Breaking Beauty: A Second Chance Romance

by Stella Andrews

  Martha nods and Mrs Johnson faces me with a hard stare. “Follow me, you need to hear this.”

  Fighting my desire to ignore her altogether, I realize that I’ll have to hear her out at least. Maybe she has some news on Angel and so, I reluctantly follow her inside.

  We say nothing until we are seated opposite one another in the green and white drawing room that is elegantly furnished like something out of an English stately home. Mrs. Johnson sits straight backed and watches me with a grim expression before saying abruptly, “You have a duty to this family and just because my husband isn’t here to see you follow it through means nothing. I am now head of this family and you will respect his wishes and marry my daughter.”

  I almost want to laugh but say coolly, “I intend to.”

  The surprise flares in her eyes as my words deflect the ticking bomb watching me. I sense the relief in her eyes as she smiles. “Then I shall begin the preparations, Anastasia has waited long enough.”

  “Anastasia has nothing to do with this Mrs. Johnson, you see the person I am marrying and always was is Angel.”

  I sense the rage in the woman before me as she snarls, “How dare you. I will not hear another word of this. You made a promise to my husband to marry Anastasia and turn your back on Angelica all those years ago because of what your father did.”

  As I see the venom in the woman before me, I am transported back in time to the day I sat before her husband and saw the same look in his eyes. Resisting the urge to turn and walk away, I say in a hard voice, “Things have changed. My father is dead, his shares are in my control and there is nothing you can do about it. We all know I never wanted to marry Anastasia; it was always Angel. What I don’t understand is why your husband took against that?”

  Her eyes flash as she laughs bitterly, “Because he liked to control, Sebastian. You took the innocence of his beloved daughter and he could see her love for you made her weak. There was no room in his life plan for a weak heir and so he decided to break her to make her stronger.”

  I stare at her in shock as she laughs. “Yes, we both know he was a bastard but you don’t even know the half of it. You see, my husband took great delight in breaking people. He started with me and then turned his attention to his daughters. He had no time for Anastasia because she lacked the killer instinct that Angelica always had. She was the one most like him and he only saw me in Anastasia.”

  She stands and makes her way to the window and looks out across the well-maintained gardens and I hear the years of hurt and bitterness in her voice as she says dully, “Ours was not a happy marriage. It was the same situation as yours and was orchestrated between our two fathers. I was a bargaining chip. A means to get ahead, and he took it. My father would pay him well to take me off his hands.” She spins around and says sadly, “Yes, those were his exact words, spoken as if I wasn’t even in the room. I was a commodity much like the ones they sold and that bastard I married seized it like the greedy pig he was. I was forced to marry a cold-hearted man with no love in his heart other than money.”

  For the first time in my life, I feel pity for the woman who I have always detested with a passion.

  Martha interrupts us by bringing in the tea and a plate of small daintily cut sandwiches which gives Mrs. Johnson time to gather her shattered shield around her. When Martha leaves, she looks at me with a hard expression. “You see, Sebastian, love is for the weak of heart and mind. Over the years, I saw what my father saw. He wanted the best life for me and he recognized the only way I would truly be happy is with a man like Harvey. We may not have loved each other, but I respected him. He provided me with respectability and all the trappings of wealth that I desired. If I had allowed my heart to dictate my future, it’s doubtful I would have led such a privileged life. I learned to adapt to my new life and so did Harvey. You see, I provided him with his family life and respect in the eyes of his associates and he screwed around with his whores behind my back.”

  She sits and takes a sip of her tea like the Queen and says matter-of-factly, “Well, what was good enough for him was good enough for me too. Like him, I indulged my own fantasies and took many lovers of my own. I discovered the excitement of betrayal behind closed doors and I relished every minute of it. I became a woman who had it all with none of the worry that love brings. Some may call me selfish but ultimately my father knew what he was doing and in our own way, Harvey and I had the perfect marriage.”

  Shaking my head, I say icily, “I’m happy for you but it changes nothing. If you think I want to live that sort of life, you’re mistaken. I don’t love Anastasia, hell, I don’t even like her. It was always Angel and nothing you tell me will change my mind. You know, Mrs. Johnson, if I feel anything for you now, it’s pity.”

  Her eyes flash and she snarls, “I don’t want your pity.”

  Standing up, I fix her with a look of disgust. “No, you want my soul. When your husband changed the direction my life was going in, he destroyed any loyalty I had to you. He used my father’s weakness for his own agenda and I will never forgive him for that. The fact you went along with it shows what a truly despicable woman you are. You treated Angel as if she was a puppet under your control. You stripped her of everything just to make her stronger. Well, congratulations because she is now the strongest woman I have ever met and will be your downfall. Enjoy your privileged life while you can because it won’t last long. In creating the hard assed daughter he wanted, Harvey overlooked one thing.”

  “Which is?”

  “He overlooked the one important thing that drives a person to be better. To love, protect and nurture their loved ones at all costs. Love. You see, Mrs. Johnson, he destroyed any love Angel had inside her for any of you which makes her job far easier. Angel will tear down this company and walk away because of that decision he made all those years ago. She will relish the fact that you will be left with nothing and will walk away back to the life you pushed her into. Congratulations, you have done your job well. You have broken an Angel and rebuilt her as the devil and now you will burn in hell for altering the course of a life that was meant to be very different. Oh, and you can tell Anastasia that I never want to see her again and the next time she turns up at my office like a cheap whore wearing nothing but her own ugly principles, she will be tossed out on the street along with the rest of the trash. Do I make myself clear, Mrs. Johnson, because I know it takes a while for things to sink into that stupid brain of yours?”

  As I turn and walk away, I feel nothing but emptiness. Angel’s parents destroyed any emotion I had that day and replaced it with indifference. The only one who can breathe new life into my soul is the woman I won’t stop looking for until I find her and take back what was always mine. Her.

  19

  Angel

  Men! Why is every man in my life an asshole? I feel as if I’m constantly having to make allowances for just how fucking irritating every man in my life is and I’m done with it. I need to breathe, re-focus and put some distance between myself and a situation I’m liable to blow out of control.

  Thomas Moretti, fucking mafia asshole, who thinks he can do what the hell he likes and the rest of us will be grateful for it. Well, he’s messing with the wrong woman because when he sees where my home visit will take him, he will piss his pants.

  Laughing to myself, I picture his expression when he sees who he’s now dealing with. Nobody pays a visit to the Rubicon voluntarily and he will know of what lies within its steel-clad walls. Yes, my home is a fortress. A place of war and bad decisions, for those outside, anyway. I slid Mr. Bellini my visitors’ card for a reason. Because of the address on the front. If he doesn’t know it already, Tobias Moretti will soon learn what that involves and I know he will be sitting in that chair in my boardroom at 2 pm on the dot.

  The first place I went to from the office is the retreat in the woods. Pulling on my running gear, I head down the trail and start the jog that will cleanse my mind. I need this. I need to feel the wind on my face and the
clear crystal air through my lungs. I need to run away again because every time I see Sebastian, it reminds me of what I’ve lost. Him.

  I know we have unfinished business and every time I think we make progress; he reminds me of the asshole within him. Maybe he will never understand what I’ve become and maybe he will never accept the changes in me. The trouble is, if I’m to work alongside him, we will need to reach an understanding.

  My eyes sting against the tears that build behind them. It could have been so different. We could be married and living a happy life. Maybe have a family already and none of the memories that the last five years have woven into our minds forever. What has happened to the man I loved with all my heart because the man he is now is a shadow of what he once was? I see the pain in his eyes and the bitterness of a man who life has dealt a heavy blow. I know I’m adding to his pain but how can we ever move on if he continues to judge me for the choices I had to make?

  As I run, I take comfort from the distance it gives me from the situation I’m in. For now, I must be alone because I need to get my head back in the game. Nature helps heal the pain inside and as I take pleasure in the sound of a bird singing and the warmth of the sun on my back, I begin to relax.

  Sometimes I feel as if I’ve been running all my life. It hasn’t been easy and when I ran from my family and him, I ran to a hard place where I learned to feel nothing. The bikers I first met are nothing like the ones I now love with all my heart. They were rough, hard and ruthless, qualities I needed in my life at that time and qualities that caused their downfall.

  When the Reapers came to silence them for good, I thought my time was up. God only knows why but they took me with them. I was taken into the fold and given my life back. I will always love them unconditionally because they taught me what love is. Maybe in Sebastian’s eyes I became a whore. I don’t blame him for thinking that because I know how it looks, but I’m no whore and never was. The people that count know it and that’s all that matters, at least I keep telling myself it is. I’m not sure why it’s so important to me what he thinks but know in my heart the real reason. I love him. I always have and probably always will. I know he loves me too in his twisted way but is that enough to move on with? Not for me. I want more.

  These thoughts and many more spin around my mind as I run for close on three hours. I can’t stop once I start and stamina has never been a problem for me. Many times, I ran around the grounds of the place I call home and sometimes I had a willing companion. We were all running from something in the Rubicon and I’ve lived there long enough to know that when you find what gives your life meaning, the need to run stops.

  By the time I return to the cabin, I’m in need of a shower, food and a comfortable bed. However, as I turn the corner, I can see that I’m not alone and my heart quickens even more if that’s possible. Leaning against the bonnet of a sleek powerful car, is a man who compliments it completely. Watching me with predatory eyes and a hard expression is the man never far away from my thoughts. Sebastian Stone.

  My pace slows as I walk toward him, ready for the showdown I see coming. He watches me through a hooded expression and I feel my pulse quicken and my breathing change, labored and hard.

  As I near him, he uncoils like a spring and stands tall and firm. “We need to talk.”

  Shrugging, I feign indifference and stand watching him with anger in my eyes. “Fuck off, Sebastian, I have nothing to say to you.”

  His mouth twitches and he moves an inch and I feel the desire betraying the irritation inside me. “I think you do, Angel. In fact, I think you have a lot to say to me and rightly so.”

  I make to reply and he holds up his hand. “Save your smart remarks because I have something I want to show you.”

  The curiosity beats down my sharp retort and I say roughly, “I bet you do.”

  Nodding toward the cabin, he says huskily, “Get changed and meet me in the car. It’s not far.”

  “What, don’t you even want to come inside? That’s not like you, honey, from what I remember, you always wanted to come inside.”

  I can’t help reverting to filthy remarks to disguise how unsettled he makes me and he shrugs. “We both know one step inside that door and I wouldn’t be responsible for my actions. I want you Angel, you know that but I want you to see the man I’ve become, while I struggle to understand the woman I made you into.”

  “You really are an arrogant asshole, Sebastian. Do you really think I would be so weak as to fall into your arms the minute you crook your little finger? Do you really think you’ve made me the woman I am because newsflash, you haven’t? The only person who controls me is myself and if you came into that cabin it wouldn’t change a thing. You are still the man who turned his back on me and betrayed me. You are still the man who is engaged to my sister and allowed my father to control his destiny and you are still the man who judges me because he doesn’t understand shit. So, fuck off, Sebastian and grow some manners because you are now seriously getting on my tits.”

  I turn to leave and then squeal as I am suddenly airborne and hoisted over an extremely overbearing shoulder and dumped unceremoniously into the passenger seat of his car and strapped in before I know what’s happening. I make to speak and once again his infernally hot mouth covers mine and possesses my sharp tongue with his. As Sebastian kisses me for a third time, I lose my mind. I hate him and love him with equal passion. I crave him and yet detest him and allow him to weaken me at every turn. I should fight back like I’m trained to do. I should haul him off me and punch him where it hurts but I don’t. I fold into him like I always have and allow him to own me like he always has. I was fucked by Sebastian in every way possible and yet none of that matters when I feel his touch. This is exactly why I need to run because the only one I can’t trust around us is myself.

  20

  Sebastian

  The relief when I saw Angel head round that corner hit me like a tidal wave. Thank God. Seeing her looking like one hot sexy mess had the blood rushing to every part of me that she controls. I knew if I followed her into that cabin what happened next was inevitable. Despite her words, I saw the need and hunger in her eyes and it mirrored my own. I came here to show her what sort of man I am. I came to beg her forgiveness and show her that the past five years mean nothing now she’s back. But first, I need to show her that we’re not so different after all and the only way I can do that is to show her my life.

  “This changes nothing you know.”

  “What?”

  “That kiss. You see, honey, I’ve kissed many men since you and that, well, it meant nothing, I’m just saying.”

  “Keep telling yourself that, darlin’.”

  “I will and you know why, because it’s the truth. You see, Sebastian, I’ve moved on a lot since I left and found much more exciting propositions than you. In fact, I only came to get this over with. You see, I know you need to show me something, as you put it but it changes nothing. The facts are still staring us in the face and you can’t change that. So, wherever we’re going, I hope it’s quick because I want some ‘me’ time before I whip Moretti’s ass tomorrow.”

  I let her speak because I can tell she’s babbling just to disguise her true feelings. Hell, we both know that’s why she carries on. She’s telling herself more than me because I see the brightness in her eyes and the nervous tapping of her foot that she always does when she’s agitated. I see the tremble to her lower lip and the flush in her cheeks. Angel has never looked more desirable right now and it’s with a superhuman effort on my part that keeps this car in motion because I am tempted to pull over and bring her to my lap and lose myself in the woman who means everything.

  Instead, I allow the asshole in me to take over and turn the music on to drown out her words. She immediately turns it off and shrieks, “You fucking asshole. How dare you silence me with Spotify? What’s the matter, don’t you like the truth? I’m not one of your airhead cheap dates who just wants your dick inside me and to hell with conver
sation.”

  Laughing, I turn it back on, reverting to the cocky teenager who loved to irritate the hell out of the girl beside me. For a while, we play the game of our past and wind each other up as we’ve always done. Angel puts on a big show of anger but I see the light in her eyes. I see that she’s enjoying this every bit as much as I am as it becomes the usual battle of wills between us.

  Luckily, it’s not far and soon the end of the journey signifies the end of our game when I pull into the lot of Blacks.

  As Angel takes in the sight of the club I call home, I see the understanding dawn in her eyes. “You have got to be kidding me. Blacks?”

  “You know of it.”

  It surprises me because only those who know the scene will understand what this name represents. She laughs softly and says with her usual husky drawl. “It appears that I’m not the only whore in town, Sebastian.”

  Fixing her with a stern look, I say roughly, “It’s Sir to you inside these walls.”

  I can see she is struggling not to laugh but I also see the excitement in her eyes as I take her hand. “You see, baby, when you left, I made a vow. There would be no other woman until I found you and begged you to come back. This place has satisfied the physical side of me with no questions asked and no feelings getting in the way. So, I suppose what I wanted you to know, is that if any of us became the whore, it was me.”

  I see the tears behind her eyes as she whispers, “You?”

  Nodding, I raise her hand to my lips and kiss it, savoring the soft skin of the woman I love. “I’m sorry I made you feel bad about what you became. I’m sorry I judged you because I have no right to. We are no different and if anything, I am far worse because inside these walls, I use women for sex and then walk away. There are no feelings involved from either side and yet, knowing you as well as I do, I know that feelings were what drove you to do what you did. Those men...” I break off trying not to imagine her with any of them “Those men, gave you what I could not. They gave you a form of love that I know you needed. I apologize for being the one who made you run. I am sorry for not being good enough to hold on to you and I apologize for being weak and easily led. I want you to see what sort of man I became because I need to beg for your forgiveness from an even playing field. I don’t deserve you but I want to fight for you now and will do whatever it takes to make you mine again.”