Page 29 of Beautiful Things Obey
My heart sinks. I know I did the right thing, even if I didn’t finish the job.
“Do you want to tell me what happened?” I push gently.
Her face cracks. “He wouldn’t take no for an answer. I fought back. So he hit me.”
My blood runs cold. If he weren’t already dead, he certainly would be now.
“I’m sorry that happened to you,” I say gently, trying my hardest to keep the lethal edge out of my tone.
Her voice drops to a whisper. “He was going to hurt me, Leo. With his beer bottle.”
“He won’t be doing that again.” I gently squeeze her knee. Now I wish I could resurrect him just to make him suffer a little more. “You’re safe. Now let’s get you checked out.” I go through the motions, reminding myself that Nessa is okay. She’s rattled and scared, but safe. And I will protect and look after her.
“She won’t let me call an ambulance,” Soph says.
“That’s okay, I can fix her up back at her apartment.”
Nessa shakes her head. “No, Larissa is asleep there with the babysitter. Can we go to yours? I don’t want her to see me like this.”
My heart softens, and I nod. “Come on. My car is out front.”
I help her to her feet, and we make our way to the entrance of the club. When I look back, Silas watches me as one of his men speaks with him rapidly. The club owner also seems to agree with what he says.
His dark sapphire blue eyes bore into me, and as I help my best friend walk out on wobbly legs, everything else seems to fade.
There’s only Silas and me in this room.
A predator and a part of me I never meant to expose to anyone—and certainly not him of all people.
I haven’t heard the last of this because I can sense his curiosity has only grown.
That in itself is a very dangerous thing.
12
SILAS
She’s usually reserved, and not someone I would consider a threat, but when I watched her shoot one of my men with such ease, I realized I had mistaken her for who she really is. Under all that exterior that she presents to the world is someone who is fiercely protective of those in her circle. And that is something I understand completely. I am the same way with my family. So while the rest of my men would expect me to kill her for what she did, I actually approve and respect it.
None of my men will question it. They know better than to do that, I do not accept sexual assault or abuse toward women. But I can see the uncertain glances being thrown my way. I have taken too much interest in the doctor, and they have started to notice. I am not someone who does intimacy. I’ve never been in a relationship before. Not that I have tried to do so. I just knew that one day a woman would present herself, and that’s exactly where I would fall. I’m not saying it’s the doctor, but she is the first woman I have ever found so fucking interesting.
I can honestly say I have never met someone quite like her. In all my research, it didn’t show that she was good with guns, but the way she handled it proves to me that she is fucking excellentwith them. I could’ve stopped her from taking it. It only takes me a second to disarm someone, but I wanted to see how far she was willing to go and what she would do with it. I’ve seen her make idle threats before. Part of me assumed she was only going to use it to scare, but she shot him without hesitation, and my dick twitched.
“My cleaners will be here soon,” I tell the owner. He knows who I am, which is why he was willing to pull every dancer in the room to us when we walked in. But I was not here for dances. I was here to see her. See why she came here to begin with. Now I understand why—her friend. The one who has the child. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out it’s who she gives her money to.
I looked into her friend as well, who technically wouldn’t have to work, given the amount of money I have seen in her bank account. I’m guessing it’s a mix of money from the doctor and her income from working here, but the account is in her child’s name, and is labeled as a college fund. So I get it. Even if I don’t want kids, or even like kids apart from my niece for that matter, I get why a mother would do that. Though her relationship with the stripper is one I do find interesting. Especially since the stripper is fucking her ex.
“Silas.” I hear my name, and the man who manages the club stares at the floor as the middle son of Nero’s crew, Elias, walks through the crowd. He runs his hand through his dark brown hair, evidently irritated, and those mismatched brown and blue eyes snap to me furiously.
Though I have many thanks for the doctor, she might’ve just drawn out one of my little mice without even realizing it.
“Elias,” I say in greeting. It’s only because it’s him and neither of his brothers or his father that I have an element of respect for him. Out of them all, he’s the only one I say is progressive enough not to run their crew to the ground. Orperhaps that’s because I don’t like Apollo or his other sons, especially when the eldest started taking a liking toward my sister a few years ago.
He’s lucky I didn’t put a bullet in his head.
“Sir, Mr. Vescari handled one of his own men. He paid for the damages, and his men will be here to clean up shortly,” the man says, still unable to look at him directly as he hands him the envelope of money.
Elias swipes it, furious. “In my office,” he says before walking ahead of me, and I can’t help but smirk. He’s not as explosive as his two brothers, but he has a temperament. Then again, don’t we all.
