Page 53 of The Beast

With a jolt, he opened his eyes.

Beside him, the whiskey was still untouched. And now his hands were shaking.

A surprise party. Their private joke. Just between them.

Until it wasn’t.

The cabin in Aspen.

Snow falling outside.

He’d gone there to plan—to figure out how he was going to propose. Had the whole thing mapped out. A weekend away, just the two of them. He’d take her to the overlook where they’d watched the sunset on their first trip to Colorado. He’d get down on one knee and⁠—

The door splintered inward.

Three men. Big. Armed. Faces masked and eyes he didn’t recognize.

He fought. Of course, he fought. He was a Grimm—his father had made sure he knew how to handle himself. But it was three against one, and they had guns.

The first bullet took him in the chest before he could get his hands on any of them, and he went down hard.

They were laughing. One of them kicked him onto his back so he could see the cabin’s rough-hewn roof. See them standing over him.

“Hart sends his regards.” The big one crouched down, grinning. “And his daughter? Guess you know now you’ve never been more than a plaything to her. She’s got a special message for you.”

He tried to speak. Tried to tell them they were wrong. Bella would never hurt him.

Then she stepped out of the shadows.

That familiar winter coat. A dark hat pulled to her brows. A woolen scarf wrapped around the lower half of her face so only her eyes were visible. Those beautiful, dual-colored eyes.

“You told her to surprise you,” the man who’d kicked him said, sliding his arm around her waist, then squeezing her breast. “So, surprise, fucker.”

She looked down at him with nothing in those eyes. No grief. No hesitation. Just cold, flat emptiness.

“It was a good ride, but she’s done with you, boy,” Kicker said.

That’s when she raised the gun, and he saw her mother’s gold band on her finger. “Surprise,” she whispered, then fired.

Those eyes were the last thing he saw before the darkness took him. Green and blue, watching him die.

Gabriel slammed the glass down on the bar so hard it cracked.

It was her. He saw her. Those eyes. That ring. That word—surprise—thrown back at him like a knife. Their private moment weaponized. The party she was supposedly planning, turned into the last word he’d ever hear.

Proof that everything they’d had was a lie. That he’d been a fool. A mark. A plaything, just like they said.

She’d been wearing her mother’s ring.

She was the only one who knew about the cabin.

She was the only one who knew about the surprise party.

He’d never told anyone that last part. Not Travis. Not Anissa. Even now, he knew he wouldn’t tell Leo.

He’d take that truth to his grave.

Because if he did tell, Leo would kill her. Or drag her to the cops. Either way, it would be over too fast. Either way, he’d lose control.