Dangerous Beauty: Part Four: Beautifully Broken (36 page)

“You killed him …”

“I
murdered
him,” she wept, almost hysterically. Her body shook as she brought her hand to her chest. “I murdered him. I murdered Bryon, and I lied to … everyone.” She counted them off on her fingers. “I lied to the cops, to my sister … to myself. I told them he came at me, he was beating me, and he almost killed me. And why wouldn’t I? I had the scars, I had the bruises, the evidence of rape
obvious
between my legs! The emotional
fucking
damage, the perfect scene for a plea of self defense … And I used it!” With shaking hands, she wiped her eyes again. “I used everything. Told them I was afraid and that’s why I’d brought the knife to bed that night. Told them he’d hit me, raped me again that evening. And it’d all been the truth except for one thing … I didn’t stab him until after he’d fallen asleep.”

“It doesn’t matter—”

“It does,” she cut him off.

Kyle shook his head. “He hurt you …”

“And I should have called the cops.”

“So what, Reanna?” Kyle asked sharply. “So the fucker could get himself out and come after you?” He shook his head. “Fuck no!”

“Good people don’t do what I did, Kyle! I should have told somebody.”

“You did what you had to do!”

“No I didn’t,” she screamed, still weeping hysterically. “There was another way! I could have done things differently. But the fact that I chose to handle him the way I did …” Her head shook back and forth as she continued to weep softly. “I proved to myself that I’m just like my parents.”

Kyle’s eyes widened slightly. “What?” Now her distress made much more sense to him.

She didn’t want to be a murderer.

“No,” Kyle said, immediately embracing her in a comforting hold. “No,
colomba
.”

“Yes I am. I’m a murderer.”

“
Ascoltami donna. Ascoltami
.” He released her from his embrace, then brought his hands up to cup her face. “Listen,” he commanded, staring deeply into her eyes. “Is this why you’ve held on to this secret for so long, baby? Why you’ve been torturing yourself?”

She nodded in response, a cry falling from her lips. “I don’t want to be like them, Kyle.”

“But you are
not
like them, baby.”

“Everyone in this whole freaking country is just waiting for the moment when Tamara and I do something to prove them right.”

“You are not a murderer.”

“But, Kyle—”

“I am a murderer, Reanna.”

That got her quiet, which was his exact intention.

Taking his hands from her face, Kyle grasped her hands in his then placed them to his heart. “I may not be a soulless monster like your parents were, but I am a species of monster. I have murdered some very … not nice people in my life time, baby. Hell, I
am
a
‘very not nice people’
.”

Her lips twitched a bit. “I think you’re nice,” she whispered.

Kyle chuckled softly, bringing her hand up to his lips for a kiss. “That’s because I am nice,
colomba
. To you …”

“And I don’t think you’re a monster either,” she sniffled. “I kid around with you, but you’re not even close to being a monster in my eyes.”

He held her hands tighter to his heart, finding her words surprisingly touching. “But I am a murderer, Reanna.” He nodded. “That I am,” he sighed. “And you are not.”

She looked as if she were about to say something, but Kyle quickly stopped her.

“I know a killer when I see one, baby. Trust me …” Lifting her hand from his heart, he brought her arms over his shoulders, where she locked them around him, then he wrapped his back around her waist. “You protected your sister, and ensured your safety, and divorce, from a man that sought to harm you. If you hadn’t have done it first, he’d have done it to you.” He shrugged. “In my world, we call that survival.” His lips curved into a slight smile. “I think they may call it that in your ‘good people’ world, too.”

There were no words to describe the warmth he felt inside of him when she gave him the smallest smile. And this time, it reached her eyes.

“The ‘good people’ world?” she asked, her brows furrowing slightly.

Smiling, Kyle nodded. “That’s what men like me call the world you live in.” It wasn’t the only name they called it, just the only one he’d be sharing with her.

“Okay …” She bit her gorgeous lip as she nodded her head. “Well,” she whispered, “what do you call your world?”

He chuckled again, tightening his arms around her. “Organized,” he answered, shooting her a quick smirk. “Or if we’re feeling cocky, we’ll call it the ‘underworld’.”

“That’s scary.”

Kyle laughed. “Scary.” He shook his head. “This doesn’t seem too ‘scary’ does it?”

Her brows rose. “Are we in the underworld? Right now?”

Aww, she was adorably amusing
right now
.

He should have probably told her that every second she was with him, she was indeed, technically in the ‘underworld’, but he wouldn’t worry her mind with such minor things. She was well protected, and he’d never let her see anything he didn’t want her to.

So, deciding not to answer her question, Kyle leaned forward, giving her a slow, lingering kiss instead. He closed his eyes, reveling in the feel of her soft lips, of the velvet silk of her tongue moving so perfectly against his. He moaned, pressing her even closer to his body, loving when she became lost and her arms tightened around his neck. This was … everything. The connection he felt with her felt deeper, it felt stronger, and it amazed him, the effect her opening up to him had on their already solid bond.

Now he knew everything.

Who she was, where she came from. She laid herself bare before him just as he had before her, and in the process given him exactly what he’d needed. It surprised him, how little fear he felt now. It also gave him more peace than he ever thought he’d have.

Placing one last peck to her lips before pulling back, Kyle gazed into Reanna’s stunning brown eyes.

“Thank you,” he said, genuinely grateful.

It never failed. Whenever Kyle felt like he was close to bursting out of his skin, Reanna just … knew what to do to calm him down. She understood him better than anyone else in his life ever had.

Giving him the sweetest warm smile, Reanna kissed him once more. “I feel free, Kyle,” she whispered, shaking her head as tears welled up in her eyes. “I’ve never felt like this before. I’ve never been this …”

“Happy,” he finished.

Her smile widened. “More than happy.”

Kyle tucked one of her curls behind her ears. “It’s probably because you more than love me, huh?”

The laugh she blessed him with was like the sweetest music to his ears.

“Yes, Kyle Valente,” she sang sweetly. “I more than love you.”

And he more than loved her, too—more than himself, more than his life, he loved Reanna Pierce. It was love that baffled him, that excited him. And he was more than positive he’d never get enough of it.

The next morning had been spent in bed, making love, eating leftovers from their dinner the night before, laughing about random shit, and getting to know each other in a way Kyle had never experienced getting to know another before.

“So, pictures,” Kyle said, turning on his side and laying his arm across her belly. “How did such a thing become your career?”

“It was a hobby,” she answered, smiling up at their reflections in the mirror above them. “I was twenty when Tamara and I left the home we’d shared with Bryon.”

And yes, Kyle reveled in the fact that her voice no longer shook when she said the man’s name.

“We moved back to Brooklyn, found Ronaldo, and got a place together. I started working again, at a couple of restaurants so that I could afford rent and save up for Tamara’s college fund, and Tamara finished up high school at a local school close to our apartment.” She sighed. “One of the cops, who came that night I … killed Bryon, found us. Nice guy. He came to see us; see how we were doing. Tamara told him that I was having dreams, because I was. So he offered to pay for me to go see a therapist. One he apparently saw after he’d gotten shot on the job.” She’d shrugged. “The doctor, who is still my doctor today, Dr. Tomlin, diagnosed me with PTSD. I went through a lot of therapy, and once he finally got me to a good place, he told me to pick up a hobby.”

“Photography?”

Nodding, she answered brightly, “Yes, with a cheap camera.”

Kyle chuckled.

“At the time I was feeling a little suicidal, and Dr. Tomlin thought it’d help for me to, quote, ‘capture life’s beautiful moments’ on camera. I chose a polaroid.”

“How did you get discovered then?” he asked, running his finger over the dimple in her cheek.

She shrugged. “It was crazy. I was at the park, taking pictures of a chick and her dog, and this man walked up to me … Robby Reid.”

She said the name as if he should’ve known who the fuck he was

“Robby Reid, Kyle …
World renowned photographer?”

Kyle nodded. “Yeah, definitely baby.”

He hadn’t the slightest clue who she was talking about.

She rolled her eyes. “He’s a photographer. He’d just randomly walked up to me and asked me if I was an aspiring photographer. I said yes, even though I wasn’t. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. Then he asked if I wanted to try with his camera. Turned out he’d been in the park, having a casual picture day, something he and I still do from time to time. And, of course, I said
‘hell yeah’
, because his camera was boss.” She lifted her hands, making a gesture of taking of picture. “The picture I took of that woman still hangs in his gallery today. One snap, and I was his apprentice. He took me everywhere; Paris, Milan, you name it, Tamara and I went. Milan was actually where Tamara fell in love with fashion. But anyway, one year and one failed relationship later, my career went boom.”

Reanna went on to tell him how she’d reached heights that even her mentor had been astounded by. And with talent as naturally advanced as hers, she became well known all around the world for her unique photography style, her ever increasing list of clients making her a multimillionaire in just a few short years.

Kyle listened to her, admiring the woman’s strength and drive, as she enthused about her career, about what now had become her passion. She spoke about how much she loved fashion photography, but also how much she missed having more time to just take pictures for fun, to capture the beauty that the world had to offer. It amazed him how she could have gone through all she went through and still managed to overcome it … move forward, love again, and still see beauty in a world where Kyle only saw darkness.

He hadn’t seen light in this world until Sofia had come into his life. And that had only been because she was—then and still—the best and most beautiful thing that had ever come from his existence.

“What about you?”

Her abrupt question pulled him from his thoughts, bringing his focus back to her. “What about me, what?” he asked, his brow raising in question.

Reanna turned on her side to face him. “What about your life?” she asked, unconsciously reaching forward and running her finger over one of his scars.

Kyle exhaled a deep breath at the contact. He still couldn’t understand how the hell she did that.

“I know about what happened in your childhood,” she continued. “What your mother did to you … but I don’t know much about your life after that.”

“When I first came to America?”

She nodded her head. “I want to know everything about you, Kyle,” she whispered. “Even the stuff you think I’ll hate.”

He chuckled.

“I’m serious,” she pouted.

Shamelessly mocking her cute little pout, Kyle embraced his beautiful Reanna, bringing her close to him and placing a kiss on her forehead. “Aww, baby,” he murmured against her skin. “I know you’re serious. I just don’t understand the question.”

“Yes you do,” she scoffed, lightly pinching his side.

He chuckled again. She was right, he did. He wasn’t sure if he’d answer it, but he did understand.

The scowl she shot at him was far too lovely to be intimidating. “You’re answering my question, Valente.”

“Of course I will, baby,” he said, slight laughter in his tone. “If you just re-form the question into one that I can understand.”
And answer vaguely
, he finished in his head.

For a second she just stared at him blankly, not saying a word, as Kyle gazed down at her with the most innocent of smiles.

“Did you forget the question,
colomba
?” he asked, breaking the silence, his innocent smile still intact.

Her scowl deepened. “No, I didn’t.”

Kyle lovingly tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “You look so beautiful, baby.”

If only it were that easy to change the direction of her thoughts …