Dangerous Beauty: Part Four: Beautifully Broken (66 page)

“You know,” Kyle said as he continued to assist the man. “This little … confrontation we all had here today is a little poetic, don’t you think.”

Eric coughed up blood again, taking in another deep breath, then asked Kyle, “How so?”

Kyle gave a half smile, dipping the man’s finger in his blood once more so that they could move on from the initialing to the signature.

“Well,” he began. “Fifteen years back, you were in this same situation with our fathers, were you not?” Kyle chuckled at the man’s expression. “You were,” he nodded. “Back when my brothers and I were just kids, and Spook Steele’s daughter was a rumor.” He nodded again, dotting the last ‘I’ in the man’s name. “Now look at all of us. My brothers and I are men now, Spook Steele’s daughter is real, and you …” Kyle released a long breath, shaking his head, “you’re still here. Learning the same lesson that you learned fifteen years ago …” Such as sad, sad man that Eric Bonaducci. “Let’s hope the lesson sticks this time, huh Eric?”

More blood and saliva fell from Eric’s mouth as he groaned, slowly attempting to roll his body away from Kyle, before his body gave up and he fell unconscious.

Amusing, Kyle thought, standing up from the floor and wiping his hands off on his already sullied shirt. It had been a lot of work, but he’d done it, finally. Staring at the contract made his chest swell with pride. He felt proud. His first big responsibility completed successfully, and Kyle just knew that this was only the beginning for him. He was going to give new meaning to the title consigliere, change the landscape of the role, thus creating the title a new. Generations from now Kyle’s would be the name that all would try to live up to.

He smiled at his own thoughts.

Where was this ambition coming from?

“Kyle.”

The call from Nathan got Kyle’s attention immediately.

He lifted his eyes, staring at his family for the first time since all of the fighting began.

Holy shit.

They were a mess. All of them. Nathan was covered in blood that obviously wasn’t his own; as was Carterina, and Davina, and Mickey, each of them with large knives in their hands. Lucca had blood spatter on his disheveled shirt and a bit on his face as he held a gun at his side. And the rest of Carter’s girls just looked … tired. Clothing disheveled, hair lovely, but messy at the same time, and blood on their faces as if they’d been fighting.

“What the fuck, man?” Nathan said, sounding as if he were still out of breath.

Uh oh …

Kyle’s eyes widened, his brows raising at what he was seeing. “What happened?” he asked, genuinely lost.

He had no idea what had happened when he just kind of … blacked out. He didn’t remember.

“Are you serious?” Nathan asked, his nostrils flaring. “You didn’t notice that you started world war fucking three in here without even …” he shook his head, his features tightening, “
signaling
to us that you were going to do so!”

Kyle swallowed. “I …” his words trailed with a shrug, “You weren’t talking, so I just went with what I wanted to do. I had no plan, none of us even knew they were coming.”

Silence. Each of them were peeking at one another out of the corner of their eyes.

Kyle frowned. Was he missing something?

He waved his hand between them. “What was that?”

“We knew,” the thick Russian accented voice of one of Catsianna kutnetsova sounded as the woman sauntered forward, running her fingers through her messy curls.

“Cat!” Carter yelled.

Everyone looked just as angry that the woman had spoken.

She didn’t seem to care though, as she continued. “What?” she asked, shrugging then wiping the sweat from her brow. “He will find out soon anyway, no?” She looked back at Kyle before resting her hands on her curvy hips. “Your step-mother, the Anastacia Stone, tells your brother not to tell you when Dante called to warn us of Bonaducci’s coming while you were talking to your bride about the man hitting her …”

Both shocked and utterly appalled, Kyle’s mouth dropped.
What?!

“Dante said they could not stop Bonaducci because there were too many coming. Would draw too much attention.”

“But why the fuck wouldn’t I need to know that they were coming?” Kyle asked angrily, looking over to Nathan.

But before Nathan answered, Catsianna began to tell Kyle the rest of the story. “She said you needed to learn. She told your Russian boss to say no words, and told your brothers and Carterina not to help you. That you needed to accomplish this on your own and that all of us needed to stand quietly and have your back—”

“Okay!” Nathan cut off the woman, raising a hand in her direction. “Thank you, Cat, but do you mind if I take it from here please …”

Smiling that sinister smile of hers, Catsianna nodded, “
Конечно
,
вы
можете
,
русский
. I will be quiet now …”

Kyle spotted Carter glare at the woman before rolling her eyes when Cat gave her wink in response.

“Kyle,” Nathan called him, capturing his attention. “There’s nothing to be upset about.”

“I’m not upset,” Kyle said truthfully. “It just would have been nice if I was told what was going on beforehand.”

“I guess Anastacia wanted us to …” Nathan shrugged, “give you some space so you could close the deal.”

“And you did,” Lucca spoke up, stepping forward. “And you did it rather well.”

Kyle’s brows rose in surprise at Lucca’s compliment.

“Really?” Nathan asked, gazing in Lucca’s direction. “You were not surprised by his aggression.”

“I wasn’t,” Mickey said, squatting down to pull a knife out of the neck of a body in front of him. “Niko was pushing. He was begging for a war.”

“And he got one,” Lucca nodded, a small …
proud?
smile on his lips. “You cannot lie and tell me that you didn’t enjoy that,
cugino
.”

Nathan nodded. “I did,” he admitted. “But even still, it would have been nice to have a heads up.”

Kyle snorted at the irony, even as he walked forward toward Nathan. “Yeah, like I was warned about them coming here in the first place?”

Nathan rolled his eyes. “Touché.”

Chuckling, Kyle handed the contract over to Nathan. “Here you go, brother. A signed peace agreement, just as I promised you.”

Laughing softly, Nathan dropped his knife and took the papers from Kyle’s hand. “A contract signed with blood.” He stared at the signature. “How very theatrical of you brother.”

Kyle smiled.

“You don’t mind if I use a pen for my signature do you?”

Snorting once again, Kyle waved a dismissive hand at his brother. “Fuck off, Nate.”

“I’m serious,” he laughed. “Seeing you like that,” he lowered his eyes, shaking his head at himself. “It just …” he lifted his eyes back to Kyle. “Reminded me that you’re a Stone.”

Kyle’s brows furrowed slightly. “A Stone,” he repeated.

Nathan nodded, his expression nearly the same as it had been when he’d hesitated to leave Kyle’s office at the beginning of the day. Like he’d wanted to say something else, but something was holding him back.

Nodding at … really nothing, Kyle swallowed, hesitating to say what he wanted to say next as well. “You sure it’s that that’s reminding you that I’m a Stone?” he asked, looking away from his brother as he did. “Or is it something else? Something that maybe happened this weekend.” He cleared his throat. “Something that could possibly involve Abrielle …”

He didn’t look at his brother. He couldn’t, not yet. He couldn’t even believe that he’d just brought it up, but as soon as Nathan mentioned Kyle’s connection to the Stone family it had triggered the memory of what Mickey had said before Reanna and the kids had arrived at S.O. While he was fighting with Niko, he hadn’t thought about it at all, nor was he effected by any emotions that stemmed from hearing his brother say the woman’s name, but now that the dust had settled and the chaos had died down, Kyle’s thoughts were loud and clear again, and Abrielle was on his mind.

“Just tell me one thing, brother,” Kyle said, keeping his voice low so that the question would remain between him and Nathan. Mustering up the courage, Kyle turned his head back to face his brother and was met with an expression both still and unreadable. “Is she dead?” he asked, genuinely wanting to know.

That was the first place his mind had gone when Mickey had spoken her name. She was dead. He figured that was the only reason why he’d ever hear the woman’s name from any of his family members again.

“No,” Nathan answered.

And yes, the answer surprised Kyle.

“She isn’t dead, Kyle.”

Taking in a deep breath, Kyle frowned, his eyes searching the room for nothing in particular.

Then what the hell was it? He thought to himself. If not her death, then what was it that his brother would possibly have to tell him about a woman he’d always said he’d never wanted to see again!

“Kyle.” Nathan placed a hand on Kyle’s shoulder, recapturing his attention.

Kyle looked him directly in his eyes, searching for anything the man could tell him without words. But, of course, since it was Nathan, Kyle saw nothing.

“We’ll talk, brother,” he gave Kyle’s shoulder a light shake before cupping his cheek with a pat. “Okay?” he nodded, dropping his hand. “Stop thinking. We’re going to talk, all of us. Upstairs in the office;”

“No,” Kyle shook his head, feeling his patience wane a bit. “Tell me now.”

“I can’t,” Nathan refused, his tone firm. “I won’t.”

Familiar with that stern look in Nathan’s eyes, Kyle nodded his head slowly, knowing that he wasn’t going to convince Nathan to say anything before he was ready.

“Be patient, brother,” Nathan whispered. “And trust us.”

Kyle looked away from Nathan.

He did. He did trust his brothers.

“Sir!”

The loud call from Jake drew the attention of everyone to the entrance, where he entered with two of his men, dragging in a very inebriated Dr. Braden Harrison.

“Who the fuck are you man, let me go,” Branden said, his words nearly unintelligible.

“We found him at the bar around the corner from her studio—”

Jake’s words cut off as his eyes widened at the evidence of the war that had ensued while he’d been gone.

“Holy fuck,” he gasped, and then he flinched, jumping back with a shout when two gun shots rang out abruptly.

Everybody
jumped back, startled by the sound of gunfire, their eyes searching frantically for the culprit who shot the bullets.

In the arms of the two men pulling him, Braden’s body went limp.

“Cat!” All of the women present yelled simultaneously.

“What the fuck, Catsianna!” Carter shouted.

Kyle brought a fist to his chest, willing his heart to start beating again. Fuck … that had caught them all by surprise.

“Why would you do that?”

Catsianna stood, relaxed, her gun still pointing in the direction of the now dead Braden Harrison.

She’d shot him. Point blank. Two bullets to the head.

“The man hit a defenseless woman,” she explained herself with a shrug of her shoulder. She lowered her gun. “Men who hit women are
cowards
.” She spat the word as if the taste of it made her sick to her stomach. “There is no redemption for a coward.”

With that said, she turned and walked away from them.

“You tell your woman I killed him, Kyle. She will forgive you, yes?”

She waved her gun in the air as if waving goodbye, then she entered the large Steele door, leading to the elevator, leaving everyone else in the lobby still standing, trying to figure out what the fuck just happened.

Kyle watched as they dropped Braden’s dead body to the floor.

Shit. What the fuck was he going to tell Reanna?

Closing his eyes, he shook his head. No.

He couldn’t think about it right now. He had to deal with one thing at a time, mark the shit off as if it were on a list.

First, the peace deal.

Check.

And now … Abrielle.

Sighing heavily with a clap of his hand, he got everyone’s attention. “Soldiers!” They all looked his way. “Let’s get clean up down here, please. And get Don Bonaducci and his son to the hospital.”

Immediately, they moved to do what they’d been told.

“As for the rest of us …” He looked to his Allies. “Let’s go get cleaned up.” Then he looked over at Nathan, feeling an immense amount of dread for the upcoming conversation.

“Then we’ll talk.”

It was amazing how quickly things could go from wonderful to fucked up all in the matter of hours. And all it took was one single event.

One happening. One fucking person that had the ability to fuck up your insides and send you on a possibly downward fucking spiral.

That was what was happening to Kyle now … and he didn’t know how to stop it.