time to try.
Her uncle’s debt was the perfect opportunity to force Belle into marriage. I was going to approach them both. Present the opportunity with a little more finesse than blackmailing her.
But then Gaston did what he did, and my plans were given a hard shove forward.
It took everything in me not to kill him. But Dodger’s disappearance had the club on edge. Me killing Gaston might turn their suspicion on me. So I banished him and focused on protecting Belle.
Now she’s looking at me like she wants to run far away.
Which is exactly why I haven’t told her before now.
Because I’ve already lost her once.
Losing her again might damn near kill me.
CHAPTER 58
BELLE
I can’t believe what I am hearing.
Dodger killing my family over this land. Beast stalking me since I got back to town.
An entire lifetime I can’t remember.
Why can’t I remember it?
Did the trauma of my parent’s death cause some kind of dissociative amnesia?
“You kept all of this from me,” I whisper, trying desperately to make sense of it all.
“I didn’t want you to leave.” His voice is a deep, tortured rumble. “I couldn’t protect you if you left.”
“Protect me from who?”
“Gaston knew who you are. Now Boney does too.” His brows pull back. “I wanted you here with me where I knew you’d be safe.”
“Is that really why you didn’t want me to leave? Or was it because being married to me was the only way the club got to keep this land?”
“Fuck the land. I married you because I’ve been in love with you for as long as I can fucking remember.”
“Don’t—”
“It’s true. I know you don’t remember me. But I remember you.”
“But I do remember. This whole time I felt drawn to you, and I thought I was going crazy because I didn’t even know you. I thought I was losing my mind. You could’ve told me and it would’ve helped me understand what I was feeling. But instead you chose to protect the secret so you could save the clubhouse.”
“You know how I feel about you. You can’t think I’d do this just to save the clubhouse.”
He takes a step forward. But I take a step back. “The club comes first, isn’t that the club motto?”
“No, you come first. Always. And if you need proof, then take this. It’s yours.” He removes his cut and holds it out to me. “I choose you, Belle. Over everything. Including this club.”
“You expect me to believe you’d give up the club for me? The club is in your veins. It’s the reason you breathe.”