Page 132 of Beast

I need to see the photo again, so I remove it from his wallet.

Unfolding it carefully, I study the two little kids on the crumpled paper.

Who are they?

Why does he keep it tucked away like a precious memory?

That’s when I notice the necklace the little girl is wearing. It’s the letter B on a black leather choker.The same necklace I lost as a teenager while swimming at the beach.

But how can that be?

I squint and bring the photo closer. It’s definitely the same necklace.

Happy birthday, Bluebelle. The long-lost memory hits me hard, and I stumble backward. It’s blurred and fractured. But I can see my mom and she’s smiling at me as my dad helps me unwrap the birthday present because my little hands are struggling with thepaper. He holds up the necklace and the gold letter B glints in the early morning light before he secures it around my neck.

Oh my god.

The little girl in the photo is me.

And I just know the little boy is Beast.

It’s an absolute knowing inside of me.

Another memory hits me. Us as children, playing outside. Laughing and squealing as my dad sprays us with the garden hose on a hot summer’s day.

Emotion surges through me as more memories follow. Each one getting stronger than the one before it.

Little splintered moments of days long gone.

Of my mom and dad. Of a childhood best friend.

Something outside draws my attention out the window. And then to the west tower where the forbidden room is.

The answers are there, I just know it.

In a split second, finding out what secrets lie beyond the thick wooden door and cast iron lock of the tower is the most important thing in the world.

But I’ll need a key because I know it’s locked.

Abandoning my domestic goddess duties, I start to look for it.

But after half an hour of searching, I am a worked-up, sweaty mess and no closer to finding the key.

Standing in the center of the room with my hands on my hips, I scan the room for any hiding place I could’ve missed.

But I’ve gone through this room like a tornado and there is no key.

I swipe at the hair sticking to my sweaty brow.

Fine.

If I can’t unlock the door, I will break the fucking thing down.

CHAPTER 55

BEAST

“You evil son of a bitch,”Boney seethes. “You knew about this?”

---