Chapter 66
LEX
About to lose my shit.
I can hear Bella talking to Sabine behind me. She’s making introductions or some shit. Playing polite. But I can’t fucking see her.
All I see is him. Vince. The man who carved pain into our baby’s life like it was his right.
The man who abused her little brother. Who set off a chain reaction that ended with Dylan in the ground.
The man who bought Bella. Put a price on her like she was inventory. Like she was his to use. His to own.
Bella let me have a taste of vengeance. One hit. Two. Five. But it’s not enough. Not nearly fucking enough. I want back in. I need back in. I need to end him. Crack every bone in his face and let his body rot in this concrete tomb.
She walks back into my line of sight, eyes locked on mine, then grabs my face and kisses me again like she’s desperate. Like I’m the air and she’s drowning. I know what this is. She’s doing it to piss off Vince, the sick bastard who thought he could ever touch her.
So, I kiss her back. I pull her into me tighter, feasting on her tongue like I’ll never get enough. Because I will never get enough of this woman.
She pulls back just an inch, breathless. “I love you, Lex.”
“I love you too, malyshka.”
Then she turns, smooth as ever, and rips the blade out of Vince’s shoulder. His screams echo off the walls but refrains from calling her a bitch this time. She crouches in front of him again, and I catch the flick of Vince’s eyes. Down her goddamn shirt.
I step forward, fast and ready to rip his throat out, but she feels me. She always does. She glances back.
“What is it, Lex?”
“The fucker’s looking down your shirt, baby. He should know by now you’re mine. He doesn’t get to look at what he’ll never have.”
Bella turns back to Vince. “Now, Vincent were you violating my privacy?”
Vince shakes his head, frantic.
She clicks her tongue. “Well, then are you calling the love of my life a liar?”
He doesn’t answer. Doesn’t dare. Bella rises slowly, the queen of death, and walks over to me. She hands me her knife, calm and deadly.
“Baby, two times for a lie. No more, no less, and no vital organs. We’re taking our time with my old friend, remember?”
I nod. “Yes, baby.” I don’t delay. One stab deep into the opposite shoulder. He howls. Another straight through the palm of his hand. He screams like a little bitch.
“Motherfucking psycho,” he spits through the blood. “You’re just her goddamn lap—”
Before I can even lunge again, Bella is there. She walks up to him, boots clicking against the concrete like a metronome of fear.
“What did you just say?” she asks softly, tilting her head.
Vince shuts up. Mouth clamped tight. But it’s too late. Bella doesn’t break eye contact as she reaches out and gently takes the knife from my hand. Then she presses the tip right in front of Vince’s eye. Not stabbing. Promising.
“Answer me, Vincent,” she says sweet and deadly.
He gulps, trembling. “I-I didn’t mean—”
“Sabine?” Bella calls out without looking away from him.
“Yes, baby?”
“Can you bring Celeste here for me?”
“Of course, child.” Sabine steps forward, and God help me, she’s smiling like this is some sort of Sunday brunch. She places Celeste right into Bella’s waiting hand.
The creature coils around her slow, smooth and ominous, like it knows it’s part of the performance. Part of the punishment. Celeste curls up her arm, across her shoulders, down her waist, claiming her like the darkness does.
And somehow, I’m hard. Terrified? Sure. Turned the fuck on? Absolutely. Nemesis. Fuck, that costume was perfect. Our girl is vengeance.
Bella crouches again, face level with Vince. “Vincent,” she murmurs. “If you think you can talk to my man like that we’re going to have a real problem.”
Then she drops Celeste right onto his lap. Vince loses his fucking mind. Screaming. Thrashing. Pleading. But he can’t move, he’s tied too tight. Celeste slithers slowly across his thighs, unbothered by his movements.
Bella watches it all. Unmoved. Like a queen watching the consequences of her wrath play out in real time.
I hear Cade shift behind me. He’s getting tense. His breathing’s uneven. He’s hanging on by a thread.
I glance at Bella, my voice low. “Baby… maybe Tex should take Cade back to the car.”
Tex steps in like a loaded weapon, getting right in my face. “What did you say, Lex? You don’t get tell her what to do. She is in charge here. What fucking part of that do you not understand?”
I don’t flinch. Don’t blink. I’m not afraid of him. But I am trying to protect the man Bella loves. Hell, the man we love, because this shit’s only about to get darker.
Bella steps between us, placing a hand on Tex’s chest. Her touch is soft, but her presence is iron. “Tex, it’s okay. I’ll handle it.”
He nods and takes a step back.
She turns to Cade. “Cade now’s your chance. Do you want to stay? Because from here on out it’s only going to get worse. Vince isn’t leaving this building.”
Cade takes a step toward her. “Sweetheart, I want to stay. I told you, darkness and light. All of you. I love all of you. I’m in. Forever.” He pulls her in and kisses her like it’s the last thing tethering him to this world.
Sabine lets out a low, delighted chuckle. “Ooooh, chérie… you one lucky lady.”
“Yes. Yes, I am.”
Vince is still losing his damn mind in that chair. Celeste is wrapped around his torso, squeezing with slow intent. Her body gleams under the low light, thick and coiled, her tongue flicking in and out like she’s testing the air for fear.
And she’s finding plenty.
“Get it off me! Get it the fuck off me!” Vince screeches, squirming, legs kicking against the chair legs.
He’s sweating like a pig, tears streaking down his blotchy face.
The same face that once smirked through a deal to buy our girl.
The same hands that hurt her family. The same monster who made her little brother bleed from the inside out.
Now he’s being judged. Not just by us. But by something primal.
Bella stalks back to him, every step she takes toward Vince, he flinches harder, like he knows damn well his life expectancy is running short.
“Now, where were we?” Bella tilts her head at Vince, then looks to Sabine with a polite smile. “Sabine, would you mind taking Celeste off our little friend here?”
Sabine nods, amused. “Of course, baby.”
Bella’s eyes stay locked on Vince. “But just so we’re on the same page,” she adds, her voice dipping into something cold and final. “From here on out, if you lie or if you call me any names, you don’t get my knife. You get Celeste.”
Vince stiffens like a fucking corpse reanimated. He nods fast, eyes darting toward the snake as Sabine slowly unwraps her. He’s shaking. Not from the blood. Not from the blade. But from her.
That snake scared him more than any of us ever could and Bella saw it. Filed it away and weaponized it. Sabine cradles Celeste like she’s holding royalty and steps back into the shadows.
Bella stands tall, smooths her hands down her top, and claps once. Light. Chipper. Fucking terrifying as hell.
“Alright! Here’s what we’re going to do,” her voice is pure mockery. “Think of this as your confessional. Your last rites. Your come-to-Jesus whatever the fuck you want to call it.”
Vince squints, confused. “What are you talking about?”
Tex huffs a dark laugh from behind me. Clearly, they’ve played this game before.
Bella doesn’t miss a beat. “Tex?” she says sweetly, holding out her hand like she’s inviting him to dance. He quickly steps up and takes it.
“You wanna be the priest tonight, or should I?”
Tex grins, wicked. “Oh, I think I’ll be the priest.” He spins her once and dips her low like they’re on a dance floor. “You sit and enjoy the show instead, Bells.”
Bella’s smile grows. She turns and walks toward the wall, boots echoing like gunshots against concrete.
She grabs a metal chair and drags it slow and loud, scraping all the way across the floor until it screeches to a stop in front of Vince.
She flips it around, straddles it backward, knife still in hand, and just watches him.
Cade moves up beside me, his arms crossed tight. He’s trying to stay calm, but he’s breathing through his nose like a goddamn bull.
Sabine slinks up on my other side, Celeste curling around her arm like liquid muscle. She leans in close and whispers in my ear, “You’re gonna love this part, chéri.”
The snake hisses, low and steady, like she’s whispering secrets just for me.
Sabine chuckles darkly. “She likes you. Sees your darkness, but she’s intrigued by your soul… wants to know it.” She leans in closer still, and murmurs something low in French Creole. I don’t understand all of it, but one word cuts clean: l’ombre. The shadow.
Tex steps up behind Vince, places both hands on his shoulders, fingers digging in like steel. “Vince, we gather you here tonight for your final trial,” he says, voice cool but loaded. “Now’s the time. Is there anything you’d like to confess?”
Vince’s breath rattles in his chest. His eyes bounce from Tex, to Bella, to the snake, to Sabine, and back to Bella. Then he snaps. “You fucking psychopathic bunch of lunatic freaks!”
Sabine tsks, clicking her tongue in disapproval. “Wrong answer, chéri.”
She sets Celeste on Bella’s shoulders. The snake slithers up and over, draping itself like a scarf across our girl’s collarbone, curling at her throat. Bella doesn’t move. She just reaches up and runs her fingers down Celeste’s spine like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
Vince trembles. Palms sweaty, face pale, bleeding and broken.
Bella leans in. Sweet. Soft. Fucking adorable. “Now, Vincent, I think you can do better than that.”
Vince startles. “What do you want me to say?” he snaps, voice cracking.
Tex circles him like a shark, calm but deadly.
“The truth, Vince. The truth about it all.”
Vince blinks, confused, like he doesn’t know which truth they mean.