Chapter 58
CHAPTER 58
B ELLE
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.”
He throws the cut on the floor. “You’re my reason for breathing. Not the club.”
I look at the cut, then back to him. “You don’t know me very well if you think I’d ask you to give up something you love.”
“But you are. Because you’re asking me to give up you . And you’re what I love the most in this world. I’m yours. All of me. The truth is, I was the moment you took your first breath. Even when I thought you were gone.”
“I don’t want your cut.”
“And I don’t want it if it means I lose you.”
He comes toward me.
I take a step back. “You’d die without the club.”
“No. I’d die without you. And I’d die willingly because I’ve already lived in a world without you in it, and it wasn’t worth every painful moment I existed in it.”
I look up at him.
The man who has been the missing piece of the puzzle for my entire life. I didn’t know it, but my broken heart was aching for him. The boy from my childhood.
The boy I couldn’t remember, but my heart did.
“You’d just walk away?”
“Yes.” He takes my face in his hands. “And that’s the easiest answer of my life, little one. I choose you. And I will always choose you. Because you are the only thing that matters.”
I need a moment to process.
But I don’t get it.
Because a commotion outside draws me to the window overlooking the front gates where the mayor has arrived with a police escort.
As if on cue, Beast’s phone rings. It’s Gambit. “Yeah, I know, I can see them. I’ll come down.”
I follow Beast out of the room and down the staircase to the foyer, where Mayor Boney is at the front door with two police officers and two men who look like bodyguards.
Beast stands in front of the mayor in the doorway, his big arms folded. “What are you doing here, Bee? Can’t get enough of me, huh?”
Barely contained fury shimmers on Boney’s face at Beast’s use of the nickname.
“I didn’t come to see you,” he snaps. He looks over Beast’s shoulder and brings his attention to me. “It’s been brought to my attention that you may be held here against your will. Forced into a marriage you don’t want.”
“And who told you that?” I ask.
“He did. Just an hour ago when he smugly told me he was married to the rightful owner to this land. When he admitted why he married you. And I think the words were, what is yours is now his . Isn’t that right, Beast?”
In front of me Beast bristles. I see the tension in his shoulders. If what Boney says is true, then it doesn’t look very good.
“Is that true? Did you say that or is he lying?” I ask Beast, my voice shaky.
Boney looks very pleased with himself. “Actually, I’m pretty sure that is word for word what he said.”
I look at his smug face, and more than anything I want to wipe that self-righteous grin off his face.
“How could you do this to me?” I whisper to Beast.
“Belle—"
Beast reaches for me but I shake him off. “You used me.”
Across from us, the mayor can’t hide his joy at watching his revelation obliterate my marriage to Beast.
“That’s not true,” Beast says desperately. “Don’t believe a word he says.”
I jerk my head and sharpen my eyes on my husband. “But I’m expected to believe you when everything you’ve told me up until now was nothing but a lie.”
“We’re not a lie, Belle.”
He reaches for me, but I shake him off and turn to face the mayor. “Is your offer for assistance still available?”
He looks surprised. And pleased. Very pleased.
“Yes, of course. You will be safe with me.”
“Good, because I don’t want to be here with him right now.”
I feel Beast stiffen beside me, but I don’t look back as I walk off with the mayor and his men.
“I’ll organize a room at the hotel for you,” Mayor Boney says as we sit in the back of his Escalade.
“He’ll find me there,” I tell him, not hiding the fear on my face.
“I can arrange for a sheriff’s patrol.”
I fight my tears. “He’s smarter than them.”
“He’s not smart,” he snarls, dropping his nice guy mask.
“He’ll find a way to get to me.”
“You know him better than me, I suppose. You think he will outwit them?”
“The sheriff patrols, yes. But not your security detail,” I say, wiping my eyes.
“That’s true.” He smiles. Nice guy mask back in place. White teeth. Perfect hair. “You’ll stay with me at my home until you’re safe.”
I look up at him with large, appreciative eyes. “Thank you, Mayor. You are so kind.”
I watch through the back window of the car as the clubhouse gets farther and farther away.
“He married me because I own the land,” I murmur. “He used me.”
Mayor Boney loosens his tie. “Those men are bad news, Belle. Believe me, this town will thrive without them. They are a blight, and I will do whatever it takes to get rid of them.”
“And how do you plan to do that?”
“Well, if you sell me the land the clubhouse is on, then they’ll need to find somewhere else to live.”
“How much are you willing to pay?”
“Three million.”
I laugh. Three million dollars is more money than I could ever dream of having.
But it’s an insult.
“We’re talking about two hundred acres of prime real estate overlooking the town, with sweeping views of the ocean in one direction, and the woods and valley in the other. I might not know a lot about these kinds of things, Mayor, but I know that land is worth more than three million dollars.”
“Five million,” he says.
I look him in the eye. “Stop pulling my dick.”
He laughs. “I like you, Belle. Ten million dollars.”
Ten million.
What are the chances of me ever seeing ten million dollars in my bank account again?
“If I agree to sell it, what will you do with the land?”
He smiles, and it’s victorious. “Would you like to see?”
On the way to his home, we stop at his office which is in the tallest building in town. It’s a soaring eyesore of glass that is out of place in the quaint cobblestone streets and thatch-roof stores.
His office is on the top floor and is a lavish room with three-sixty views of the town, ocean, and surrounding woods. Everything screams wealth. The best of the best. Even his secretary is perfectly put together. High heels. Tight skirt. Make up like she’s about to pose for Vogue.
“During my last campaign, the townsfolk said they wanted more green space. More family orientated areas to congregate.” He walks us over to a massive model of the town set up near the window overlooking the ocean.
He points to the hill where the clubhouse usually sits. But it’s gone. In its place is a massive botanical garden and walkways. There is a barbecue area for families to grill on warm summer nights. A large playground for kids. There is even a public swimming pool.
“Being a campaign year, this has proved very popular with the people of St. Bon. They asked, and I am going to deliver.”
As we walk toward the elevator, I catch a glimpse of the clubhouse out the window and the knot in my chest tightens.
I falter, and Mayor Boney takes my arm. “Are you okay?”
I nod. “It’s been a day. I just need to lie down.”
He smiles. “Of course, let me take you home.”
Mayor Boney lives in a sprawling estate near Sunset Cliffs. A massive white mansion with tall arched windows and immaculate green lawns.
“You have a beautiful home,” I say as we step inside the impressive mansion.
“Thank you, please consider it your home away from home while you are here.”
I draw in a rough inhale. “Home…I guess I’ll need to look for a new one of those.”
He gives me an empathetic look. Like a politician looks at one of his voters when they’re supposed to be listening to their sad stories but aren’t paying attention at all.
It’s phony.
But that’s Mayor Boney.
“Just think what ten million dollars will buy you,” he says.
I give him a non-committal smile as his maid joins us.
He says to her, “Millie, please show Belle to one of the guest rooms. The one with the eggshell blue walls.” He looks at me. “It’s the one with the nicest views.”
“Thank you. I think I’ll take a nap. I feel like I could sleep for a week.”
“Take all the time you need, Belle. We’ll talk when you feel better. Dinner is at seven. I’ll send Millie to fetch you when it’s ready.”
I follow Millie up the staircase to the second floor, and along a hallway to the guest bedroom.
She opens the door for me. “If you need anything, just pick up the phone and dial one.”
I thank her and close the door behind me.
The room is beautiful.
Then I see the view.
It is beautiful.
And in the distance, the Knights of St. Bon clubhouse.