My entire body clenches as Beast’s rough voice sounds in my ear. “Hello, Isabelle.”
Chapter 2
Isabelle
I twist to see Beast and, as always, his beauty takes my breath away. He looks like the prince in a fairy tale, all sculpted cheekbones and sensual lips. His short dark hair is perfectly styled, and he’s wearing his customary jeans and T-shirt. It should make him look underdressed—everyone else in the room is wearing suits and dresses—but Beast simply looks at home in his skin.
One would never know he’s one of the deadliest people on my father’s payroll.
My breath catches and pain lances my chest. Not my father’s payroll. Not any longer. Not ever again. He’s gone and there’s nothing in heaven or hell that will bring him back again.
Something flickers in Beast’s blue eyes, something almost like concern, before he goes icy cold. “What are you doing here, Isabelle?”
I can see Gaeton climbing slowly to his feet out of the corner of my eye. I keep my body slightly turned toward him, an invitation I desperately need him to take me up on. I need both these men in a room, and I can’t do that if Gaeton thinks I showed up here with Beast.
I lick my lips, and Beast’s attention follows the movement. “I came for you.” I glance at Gaeton, now striding toward us with long steps. “Both of you.”
Gaeton stops just out of reach. I’m painfully aware of a number of eyes on us. We have the attention of the room. If they shun me now …
My sisters will pay the price. Our territory will pay the price.
I shove down my pride, shove it deep and lock it away. There is no place for it here. I can’t demand anything, can’t expect them to fall in line. They hold all the power in this interaction and pretending otherwise will only result in ruin. Instead, I let my voice quiver the tiniest bit. I’m not even faking, not really. I’m simply letting my control lapse a small fraction of an inch. “I just want to talk. Please.”
Gaeton and Beast exchange a look filled with so much animosity, I have to fight not to take a step back. Beast shrugs. Gaeton gives himself the smallest shake and looks around, seeming to register that we have an audience. “You have five minutes.”
“More like two,” Beast murmurs.
Not enough time, but I’ll make it work. I don’t have another choice. “Okay.”
Gaeton turns on his heel and stalks to the door leading deeper into the club. I follow, having to work to keep pace with him in my high heels. I can feel Beast at my back, but he makes no move to walk next to me. Impossible not to feel like a prisoner being marched to her execution. These men would never, ever hurt me … Or at least that used to be true. I don’t know what’s true anymore. The world stopped making sense when my father died.
It doesn’t matter. Whatever their price, I’ll pay it to ensure my family remains safe.
The door leads into a large room. There are scatterings of couches grouped together in a way designed to encourage socializing and in between those spaces are all manner of kinky equipment. Spanking benches. Suspension racks. St. Andrew’s Crosses. Things I recognize from my internet searches, but can’t remember the names of off the top of my head.
“Eyes forward, Isabelle.”
I snap my gaze to Gaeton’s back and, just as quickly, ignore the command. There is a man with medium-brown skin flogging a plus-sized white woman while another man kneels between her spread thighs, his face buried in her pussy. My skin goes hot and tight at the sight, and then goes even hotter when I recognize her. It’s Tink, my clothing designer and now the wife to Hook, one of the other territory leaders. Now that I recognize her, I realize I recognize him, too. Oh gods. She’s completely helpless, completely on display. Even as part of me cringes at the vulnerability, a small corner of my mind it writhing in jealousy of her experience.
Gaeton leads us out of the room and down a hallway lined with doors. He chooses one seemingly at random, but when we enter the room, it appears to be a generic study. Steeped in understated elegance, but normal in every way that matters. But then I notice the panel on the wall near the door and the cameras situated to ensure no corner of the room is hidden. Not so normal, after all.
Gaeton kicks one of the chairs in front of the desk so it is angled to see the entire room and drops into it. The man doesn’t know how to sit without sprawling, and even with fury darkening his expression, this is no exception.
Beast shuts the door and moves to lean against the desk, unconsciously mirroring the same position Megaera took when I spoke to her. He crosses his arms over his chest and watches me. Waiting.
Gaeton has no such patience. “What the hell are you doing here, Isabelle?”
Now’s the time to lay out my argument, but the words dry up in their presence. I lick my lips again, and give him the same answer I gave Beast. “I’m here for you. For both of you.”
Gaeton doesn’t look impressed. “Yeah, I don’t think so. We tried that and it blew up in our faces. I’m not doing it again.”
If I don’t talk fast, they’ll pack me up and send me on my way and this will all be for nothing. Failure is not an option. It can’t be. “Come back to the territory. Resume your positions. We need you.”
Beast raises an eyebrow, but it’s Gaeton’s cruel laughter that echoes through the room. “I should have known this is all power and games. It always was with you.” He leans forward and braces his elbows on his big thighs. “I don’t pretend to speak for this asshole, but there’s nothing in that territory for me now.”
Nothing.
Including me.
It shouldn’t hurt so much to be rejected by a man who already dumped me, but it does. Sweet gods, it does. I turn to Beast, but I might as well seek solace from a glacier for all the warmth he gives me. Hopelessness rises in my chest, threatening to send me to my knees. I can’t fail. I can’t. My bottom lip quivers the tiniest bit before I shut my reaction down. “Please.”
Beast studies me a long moment. His lips slowly curve, the barest hint of a cruel smile. I’ve seen that expression on his face before, always preceding him delivering one of my father’s punishments to someone who crossed him. “Get on your knees, Isabelle. If you’re going to beg, do it properly.”
Gaeton flinches like the other man struck him. “What the fuck, Beast?”
Beast doesn’t look away from me. It feels like the intensity of his gaze is a weight across my shoulders and chest, driving me slowly, inexorably, to my knees. “You heard me. How bad do you want us back?”
“You don’t speak for me,” Gaeton rumbles.
I already left my pride at the door. I can’t afford the luxury of it when I’m bargaining for the lives of so many. In the end, it’s far simpler than I could have dreamed to give in to Beast’s gravity and sink to my knees. The carpet is surprisingly soft against my bare skin and I shiver. “Are you happy now? Please come back.”
Beast rises and moves slowly around me. It’s a struggle not to twist to keep him in sight. Instead, I focus on Gaeton, on the way he watches us so closely, his gaze jumping from me to Beast. “What are you up to, you bastard?”