CHAPTER 259: ANGRY HUSBAND_"WHO DID THAT TO HER?!"_PART 3

There was a saying that four walls and a door could keep the world out. But it turns out monsters come with keys too.

Belle had never thought the men after her would find her this fast, nor that they would come with such vengeance, intending to take her life, and anyone else’s who stood in the way, even unintentionally. She tried to swallow the lump of despair forming in her throat as she ran from door to door down the corridor, pounding desperately, pleading for someone, anyone, to open up and help her. All the while, the men behind her slammed against the hallway door with growing fury.

But if anyone inside the rooms heard her cries for help, no one opened their doors. And Belle, despite the fear gnawing at her insides, couldn’t blame them. No one would dare let a woman who carried death around her like a veil into their room. Still, she couldn’t help but feel a flare of injustice toward everyone for leaving her helpless and utterly alone.

"Please... someone," she begged as she pounded on another door. She wasn’t going to stay in their rooms, only use their windows to escape the building. She knew the windows were big enough for someone to climb through. But no one came.

Even over the loud swearing and banging of the men behind her, she could hear the quiet shuffles and gasps from behind the doors, people were there, they just wouldn’t come out to help.

And somewhere deep in her heart, she wished they wouldn’t. If they opened up, she might bring death to them, too, just like she had brought onto that innocent young boy.

It seemed, right from the beginning, that she had never been born to have that peaceful life she so badly wanted and longed for, that life where she wouldn’t have to feel like everything was her fault, or like she couldn’t live without fearing for her life.

In the Dawson house, she lived with the constant worry that her family might turn her away someday because she was a burden. And now, married again, she was living with an even worse fear, to keep her life, her baby’s, and the person she loved.

She was never meant to live in joy or calm.

She wasn’t meant to have the home and future she so desperately wanted.

They were going to kill her, she knew it. She would die today.

She stopped pleading. She stopped pounding. She stood frozen in place, breath shallow, heart thudding painfully as the heavy hallway door was finally ripped off its hinges with a violent crash. The men stormed through it, cursing and sweating from the effort.

Through tear-filled eyes, Belle watched them, making no attempt to flee anymore as she knew there was no where to run to anymore. She had tried and had failed...

She saw the Councilman push past his men and stride toward her in long, angry steps. And before she could react or knew what was coming, he was in front of her. His large hand struck her across the cheek with a resounding slap.

Her balance gave way, and darkness swirled in her vision as she collapsed to the floor.

Belle didn’t cower or beg, knowing it was going to be useless. She let fate do whatever it pleased with her. Even when the man gripped her hair in his fist, wrapping it painfully around his fingers and yanking her head up to look at him, she did not cry. He slapped her again. Her chin jerked to the side with such force that blood rolled from her nose and mouth, trailing down her skin.

"Bitch, that was for my nephew, Harry, the boy you killed without mercy!" he spat furiously, then landed another slap across her cheek. "And this is for all the trouble you’ve caused us!"

Soon, Belle lost count of the blows he landed on her. Her face went numb. The stinging sensation gave way to an aching void as her skin swelled. Tears stung her eyes despite her efforts to hold them in. Her throat burned. Rage and helplessness tightened her chest. Still gripping her hair, he tugged her upright until she was kneeling, her head tilted painfully back to look into his eyes.

His brown eyes were filled with pure disgust, and she thought that if only he knew, the feeling was mutual, and even more than that. He was heartless, a truly disgusting human being who couldn’t see beyond the power and position he held.

"Now, before I decide to look for myself and find out what creature you really are, you’d better tell me the truth, woman," he said, his voice disturbingly calm. "I’m not in the mood to be gentle. I might kill you before I even take you back to Bimmerville. Do yourself a favor and start talking, it will be less painful."

"I am... human," Belle whispered, swallowing hard against the sharp ache in her throat. Her fists clenched at her sides as dark veins appeared, then vanished just as quickly.

Everett’s lips curled at the corner. "Human?" he mocked. "Then tell me, how was a petite woman like you able to kill Harry? A human, pregnant, no less, couldn’t have had that kind of strength."

The Councilman had seen how the sword had been broken at the tip, and yet it had run clean into the heart of his boy. To push a broken sword, without a sharpened tip, through the ribs and into the heart required inhuman strength. It was undeniable proof that the woman before him was something other than a vampire. Something totally new to them all.

He had traveled here in a foul mood, and when those foolish people at the door of the establishment had tried to tell him he wasn’t welcome, he had angrily shot them. And the boy... the boy had dared to spit on him when asked where he got the gold coin he used to pay for the tray of food. Everett could tolerate many things, but insolence when he was already enraged? That, he could not abide.

Belle glared at him, fury and fire rising in her voice as she spoke through gritted teeth. "I am human! What makes one human is their morals. Have you ever looked into a mirror and asked yourself what you truly are, Mr. McCoy? You’re becoming the very monster you claim you’re hunting..."

He smiled coldly. "I’ll pretend you didn’t just say that, lady. You better start talking before I change my mind and force it out of you."

His tone was gentle now, almost coaxing, as though he thought charm would pull the truth from her. But when she didn’t answer, didn’t even flinch, he grew agitated and struck her again.

"SPEAK!" he roared, the angry vein on his temple bulging with fury. She had cost him the life of the boy he cherished, and he would not spare her, or the other creatures she claimed not to know.

"I only wanted to live..." Belle choked out quietly. "He tried to kill me first... I wanted to live. I WANTED TO LIVE! IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK?! I WAS ONLY DEFENDING MYSELF!!"

Her scream tore through the hall as hot tears streamed down her battered cheeks. She glared at the man torturing her with all the fury she could summon. She hated him. She hated everyone who couldn’t see that she had only ever been trying to protect herself.

"Then you’ll lose the life you so desperately want to keep," the Councilman sneered, then stretched out his hand to one of his men and flicked his fingers. "Give me the dagger. If she won’t tell us what she is, we’ll find out, by cutting the child out of her. We can use it for the experiment without needing her."

Belle’s eyes widened in horror. Her unborn child.

She had given herself up to fate, forgotten for a moment that there was still someone who would grieve her. Someone she had to protect inside her.

That realization struck through her like lightning, filling her with a heated, desperate energy unlike anything she had ever known. So when Everett moved toward her with his dagger, she didn’t cower. She watched him. And the moment he leaned down, she grabbed his wrist, the one holding the blade.

Everett was taken aback by the strength she used, as if she would crush his bone. He didn’t flinch, but he gritted his teeth at the pressure.

"I won’t let you hurt my child," she growled.

Everett’s face twisted in distaste as she kept her iron grip on his wrist. "Interesting," he sneered. "That’s the inhuman strength."

He used his free hand to strike her wrist, forcing her fingers to loosen. Her hand dropped with a jerk, and he immediately moved back.

"Hold the bitch down!" he barked, rubbing his wrist.

As she watched Everett step back and order his men to hold her down, Belle scrambled backward on the floor, wrapping her arms tightly around her belly. She glared at each man closing in, her eyes blazing with alarm.

"If any of you touch me... I will retaliate. You can’t touch my child," she growled, looking each one of them in the eye. There were more than ten men, all slowly circling her, and the Councilman stood watching with terrifying patience, even lighting a cigarette as though none of it mattered. But the trembling in the hand she had gripped couldn’t be hidden.

Belle didn’t know how she had killed the man in the basement. But now she searched for that power with all her soul, wishing it would come to her.

It didn’t.

Not even when they reached out and grabbed her arms, trying to pin her to the floor. She clawed at them, screamed until her throat burned, kicked with every ounce of strength she had. But more men rushed in, pinning her legs, then her back to the cold floor.

Tears and terror streamed down her face as she watched the Councilman approach, dagger gleaming in his hand. Her eyes were fixed on the blade.

"Don’t do this. My baby is innocent!" she cried, desperate.

But if the man heard her, he didn’t show that he cared for the innocent life inside of her who had done nothing wrong.

Everett crouched beside her stomach, studying it with a dark gleam in his eye as a movement rippled beneath the surface.

Inside her womb, she felt her child go still, curling tightly into one side, as if sensing her emotions and not knowing what to do.

Belle screamed, begged, and thrashed beneath the weight of the men until her voice cracked and faded. Then she watched, in painful, helpless anticipation, as he lifted the dagger and brought it down with force toward her stomach, and immediately, she shut her eyes.