The Devastatingly Beautiful Series by M Dauphin Page A

have questions, don’t you? Where to start… hmm.” He sits, staring at me. I wait patiently, all the while both of my arms are throbbing from the slices on them and my shirt is slowly being covered in blood. They must have hit a vein because I’m not sure I’m supposed to be bleeding this much. God, I’m getting dizzy.
    “So you see, I never actually worked for a metal company. You married me when I was just beginning in this trade and by the time I was fully in, you were so naïve that I didn’t have to tell you any different. You wanted your business and a baby. Everyone knew it. You were content so I didn’t stir the pot.”
    I sit perfectly still, listening to his words, but not really processing them. Things start to blur after that. I hear about the deal that went south, the money that went missing and blamed on Brian. He gleefully tells me he was behind the missing money the whole time and was going to use it to buy us a bigger house in a better area. Brian knew what was going to happen, though, when his boss at the time found out. He didn’t know when, but he knew once they found out about the missing load they would come after us. He knew and he didn’t do anything about it. He could have taken us out of the area. He could have went to the cops, but no. He stayed and watched his baby be killed. Then to top off everything, he made his wife believe he was murdered as well, just to get a little bit of money back and start over.
    He stays very still, not taking his eyes off of mine. I know he is in there somewhere. I will never forgive him for what he did, but the man in front of me isn’t the man I married. They only shot him because he freaked when I was shot and tried attacking the men. Apparently he had connections in the hospital that helped him fake his death so he could get back at the leader. Scary how deep his ties run in this area. About a year after the incident he was able to take down the top man of the operation and take over as the boss under a new persona. He now is on a mission to find the missing money and make everyone involved in what happened pay. He said he had the money all packed away and hidden from the rest of the gang, only him and one other person knew about it and that guy died about a month after Brian got out of the hospital. When he finally got back around to getting it, the money was gone. He’s been searching for it ever since.
    It’s then that I throw up on him. I can’t take any more. So much of my life that I thought was everything I wanted is a lie. The thought that he is the reason those men killed my baby make me so sick I puke… right on Brian’s legs.
    Apparently puking on the ‘boss man’s’ legs is a bad idea. Honestly, I didn’t really have a choice. It had to go somewhere. Immediately he grabs my arm right on my wound and gets in my face.
    It’s at this point that I should be scared. He looks menacing and all I can think about is why I married him in the first place. His hair is balding at the ripe age of 30. He doesn’t have a tight jawline, nor does he have any of the muscles that I have come to love in Tatum.
    Growling, he gets in my face. “You little weak bitch. I should have finished you when I had the chance! I hate you for letting her die. It took you three days to fucking wake up, and by the time you did she was already dead and I couldn’t stand to look at you. You have always been worthless.” He throws me down, hard, onto the ground. Between my bruising upper arms and cuts on both forearms, I don’t have much of a chance in catching myself and I fall face down onto the hard floor. Fuck that hurt.
    ****
    I must have hit my head hard, because next thing in know, I’m being thrown out of a van in my old front yard. Jesus, these men don’t know how to do anything graceful. Slowly, I get up and make my way to the door. How I’m still standing at this point is beyond me. I can feel my pulse in both of my arms, and they’re both starting to