Page 139 of Beast

“Yes, and I’d do it again and again to anyone or anything that is a threat to the club.”

“You psychopath?—”

“Calm down.”

“Don’t fucking tell me to calm down. You’re telling me you killed a Knight and his family. That breaks every fucking rule in the book.”

“Not when it is to protect the club.”

“You’d better tell me how the fuck annihilating a family—a child—protects the club.”

“Hangman had a hobby. Genealogy. He spent hours poring over old documents and researching his family history. It was just dumb luck he came across a document showing that he was the true descendant of the rightful owner of the clubhouse.”

“How is that even possible?”

“Turns out his family and another family owned the land but sold it during the war, but with only one signature on it. So legally, it still belongs to him. Asshole knew he had the club over a barrel.”

“So the land was illegally sold to the Knights?”

“Nice to see you’re catching up.”

“So you killed him.”

“He got greedy. Started talking about lawyers and rightful ownership. Wanted money. Even got the land valued. Knew it was worth more than what we had in the coffers to buy it back. We would’ve lost the land. The clubhouse.”

“But why his old lady and kid?”

“What would’ve happened when his old lady decided she wanted to take the land? Or little Bluebelle when she grew up? They were risks that needed to be annihilated. The Knights havefought to keep this land for eighty years. I wasn’t about to lose it under my watch.”

I stare at him in disbelief. “So you murdered an entire family.”

“Not all of them.” He turns his head to look at the beautiful woman inside the house. She’s serving up soup for dinner. “There is still one left.”

I can tell from the tone in his voice why we are here.

He wants to finish what he started twenty-five years ago.

He’s going to murder Bluebelle.

“You’re not going to hurt her,” I say through gritted teeth.

“You’re right, I’m not.”

The relief hits me in the chest.

But it’s short lived when Dodger looks me in the eye and I can see the malevolence there.

“I’m not going to kill her—you are.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“I don’t have a lot of time left in these bones. I need to know when you wear the president’s badge it’s sewn onto the correct cut.”

“You’re talking insane.”

He grabs me by the cut. “Listen to me, you big fuck. If you’re going to be president one day, then you’re going to have to do things you don’t wanna do. And I want to know you’re up to the task.”

I barely bite back my rage. “Knights don’t hurt women or children.”

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