Beast: A Hate Story, The Beginning

“What about a trial?” I asked, ignoring him.

“There will be one,” he said. “But she will lose.”

“She needs a lawyer.” I snatched the book from him.

“It’s not that kind of trial.”

“But…” I desperately tried to grasp for some way to save her. I had to. It just wasn’t fair. She’d been married to a complete horror since she was a child, lived under the torment of a man who pushed her down the stairs because he didn’t like her tone, and now she was going to either be killed or sold into slavery because she’d freed herself?

No fucking way.

“Enough, Frankie. I informed you out of courtesy. I don’t want to hear any more.” He hardened his eyes, like stone trapped under a glacial chill. I swallowed. Anything I said now would end badly, but I just had to, for Gabby.

I stepped up to Beast, fingers curling on his forearm. His suit jacket felt like cream. He looked at my hand then back to me. For a moment, I thought he would do something because his eyes drilled into mine with that savage, carnal fury that had been absent the past few days. Then he shucked me off and left the room.

I tried to go back to reading, but couldn’t. It was late, nearly past twelve in the morning, and my eyelids were heavy. Barely two days had passed since dinner with Gabby and Giovani, and now she was going to be killed—not to mention Gabby had been arrested. Arrested.

When Nikolai forced our meet at Gramercy Park she told me the story, the story that would lead to Giovani’s death. I remembered how her bruises looked fresh beneath the expensive foundation, and that was because they were. Instead of being left to recover after being pushed down a flight of stairs, left to mourn the loss of her child, Giovani took to beating her.

So she’d snapped.

After almost five years of constant abuse she fled the house.

Screaming.

And he had her arrested.

My fingers curled around the book until my knuckles turned white. Death was too good for a man like Giovani. My mind went back to the day at the park when she’d intimated her plan to kill him. There’d been a brief moment when she’d smiled. Gabby had told me about some cop she met while at the precinct and she was like a girl with a crush, not someone about to commit murder. But then Giovani had come back into focus, as he always would, and her smile had fallen.

“I don’t want you going back to that man,” I said. “You can still run. I’ll help you!”

“Don’t worry.” Gabby kissed me on the cheek, readying to leave. “It will give you wrinkles, and then what would the Beast want with you? Or never mind. Worry lots.”

The words had been so out of character, so blasé. I should have known

then. That day in the park I saw it in her eyes. Her baby was murdered the moment her body hit the floor and that was the final straw. Gone was her unassuming, timid aspect and in its place was a deadly determination. She wasn’t going to stop.

Apparently she hadn’t.

With a sigh, I set the book down. I rubbed a palm to my forehead and looked from the fireplace to the door. If I was going to help Gabby this time, I had to do it on my own.

I left the library and walked out, past the open room and to the foot of the stairs. Up there was his study. It wasn’t the first time I’d ascended; the first being the day I’d truly met Nikolai. It was also what led to me being strung up on a fucking wall for a day. My hands gripped the banister, shaking. This is for Gabby, I said to myself.

I climbed the stairs slowly, my mind screaming for me to turn around. When my foot met the floor, I took a deep breath and walked down the hall. Surprisingly, the door was open. He was seated behind his desk, head down. For a moment, I just watched him work.

My fingers went to my lip, the one he’d touched. I wondered if this was where he’d been the past two days, right under my nose, not even bothering to leave the penthouse. It was his house after all.

“Can I at least be there?” I blurted. “When it happens? She was kind to me.”

“What purpose would that serve?” He didn’t even look up from his desk.

“Moral support,” I lied.

“She won’t be present.” Still he didn’t look up.

I desperately searched inside myself for another reason, but came up empty. “Please?” He paused his work and looked up at me. Our eyes locked and for a moment, hope blossomed inside of me. Then his gaze shifted over my shoulder. I glanced behind me and, surprised, I saw that Nikolai had appeared behind me.

“Frankie has lost her way,” Beast said. “Help her find it.” His head returned to his work just as Nikolai nodded and gently took hold of my elbow, steering me out of the Beast’s study.