It’s a legit castle. Gray-green stone, towers, turrets, even battlements. The towering structure is built on a hill, surrounded by a maze of hedges and green lawn. The further down the curving drive we go, the more gardens come into view. One of the side sections is full of blooming flowers that look like roses. But beyond it is a towering hedge, almost like the labyrinth.
I remember last night and shudder.
The car turns onto the main road, rolling past giant, forbidding iron gates. I turn back around in my seat and drag my hands down my face. What the hell just happened? That man was insane. Nothing he said was true.
“So where to now, miss?” the cabbie looks at me in the rearview. He has old, slightly rheumy eyes that I bet have seen a lot.
“To the nearest p—” I bite my lip and squeeze my eyes shut. Police station. I need him to take me to the nearest police station. Right?
But…
What if?
What if there was even the tiniest bit of truth to what the Beast back there said? If Dad really did sell the patents? I grab my stomach. Gods, I feel sick.
Yeah, because that crazy bastard drugged you! Which is why you need to go directly to the police station, do not pass go, do not collect a hundred dollars, no questions!
But there’s something Dad hasn’t been telling me. He’s been bad ever since the stroke, but it’s something more. He’s gotten closed off. He pretends to be asleep when I stop by so he won’t have to talk to me. He thinks I don’t know, but I do. I thought he just didn’t like looking weak in front of me but what if…
“Lady, you gotta give me a destination or we’re just gonna keep driving in circles. I mean, I’m on a meter so it’s fine with me but—”
“New Olympus city. Belladonna research labs.” I sit up straighter. If I go to Dad first, I won’t get a straight answer. No matter how much I’ve done for the company, he still sees me as his little girl. I need to find out the truth, no matter how much it hurts.
* * *
Three hours later, I step out of a ride share at my father’s townhouse, clutching a stack of papers to my chest. I spent the last few hours scouring my Dad’s offices at Belladonna, hoping against hope that I’d find evidence to refute what the Beast who stole me claimed this morning.
Instead… I swallow hard against the lump in my throat. No, don’t even think it. Dad will be able to explain. He’ll tell me how this is all some misunderstanding. A mistake in paperwork that the Beast is exploiting somehow. Making it out to be something it’s not.
Dad wouldn’t…couldn’t betray everything we’ve worked for like this.
Dad’s nurse Gemma opens the door and a smile lights her face. “Oh Daphne darling, your daddy will be so happy to see you. I know he wants to hear all about how the ball went last night. And that handsome fella Adam Archer. Rumor has it the two of you are getting hot and heavy.”
What? The ball feels about a million years ago but I smooth my expression and put on what I hope is a polite smile. “Is my father awake? I really need to talk to him.”
“Aw honey, what’s wrong? You look like you had yourself a piece of porcupine pie for breakfast.”
Gemma’s almost as old as Dad and has been working as a nurse for decades. Usually I like her spunky colloquialisms and interest in all the town gossip, but not today. I’m on a mission.
“Sorry, Gem, I really need to see Dad.”
She frowns but steps back from the door to let me through. “Okay, baby, come on in. He just woke up from a nap and I know seeing you will brighten his day.”
Ha, I think. Not likely.
I pass the living room and the bay window where someone, probably Gemma, has propped a painting of Thornhill’s gardens. The view is exactly what I used to see when I looked out the window of my mother’s home.
Mom and I used to curl up with pillows and blankets and read fairytales when it was raining outside. Everything always seemed extra magical when it was raining, like wizards and fairy godmothers were more likely to pop out of the woods when mist covered the earth after a good rainstorm. My chest aches the way it always does when I think of Mom.
When we lost her, I had no one to talk to. Dad was so lost in grief, and the only person I ever could really talk to about her left not long after she died.
Gods, I haven’t thought about Logan in such a long time. He and Adam were my dad’s research assistants back in the day.
Adam always seemed…unreachable, unattainable. He was surrounded by co-eds, the golden boy everyone wanted a piece of. But Logan was quiet, studious. He went to college on scholarship and was devoted to his studies. A lot like me.
So we’d study together and during late night study sessions and sometimes in the lab, we’d get to talking. I was only nineteen and he was twenty-eight but science is a universal language. And he knew about Mom and everything we were trying to do to save her.
I wish I could talk to him now. He’d know how to make sense out of this. Dad always treated me like a little kid but Logan treated me like an equal. I was hurt when he suddenly left without saying goodbye, but apparently he got a really good post doc across the country and had to leave right away.
People leave and let you down. Seems like a lesson I should have learned a lot earlier than now but I guess I’ve been stubborn to the end. I turn away from the bay window and push up the stairs. I’m not a child anymore.
Finally I’m at Dad’s door and I pause. My heart is racing. Gods, what am I doing here? Because in spite of the many times people have disappointed me in my life, Dad never has. And there could be other explanations…right? I mean, okay, there are some unexplained blanks in the accounting records. But Dad was never good with that kind of stuff.
He’s a lab guy like me. He might be just as clueless about all this. Yes, I know he’s the CEO, but that doesn’t mean someone didn’t take advantage of an old man… I should’ve taken a closer interest in the company as a whole long before his stroke. Gods, how could I have just let him shoulder the entire burden? What kind of daughter does that?
But I’m here now and we’ll figure this out together. Whatever this is. Whoever is trying to screw with our company. I take a deep breath and then push through the door.
Dad’s reading a thick tome, but he looks up at my entrance and his face immediately brightens. His once salt and pepper hair is now all white and I’ll still never get used to seeing him in the hospital bed we had installed up in his room, machines constantly monitoring his vitals.
“Daphne.” He sets the book aside. “I wasn’t expecting you today. To what do I owe this pleasure?”
“Dad, there’s a problem.” I rush to his bedside, trying to ignore how unsettling it is to see the changes in him. “Someone’s been stealing from the company. Or something. I don’t know how to explain what I’m seeing. But I need your help to figure it out or else we’re in trouble.”
I start to spread the papers out on his bed but when I next glance up at Dad’s face, it’s gone ashen.
“Dad?” My hands start to tremble. He doesn’t look surprised. He doesn’t look surprised at all by what I’m showing him.
“You knew?”
He doesn’t say anything. He just looks down at his lap.
My throat closes up. No. No no no. “Dad, tell me these are just accounting errors. It can’t be true. You didn’t… I mean, you didn’t really sell the patents.”
“Who told you that?” His head jerks up and there’s an expression on his face I’ve never seen before. He looks manic and angry and afraid all at the same time.
“Dad!” my voice breaks. “What’s going on? Please. You have to tell me.”
My father’s hand shoots out and clamps around my wrist. “Leave it alone, Daph. Walk away. Walk away now.”
My mouth drops open in shock. Is he serious? “This is our company, everything we’ve worked for.”
But his hands are shaking. “He’s too strong.” His cheeks had color when I came in but they’ve gone completel
y pale.
“Who?” I cry. “Who, Daddy? Who did you sell to? Who’s doing this to us?” I’ve never seen my father like this before. I was expecting him to tell me this was all nonsense. An accounting error, or that he’d never seen this before and we’d track down the culprit together.
But this? He knows my tormentor. Oh gods, how long has this been going on?
“Tell me everything,” I demand.
But he shakes his head vehemently. “This will never touch you.”
Oh Daddy, if you only knew. “What does he want? Tell me that at least if you won’t tell me who it is.”
A tear crests my father’s eye and rolls down his cheek. “I’m so sorry, bella mia. This is all my fault. I hope that he’ll consider my death payment enough.” He coughs a long, raking cough. “I don’t think it will be long now.”
“Dad,” I cry, reaching down and hugging his skin-and-bones body. Gods, when did he get so skinny? “Don’t say that! Never say that. What are you talking about? We can fight this.” I let him go only when another coughing fit hits.
Why didn’t Gemma tell me it was getting this bad? But one look at my Dad and I know why. He told her not to. My stubborn ass of a father. Always thinking he can carry things on his own. Always treating me as if I’m a little child, even though I’ve spent my whole life hurrying to grow up faster so I could share the burden with him.
And now he’s just given up. He’s not even fighting. He’ll never get better if he doesn’t even try. He had a stroke but plenty of people come back from that and live fulfilling lives. But this… I look down at his emaciated body.
Does he have pneumonia? And what the hell has Gemma been doing about it? We’ve kept her on because she gets on well with Dad but if she’s not giving him the care he needs, I don’t care if we need to get Nurse Ratched in here.
I grab Dad by his cheeks and force him to look me in the eye. “You are not giving up. You are going to fight, do you hear me? I don’t care about the company.” That’s a lie, but right now, all Dad needs to focus on is getting better. I repeat it out loud: “You just need to focus on getting better. That’s all that matters right now.”
I bite my bottom lip and then I do something I’ve never done before. I lie to my father. “And to ensure you can do that, I’ll do as you ask. I’ll go away. I’ll take an extended vacation so you know I’m safe, okay?”
All the tension leaves Dad’s body and he sinks back into the pillows. “Oh thank the gods. Yes, baby, get as far away from here as you can.”
I nod. “Okay, Dad. I will.” I lean over and give him another hug. “You just focus on getting better.”
I stand on the sidewalk outside of his apartment. The weather’s turned cold, but I welcome the numbing feeling.
I make a few calls, ordering in a new nursing service for my dad. It’s the least I can do. As I finish my call, my cell vibrates with a new text.
RACHEL: How was the ball?
Oh gods, the ball. Was it only last night? So much has changed. I was drugged, woke up in a strange castle, learned my company is worthless. And my father knew it. Everything he built was a lie.
I can’t tell Rachel all this. I can’t even wrap my own head around it.
“Good,” I type, and bite my lip before deciding to distract her. You were right. Adam Archer is in to me.
RACHEL: Told you!!! Are you going to date him?
ME: We’ll see. Right now I need some time away. I’ll be gone a few days. Working on a breakthrough for Belladonna.
It’s not a lie. If I can win the patents back, everything will be okay.
I’m putting Belladonna’s future—my future—in the hands of a scary, possibly clinically insane, madman. But I don’t have any other choice. Without the patents, Belladonna has zero assets. We don’t own our research. There’s no reason Archer Industries would want to merge with us. I have to get the patents back.
My phone starts ringing. Rachel, calling. Probably confused.
ME: Can’t talk right now—
Before I hit send, I see a new message from an unknown number. Rejecting Rachel’s call, I click on it.
UNKNOWN: Time’s running out, Daphne.
Sure enough, the sun is sinking behind the skyscrapers.
It’s time to head back to the Beast.
Six
Beast
My legs are stiff from standing at the window, waiting. Will she come? Or will she, like her father, try to find a way to worm out of her responsibilities and lash out like a child?
Well, they won’t find me the weakling I once was. I’ve prepared for every outcome. If she makes any move other than submission, everything’s in place.
I’ll bury them.
You should have already. Giving her this opportunity out of sentimentality only proves you are still weak.
I slam the wall and turn away from the window. No. It’s not sentimentality. I only punish the guilty. I, unlike the rest of this fucked up world, am just.
I laugh humorlessly. Because maybe that’s all bullshit. Maybe I just want her for myself. Because I’ve watched her. I’ve watched them all as I’ve plotted my revenge. They all played out their roles over the years exactly as I would have expected.
All except her.
After the influx of capital from selling me the patents, her father expanded the company into cosmetics, made hundreds of millions, setting them up for the merger with Archer Industries. But little Daphne stayed buried away in her basement lab, working away into the wee hours of morning night after night working on the cure for Battleman’s. Determined to find the cure for the disease that killed her mother.
But are her motives really so pure? Or when put to the test, will she disappoint like every other single human being on this earth?
I so hope to have the chance to find out.
I pace back to the window. “Come on, little girl. The sun is setting. Not much time now. What are you willing to do to save your company? Your precious research?”
The sun drops lower in the sky, and with it, my hopes.
I don’t know why I’m so disappointed. I thought I’d lost all capacity for disappointment at this point in my life, but still, it hits me like a slug to the guts. I grab a vase from a stand nearby and throw it against the wall, turning away from the window.
At the same time I hear the roar of a car engine below.
I whip back around to look out the window. The car pulls to a stop on the circle drive right in front of the mansion and her tiny, waif-like body steps tentatively out. A masculine thunder of satisfaction floods my chest.
She’s here. She came.
I’ll teach her she’s so much more than what they made her.
But first I have to break the mold of who she is so she can be reborn.
Seven
Daphne
The wind picks up as the taxi pulls away, leaving me in front of the castle. The stone face rises up stark and beautiful. My new home. For however long it takes.
I can’t believe I’m here. I can’t believe I’m doing this. My comfortable work shoes scuff the fancy patterned stonework as I work up the nerve to grab the heavy brass door knocker. Shaped like a demonic beast head, of course.
I can’t believe I’m about to throw myself on the mercy of a madman to save my company. But Belladonna and my research are my life. Without them, what do I have left? Who am I?
A crisp ringing cuts the air. I leap about ten feet, fumbling for my cell phone. Adam’s calling. My thumb hovers over the screen. Should I answer? Shit, I disappeared from the ball. I owe him an explanation.
Tucking myself into the archway to get out of the wind, I raise the phone to my ear. “Hello, Adam.”
“Daphne! There you are. I’ve been so worried.” My phone beeps, belatedly telling me I have several missed calls. I kept it off for most of the day, only turn it on at the end of the drive to text Rachel again, telling her not to worry. I meant to turn it off by now, but when my finger hovered over the power bu
tton, I couldn’t bring myself to press it. Maybe I needed to feel connected to something familiar. Or maybe needing a way out—my last chance to call the cops.
“Sorry. I’ve been…distracted.”
Adam says something but his words are all broken up.
“Adam? Can you hear me? The reception is going in and out.” I step away from the building’s stone face.
“Where are you?” Adam asks. “We need to talk. Are you at your apartment? Or the lab? I’ll come get you.”
“Um, no, I’m not home or at Belladonna. Listen, I’m taking a few days off. I working on…something. Something important.” Were those footsteps beyond the door? I’ve got to explain things to Adam before the Beast shows up. “I’ve got to go—”
“Daphne, please listen. I need to apologize.”
Apologize to me? “What?” The door creaks and I turn away.
“I didn’t mean to scare you. All those things I said—I’ve been wanting to say them for a long time.”
My mouth falls open. I can’t believe this is happening now. The door yawns open behind me, filled with shadow.
“I know you’re not experienced in these things,” Adam says. “We can take it slow—”
“Adam, I really, really can’t talk about this right now. If you’d just—”
A large hand closes over mine, snatching my cell phone out of my grasp. The hand grips it so hard the screen cracks, then lets it fall to the stone floor. A polished shoe kicks it onto the lawn.
I gape as the Beast looms over me. “Oh my gods! You’re crazy.”
The Beast lunges forward.
Eight
Beast
“Please,” Daphne begs. “I came like you said. What are you going to do to me?”
I tug her along, ignoring her pleas. I’d prepared a room for her, full of warmth and comfort. I thought she might not be tainted, too far gone. She might deserve better than her cheating father and lying lover.
Beauty’s Beast Page 4
