Body out of the car before it even stopped, he yelled at Sirena to stay inside and call the police. He flew to the doors and had to fiddle with the lock twice, due to the shaking in his fists, before racing to his private elevator.
Seconds felt like years. He imagined her — her skin, her smile, her shining eyes looking at him with … love. The image twisted into those beautiful brown eyes unfocused, full of tears, terrified. He prayed Gabriel would find satisfaction in just scaring her, torturing her emotionally, before he began his physical assault. As the elevator stopped he raced across the office. He forced himself to slow and quietly lower himself onto the car.
He looked through the maintenance opening. Gabriel had her front pinned to the back wall with one arm wrapped around her throat and the other reaching into her pants. Aleks saw red. Their positioning was too close to the shaft entrance; if he jumped and hit Gabriel wrong, Belle could get seriously injured.
Looking for a way in without harming Belle, Gabriel’s voice interrupted his thoughts.
“I’m going to take my time enjoying this, sweetheart.” Her response was cut off as he tightened his hold on her neck.
She fought for release, pushing back against him, digging her nails into his forearm. Her body flailed against him as she turned her chin to his elbow, pushing back with her hip at the same time, giving her the space to wiggle away from the hold. A feeling of pride rushed over him as Belle swung back and connected her fist to his neck, causing him to gasp in pain and take a short step back.
Seeing his opportunity, he braced to jump in when Gabriel backhanded her across the face, the strength behind the hit throwing her into the side wall. Her head hit hard and Belle slumped to the ground.
Chapter Thirty-Three
The intensity of the ringing in her ears was eclipsed only by the burning on the side of her face. Belle’s vision wavered as she struggled to gain a hold on her senses. She couldn’t quite focus on anything other than the pain.
A loud “thump” caught her attention. Tilting her head, she could barely open her eyes enough to make out a blurred figure crouching before her, facing away. In her haze, she realized a third person was between her and Gabriel, slowly standing to full height.
Belle scooted back further into the corner as she sat up, able to compose herself slightly. Her tongue darted out to her split lip. She could taste the coppery bite of blood on her tongue. She shook her head gently and at last the figure came into focus.
“Aleks?” she breathed.
Gabriel’s lunged at her, Aleks catching him as they crashed into the corner of the wall above her head.
She crawled forward, moving away from them. Through the ringing, she could hear muffled grunting and sickening contact sounds. She pulled herself up at the other corner and turned to see Gabriel throw a punch. Aleks easily dodged and let Gabriel’s fist impact the side wall. The car shook with the vibrations.
Blood poured from Gabriel’s nose. His forehead was covered in sweat and he panted with exertion while Aleks looked almost … exhilarated. His features were deathly calm; a lion toying with a mouse before devouring it. Gabriel dove again, Aleks hitting him with the full force of his shoulder mid-air, pushing Gabriel away from her. Aleks took a possessive step in front, securing Belle in the corner behind him. Gabriel’s features twisted into a sinister sneer as he threw a punch into Aleks’ ribs. Aleks did nothing to dodge this time, taking the hit which landed with an audible blow.
Gabriel continued to assault Aleks as Belle watched in horror, sick at the sounds of fists hitting. She wanted to scream at Aleks to dodge, knowing he could and was choosing not to, until she realized if he moved away from the hit, it would land directly on her. He’s taking the punches to protect me.
She squatted down, allowing Aleks to dodge the next punch and counter with one of his own, sending Gabriel backwards in the car.
Aleks’ fists moved at a rapid pace. The connection with Gabriel’s side generated a sharp crack, the force of the uppercut throwing him back into the wall. With one last lunge, Gabriel attacked and landed face first into Aleks’ right hook. He slumped to the floor, unconscious.
“Sick bastard,” Aleks muttered as he turned around and looked at her.
His jaw was hard, set in stone, his chest rising and falling with each breath as his eyes went soft with desire for her. He had a cut under one eye and on his bottom lip, but was otherwise unscathed. She had seen him like this only once before; while watching the videos of his fights.
Not saying a word, his hands found her as he pulled her into him for a kiss which left her breathless. His mouth was soft but firm. His tongue played against the roof of her mouth, her teeth, her tongue, exploring every inch of her. His hands gently grasped her face, and he pulled back to look directly into her eyes.
“I need you, Belle. These past weeks have been miserable. I spend every minute thinking of you, thinking of how to make it right. I messed up. I’ll probably mess up over and over again, but one thing I know is I never want to leave you again. I love you.”
Hearing his words, seeing the honestly in his features, she could do nothing else than to wrap her arms around his neck and pull him in for another kiss. They fell back against the wall as the past few weeks’ worth of anguish and desire played out in their need for each other.
As they ended their kiss, their foreheads touched. Breathing each other in for a moment, Aleks spoke. “I need to get you out of here.”
He lifted Belle up by the waist towards the opening in the ceiling.
Pulling herself up, she took note of the considerable distance to the floor above. She would never have been able to get out of the car on her own, let alone get out of the shaft.
She turned to helps Aleks out behind her, but he was already standing. They stood on top of the car looking up to the opening to the floor above. Aleks against lifted her by the waist. Grabbing onto the ledge, she was almost fully through the opening and into the office when Aleks bellowed from behind her.
Turning as the rest of her body got onto the floor, she watched a dark pool of blood began to form on his sweater. She covered her mouth to fight back the nausea.
Aleks felt a jolt, then searing pain. Looking down he saw the knife handle sticking just under his ribs. The bastard stabbed me! He had a knife. A knife for Belle.
He turned towards his attacker as he pulled the blade from his body and threw it to the side. His fighting instincts kicked into high gear. Blood flowed through his muscles, inflating them. He could hear Belle’s frantic breathing behind him. He cracked his neck as he took a stance on the balls of his feet, shaking his arms as he prepared to attack. He was no longer Aleksandr — he was The Beast — and it was time to end his opponent, once and for all.
“I’m going to take my time enjoying this, sweetheart,” he echoed the words Gabriel had used earlier to intimidate Belle.
Gabriel spat blood from his mouth and used the back of his hand to wipe his face.
Gabriel launched at him, grasping him around the waist to push him back against the wall. Using the momentum, Aleks brought his fist down on Gabriel’s neck, eliciting a loud curse as he dropped to the ground near Aleks’ feet.
Aleks lifted a foot to connect into his back, but Gabriel rolled away at the last moment and moved into a crouching position.
Fucker’s faster than I thought.
Gabriel rose as he spoke, stealing a glance at Belle, threat lingering in his eyes. “Don’t worry, I won’t kill him. I want him to hear your screams as I fuck you.”
The adrenaline rushed through Aleks’ veins as he lunged forward. Gabriel tried to step back, but he was too slow. Aleks’ shoulder connected with Gabriel’s torso.
Gabriel wailed in pain at the force against his already broken rib.
Wrapping his arms around Gabriel’s waist, Aleks lifted him up and threw him to the ground, relishing in the sounds of his back and head slamming into the roof of the elevator car. Aleks jumped on top, trapping Gabriel in place,
holding his shoulders to the ground with his knees as he pounded his fists into Gabriel’s cheekbones.
Suddenly, a searing pain ripped through Aleks from the gash in his side. Gabriel pressed his fingers deep into the wound. Vision blackening for a moment, Aleks lost his grip and was thrown to the side.
Rolling into a crouching stance, he willed the pain to dissipate. Hearing a motion to his right, he ducked just in time to dodge the swing of Gabriel’s fists, landing a blow of his own onto Gabriel’s kidney. Gabriel’s back arched as he staggered forward from the momentum.
Gabriel turned with a reverse elbow, catching Aleks’ jaw and sending him sideways. Aleks felt the bite on his tongue and tasted blood from the hit. He stood, squaring with Gabriel.
They circled each other, waiting for the next move.
Aleks pulled his arms in close to his side to try to ease the pain there. Where’s the knife? He took a quick glance around the floor, failing in his exploration. As he looked up, Gabriel smiled and brandished the item he was searching for.
His laugh was strained from exhaustion. “All’s fair in love and war, right, Wolfe?”
Gabriel lunged again, and as Aleks tried to side step, he stumbled on one of the mounted pulleys, arm falling between the wires. Gabriel used the mistake to kick him square in the jaw. Aleks’ body lurched to the side, his arm trapped between the cables.
Gabriel raised the knife above his head and struck toward Aleks’ sternum.
Using his free hand as a shield, Aleks took the blade through his forearm. He roared as the blade effortlessly sliced clean through his arm, between the bones and out the other side.
Belle cried out above them.
“Belle, run,” Aleks commanded between gritted teeth.
He kicked forward, hitting Gabriel in the stomach, forcing him to stumble back. He turned and freed his arm from the cables and examined the knife. He debated if leaving it in or taking it out was the wiser choice. The sound of metal scraping against the car drew his attention, as Gabriel smiled and twirled a crow bar in his hand.
It must have been what he used to pry open the doors when Belle was inside. As powerful as he was, Aleks knew one or two blows would render him unconscious, leaving Belle at Gabriel’s mercy. For the first time ever during a fight, Aleks felt an ounce of fear.
Leaving the knife in his arm to ward off the blood loss, Aleks stood against the wall, keeping as much distance as possible between him and his opponent.
With heaving, labored breaths, Gabriel laughed, punctuating the sound by turning his wrist, moving the bar as if to mock him.
Aleks tried to catch his breath as his thoughts reverted to his training. Look for weaknesses. Wait for opportunities.
Matching the movements of Gabriel’s feet, Aleks kept himself at a distance.
“Give it up,” Gabriel taunted. “We both know how this ends. Even if you manage to get out of here, you’ll keep her for a few months, until you tire of her, or she discovers your blatant infidelity. Either way, she’ll come home and come back to me. I’ll always be waiting for her. She belongs to me.”
“Never.” Aleks kept his voice calm, not wanting to take the bait.
“Oh what, so this is love?” Gabriel laughed. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
Gabriel swung the bar like a bat, but Aleks dodged backwards and kicked out, hoping to buckle Gabriel’s knee.
He reacted quickly, turning so the motion caught his thigh. He buried an elbow into Aleks’ back, pushing him towards the wall.
Aleks rolled upon impact, moving just before the crowbar hit the wall near his head. He countered with a hook and connected with Gabriel’s nose, blood immediately spurting from the re-opened wound.
Gabriel roared and swung low, catching Aleks’ shin and sending him crashing to the ground.
Aleks tried to catch his fall, but his injured arm only buckled under him and his face hit the steel roof of the elevator with a blinding pain.
“Gabriel, no!”
Aleks heard Belle scream and looked up in time to see the bar coming for his head. As Gabriel swung, Aleks turned and used his injured arm to block the attack. He felt the bone crack and cried out as a new layer of pain flowed through his throbbing, bloodied arm.
He can’t hurt her, he can’t win. Fighting against the pain, Aleks turned his wrist and grasped the bar, pulling himself up to his knees and standing.
As Gabriel tried to pull the bar closer to him, Aleks flicked up his elbow, hitting him in the jaw. Using the momentum, Aleks pulled the bar from Gabriel’s hands. Gabriel lunged. Aleks swung. The metal bar connected with the side of Gabriel’s head, knocking him sideways and down into the elevator car.
Breathing heavily, Aleks waited, weapon in hand, for Gabriel to get up.
Blood trickled from Gabriel’s ear, and he was still.
Aleks waited a few more moments. Convinced Gabriel wasn’t getting up on his own, he turned and looked up to Belle. She sat staring down at him, her hands covering her mouth. He watched as her shoulders began to tremble.
He grasped onto the ledge and pulled himself up with one arm.
Belle helped him to turn and sit on the ledge, legs hanging over into the elevator shaft. With his good arm, he pulled her into him tightly. Her hand landed on his chest as the weight of the past half hour hit him.
She looked up, their eyes meeting and she lunged forward and hugged his neck.
“Is he … is he dead?” Belle asked quietly.
“No, I don’t think so. He was still breathing.”
Belle let go to tenderly touch his injured arm, fingertips barely grazing his skin. “I don’t know what I would have done if I lost you.”
“I couldn’t let him hurt you.” He winced as he lifted her chin up, gazing into her amber eyes. “Being without you, I — I couldn’t breathe.”
She looked at him, eyes burning with emotions. She ran a hand through his hair as she smiled warmly at him before taking his mouth in a kiss.
“What do we do now?” Belle asked, resting her head on his shoulder.
“I told Sirena to call the police. They should be here any minute.”
“I meant … us.”
He wrapped his good arm around her waist again. “We live happily ever after?”
She looked up at him and smiled. “I love you, Aleksandr.”
Returning the full smile, he replied, “I love you too, kotik.”
Epilogue
Five months later…
Madame Lily’s had seen nothing but success in the three months since the grand opening.
The women performed Wednesdays through Sundays in the gorgeous two story building Aleks bought for her. Named for her mother, it was exactly how Belle pictured it would be. It was just one piece of the nearly perfect life she now enjoyed. Having finished her classes the month prior, the only remaining stressor was the bar exam.
Her father sold the bar and moved in with Belle and Aleks shortly after Valentine’s day — at Aleks’ request. He didn’t want Belle to worry about him being so far away. The “secret” romance between he and Mrs. Adelle was obvious, and though neither of them admitted to dating, the rest of the castle was fully aware. Lucien made a point to announce when they came or left together.
Gabriel was in a coma for two months following the fight. Upon awaking, he had no memory past the eighth grade. Cynthia went to visit him, unconvinced his family was telling the truth. Gabriel hadn’t even remembered their dating.
Belle considered pressing charges, but she worried a trial would only serve to spark his memory of her. Best to leave the past in the past.
Belle smiled at Cynthia and Sirena as she settled onto one of the white leather couches. It was Ladies’ night at Madame Lily’s, home of the best male revue in town. The club was full of women clamoring for the show to begin.
“Times like this I wish I still worked for you,” Cynthia said, taking in the crowd. “I would get such a rush dancing on that stage!”
“
It’s unbelievable!” Sirena reported back with a smile, looking up from her phone.
She had surprised Belle with a request to perform after the club opened. After her debut, Belle took every chance she got to put Sirena on stage. Patrons clamored to watch her dance and sing. Her voice — low and sultry — was like an old-fashioned jazz singer from days past.
“Hot date you’re texting?” Cynthia asked, noting how attached Sirena was to her phone.
“I wish. They’ve all been duds lately. It’s actually Aleks. He’s been threatening that if Belle so much as looks at one of the guys onstage he’s going to ‘go all Halloween on her’. Whatever that means,” she finished with a wink.
“It means you better tell him I’ve been looking at other men all night,” Belle responded, laughing. A heat formed in her stomach, only half-joking about wanting to be “Halloweened”.
Sirena put the phone down as the lights dimmed for the next act. “I think you better watch this act extra closely then.”
A familiar song blared from the speakers. The cords were upbeat and happy, not exactly the kind of music most of the male dancers preferred.
Women in the crowd roared, screaming louder than they had all night. Belle shook her head when the spotlight lit up the dancer on stage. It was Aleksandr wearing ripped jeans, boots, a red flannel shirt, and a cowboy hat.
He shook his hips, dancing and singing to the song, all while watching her.
Her breaths quickened, watching his hips move, imagining herself in front of him as he pounded them into her. A deafening roar erupted as he unbuttoned and removed his shirt. Belle couldn’t believe her eyes. What is he doing up there?
He danced, mouthing the words as Belle listened on.
She was familiar with the song, but always thought it was a ridiculous concept. A man telling a waitress she was sexy, yet in the same breath telling her he was happily married. She was uncertain why he chose this particular song. As Aleks continued to dance, something clicked.
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