Fallen Rose (Beauty and the Beast Trilogy #3) - Amelia Wilde Page 0,10

to stop. As it stands he’ll have a black eye and maybe a cracked rib.

“You’ve seen her. Haley Constantine. At the compound.”

Rick doesn’t struggle. “Yeah.” I’ve knocked the wind out of him. “Yeah. She’s there.” He blinks at me in the light coming from his microwave. “Why do you—why do you care?”

I drive a fist into his chest and he makes a sound like a wounded animal. My control is paper-thin. “Tell me how she is. Is she hurt? Is she afraid? Is she hungry?”

Rick’s eyes slide to the left, and my heart implodes. “She’s okay.” He grunts again, and I discover I’ve moved a hand to a kicked rib and driven my knuckles into it. Good. I add more pressure and his teeth grind together. “She’s okay, I swear to God. How could anyone not be okay in a goddamn mansion? Two-thousand-thread-count sheets, and all she can talk about is leaving. Talking shit about her family. Saying Caroline’s holding her against her will.”

The edges of my vision dim. This bastard. This son of a bitch. He talked to her, and he didn’t believe her. My pulse races faster. I’m going to crush the life out of him. Now, now, now.

“She won’t—” Rick sounds more pained by the word. “She won’t stop talking about you. Talked about you on our date. Did you hit it, man? I’m not mad about it.”

An image of Haley springs into my mind. Sweet, soft Haley, who is filthy for me, who cries for me, couldn’t keep my name out of her mouth even in Caroline’s lair. I’m out of my mind, thinking of her trapped there. I’m out of my mind. But the last thing I want is for her to hear from Caroline that I’ve killed Rick. That I’m a murderer. She’ll think I’m not coming to get her.

That’s the only thing that pulls me back from the edge.

I yank him away from the door and throw him into his apartment. Rick crashes over a coffee table and crumples, clumsy and beaten. He puts one hand up to shield himself while I tower over him. “The next time Caroline invites you to her house, what are you going to do, Rick?”

He hesitates for only an instant. “Call you.”

I crouch down next to him so he can see my face. “If you touch Haley, I’ll kill you. No lock in the world can keep me out. No security firm can keep you protected. There’s nowhere you can run. I’ll find you, and I’ll gut you where you stand.”

One more kick. That’s all I allow myself. I stand up and aim for his ribs.

Rick curls into a ball, heaving, and I leave him there.

Winter air snaps into my face as I step out into the cold, already dialing. I swore I wouldn’t do this, not unless I had to, but we’re here now. We’re fucking here. The time has come.

My brother answers on the first ring. “I thought you’d never call.” There’s noise in the background. He’s at his club, or out somewhere.

“Hell must have frozen over.” I wrench open the door to the SUV and climb into the driver’s seat over the frantic protests of the pain.

“I’ll be back in a minute,” Lucian says to someone nearby, and the background chatter fades out. It sounds like he’s walking fast. “What’s going on?”

“War,” I tell him, my throat tight.

“This is Caroline, isn’t it?” He swears with creative aplomb. “I can’t believe you fucking whipped her. Of course she’ll react like an injured dog. All for a goddamn business deal.”

“It was more than that.” The words emerge before I can stop them. If it weren’t for the phone, I’d have both hands over my eyes.

He’s quiet. “Leo.”

There’s so much unspoken between us. So much history and abuse in our family. I don’t have time for any of it, not with Haley hanging in the balance. “Like I said, hell has frozen over. Because I’m reaching out to you, brother mine. I need your help.”

Chapter Five

Leo

Lucian arrives after forty agonizing minutes. He must have driven a hundred all the way from the city, and by the time he throws his car in park next to the SUV, I’m standing outside in the cold. The snow is coming faster now.

I can no longer sit in the car.

My brother unfolds himself from the front seat. Lucian always looks like he came from the office, his dark hair neat, his wool overcoat flawless. What gives him away as a Morelli