Owning Beauty (Taking Beauty Trilogy 3)

“You’ve heard. Of course, you’ve only heard. You were born rich, right?”

“Yes, my parents were wealthy,” I said.

“Lucky you,” he said.

“Yes,” I agreed.

“Did you know Ruby died?” he asked.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“She killed herself. Jumped right off a twenty story apartment building, can you believe that?”

“She must have been in a lot of pain,” I said.

“Yeah, you think?” he said. He was pacing around the room, a light sheen of sweat forming over his brow. “She was never the same after you.”

“After me?” I asked.

“She was classy, right?”

“Sure,” I said.

“She was. She wasn’t like all the other girls from the neighborhood. She didn’t need money to be stylish, she didn’t need some fancy education. She taught herself, was constantly reading books. She was adventurous, too, but you knew that, right?”

“What do you mean?”

“After you broke up with her, she told me all about your…perversions, shall we call them, Dalton?”

“I didn’t break up with her. We weren’t in that kind of relationship, there was nothing to break up. It was just a few dates.”

“No? So you just beat the shit out of everyone you go out with?”

“Look, I don’t think this is something we need to talk about.”

“You don’t? What would you rather talk about? Your dead friend?”

“Sure,” I said, grinding my teeth together. “Let’s talk about Bruce.”

“Yeah, that’s someone you loved, right? He was like a brother to you?”

I nodded.

“He sure loved you, I tell you that. Gave up so much for you, risked everything for you. He could have gone to jail for years.”

“Tell me about it,” I prodded, straining my ears for sirens.

“Didn’t your private investigator tell you enough?”

“I’d rather hear it from you,” I said.

“Of course,” he said. “That’s only fair.”

I sat calmly, watching him pace around the room as he spoke.

“Bruce wanted to put me away for life. He was a fierce guy, wasn’t he? Passionate. A do-gooder, my mother used to call them. Wanted to wear a cape, save the world, put one criminal away at a time. It was honorable, don’t get me wrong. If he’d set his sights on someone else, I’d have cheered for him.”

“Bruce was a good man.”

“Ah, yes, but every good man has a price, doesn’t he?”

“Do they?”

“I think so. I found Bruce’s weak spot. I had to, of course. I wasn’t about to spend a lifetime behind bars just for giving a few men access to some pussy. Turns out, that weak spot was you. Once I figured that out, he was easy to roll. And boy, did he roll right over as soon as I threatened to kill you. I guess he knew I wasn’t kidding.”

“So if he did what you wanted, then why’d you kill him?”

“Well, I’m not too fond of loose ends. My father taught me to never leave things unfinished. You see, Bear, that’s why I’m here today, as a matter of fact.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. You’re a loose end. You probably didn’t even know that, though, did you?”

“Nope,” I said.

“Well, now you do. So, how do you want to do this?”

“Do what?”

“Die, of course,” he said, casually pulling his gun from his jacket and pointing it at me. I shot a glance toward the kitchen but I couldn’t see Chloe.

“How about we go outside?” I said.

“With a million witnesses? Come on, you know I’m smarter than that.”

I nodded slowly, assessing the situation. He stood by the couch and for the first time, I cursed my minimalist design. If I had some vases or lamps or something heavy around, maybe I could use it to defend myself. As it was, there was nothing in this room but a couple of couches and a rug and a table.

He moved towards me, pointing the gun at my stomach. I braced myself, my life flashing before my eyes—Bruce, Chloe, my parents, my friends…

“Wait,” I said. “Let my wife leave first.”

“No,” he shook his head. “I promise I won’t hurt her. She doesn’t have anything to do with this and I hate killing kids or women, contrary to popular belief. I’m not a monster, Dalton.” The smile that spread across his face was the ugliest thing I’d ever seen in my life and I didn’t trust him for a second.

“Thank you,” I said.

He was crazy if he thought I wasn’t going to fight back. My head was spinning as I turned away, hoping like hell he’d follow instead of shoot.

“You know,” I lied, turning back to him and flashing him a smile of my own. “Ruby did tell me about you, now that I think about it.”

“She did?” he said, his eyes lighting up. “What did she say?”

She said you were a fucking monster, I thought to myself.

“She told me she loved you, she said you were really good to her, better than anyone she’d worked for before.”

“She said that?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I replied, catching a glimpse of Chloe behind him. She stood near the terrace, Harlan’s gun in her hand as she pointed it right at Rio’s back.

“She said something else, too,” I said.

“What? Tell me before I kill you, it’s the least you can do. You owe it to me for taking her away from me.”

“You’re right,” I nodded, taking a deep breath. I walked a few steps out of the way and then turned back to him. “She said you had a really fucking tiny cock. She said it was so tiny she couldn’t feel it at all when you fucked her. And she said you sweated like a pig when you were on top of her, so much she thought she was going to drown in your toxic fucking juices.”

He looked at me in shock, his eyes widening in surprise.

“You motherfucker!” he yelled, starting to walk towards me.

“Freeze!” Chloe yelled. He turned to her and then began laughing.

“Oh, you’re on tough bitch, eh?” he asked, before turning back to me. “You got a live one, huh, Dalton? A little firecracker?”

Chloe kept her focus, her eyes squinting as she kept the gun pointed at him.

“Move away from him or I’ll shoot you, I mean it, asshole!” she yelled.

My eyes widened in surprise as I heard the faint sound of sirens ring out. Rio laughed and shook his head, but he took a step back, his gun still pointing at me.

“Now, put the gun down!” Chloe ordered.

“I’m not going to do that, chicka,” Rio said.

Chloe cocked the gun, her eyes filled with rage.

“Yes, you are,” she whispered, her voice seething. “I’m not going to let you hurt my husband.”

“Chloe,” I warned, my head spinning. Harlan’s gun wasn’t loaded. As soon as Santiago called her bluff, I was a dead man.

“You don’t have a choice, lady,” Santiago said, turning the gun on her.

“Chloe!” I screamed, just as the shot rang out from her gun, the bang echoing through the penthouse, ringing my ears as I lunged towards the bleeding Santiago.

The police rushed in, grabbing Harlan’s smoking gun from her hand and descending on Santiago’s unmoving body.

“That gun wasn’t loaded,” I said, pulling her into my arms.

“I loaded it,” she said, her voice shell-shocked as she fell limp against me.

“Oh, Beauty, you saved my life,” I said.

“I’d do it a million times, if I had to,” she whispered.