Dangerous Beauty: Part Three: This is War (3 page)

He sighed, furrowing his brows thoughtfully. “Well, that is a loaded question.” He shrugged nonchalantly. “I don’t know, I suppose I want what all humans secretly want. Power, freedom, world domination … a family, a home, a dog—”

“Okay, stop,” Anastacia snapped, cutting him off. Although she was amused, she used her willpower and fought against it in effort to get rid of him. “Thank you for sharing, but that’s not what I meant. I mean, what do you want now? Why are you intruding on my evening?”

His eyes squinted in a smile as he sat back, crossing his legs and straightening in his seat. “I suppose the simplest answer to that is … company.”

“Company?”

He nodded. “You’re alone, I’m alone. Why not be alone together?”

“Because we can’t be alone if we are together.”

He smiled. “True, but we can be
alone together
.”

Anastacia sighed, frustrated with the handsome stranger. “I don’t want to be alone with you.”

“But I would very much enjoy being alone with you.”

“Why?” she asked sharply.

After staring at her for a moment, he replied, “Your eyes …”

Her brows furrowed in confusion. “What about my eyes?”

“I am drawn to your sadness.”

Drawn to my … sadness?

“You’re beautiful.”

And there it was, that stupid word.
Beautiful.
Anastacia hated the fucking word. It had become meaningless to her. “Thank you,” she said, her words empty of gratitude. “You can go now. I don’t need anyone else to remind me of my appearance.”

“I said nothing of your appearance, pet.” She would come to realize that this was the first of many times this man would refer to her as
pet.

“The beauty I speak of is not as superficial as that. Your outward appearance is nice, I do not deny that. Although I imagine you’ve looked better. Right now you look like a messy … homeless woman. Those ridiculous wet clothes,” he muttered as he glanced away from her, unimpressed.

Anastacia frowned, casting her eyes downward in embarrassment. “I assure you, I am not homeless,” she said softly.

“I have no doubt that of that, pet.” He smiled warmly. “You sit like a young woman of great wealth. Now, like I was saying, the beauty I speak of is in your eyes.”

“What is in my eyes?”

“Sadness, heart-break, utter despair.” He folded his hands in his lap. “I find the pure emotion quite stunning. Telling eyes are attractive to me.”

Telling eyes
… He was interesting, to say the least. And that easily, he’d hooked her. Looking away shyly, she whispered, “Thank you.”

“What is your name, pet?” he asked.

“Anastacia,” she whispered, unsure why she suddenly felt so shy.

Suddenly, he reached across the table and touched her hand, causing her to inhale a sharp breath. It was just the slightest touch but it gave her butterflies.

“Anastacia …”

Even the way he said her name was perfect. When she brought her eyes back to him, the smile he wore was both devious and beautiful. Anastacia felt herself being pulled deeper and deeper into an alternate universe. His eyes were hypnotizing. Wherever he took her, she’d be more than willing to go with him.

“I am going to be straight forward with you. I find you intriguingly beautiful and I want you. Tonight, I am taking over the world, pet. Would you be interested in joining me?”

“Yes.” The word left her lips with no effort at all. She wanted an escape, and he would be that for her …

His smile widened and he took her hand. “There it is, that beauty in those eyes. I saw your answer before you even said it. Come,” he commanded as he stood to his feet and straightened the jacket of his black suit. “There is no time to waste.”

Now?
They were leaving
now
. When he extended his hand to Anastacia, she took it. He pulled her up from her seat and they began walking toward the door.

“Wait,” she said quickly.

He stopped immediately and turned to face her. “Yes, pet?”

She glanced up at him meekly as the shyness crept back into her system. “Your name,” she whispered. “You never told me your name.”

A small smile appeared on his face as he turned to her and gently grazed his fingertips across her face. She felt her breathing pick up the moment he touched her.

He leaned forward and kissed first her left cheek, then her right before placing his lips on her forehead. “Silas, pet. My name is Silas Steele.”

Silas Steele …

Chapter 1: The hit. Carter and Spook Steele.

Six years earlier …

“Carter!” Robert shook his sleeping daughter harder. “Carterina, get up now!”

Yawning, Carter’s hazel eyes peeked open. A smile spread across her pretty face as she stretched her tired limbs.

“Yeah, Dad—”

When she stopped talking and frowned, Robert knew that his little girl felt it, too.

Someone was in the house.

She turned a worried, fearful gaze to him and he nodded that she was right.

“Daddy, what’s going on?” she whispered.

“Shh …” Robert guided her from the bed. “There’s no time to explain, baby girl. It’s time for you to go.”

Fear immediately flashed through her eyes and she shook her head frantically. “No,” she cried. “Daddy, please, don’t make me go. Please come with me! We can get out together.”

Tears filled her big, beautiful hazel eyes and Robert’s heart twisted painfully in his chest. He should have been more prepared for this. He’d known this was coming, yet he hadn’t talked to Carter like he was supposed to. Unfortunately, it was too late. This was it. Silas was making his move before Robert was ready. The sneaky fucking prick!

“Daddy?”

Carter’s frightened voice brought him back to the present. He gazed into her eyes, wishing he had time to tell her all that was about to happen. He yearned to tell her everything, but there was no time. She had to run, and he had to trust that her mother would find her before Silas got a hold of her. The last thing Robert wanted was that fucking bastard winning this … little war they were having.

“Come, baby girl.” He pulled her from the bed. “To the window. You know what to do.”

She immediately began to cry. “Daddy, no,” she sobbed. “I can’t. I’m scared.”

Robert gripped her shoulders and turned her to face him. “
No
,” he whispered sharply. “Do not do this, Carterina! You will go, and you will be strong.” He touched her face softly. “We will meet at the train station. Go!”

Without looking into her eyes, he pulled her to the window. He knew if he did, he wouldn’t do what he knew needed to be done. There were men here to get him. He knew they weren’t sent by his brother; this was Mitchell’s desperate attempt. Robert planned on killing Mitchell and telling Angelo the bastard’s idiotic attempt at killing him, but this shit was about to derail all of his plans. Robert knew that he could beat the men in his home, all of them, but he needed to be ready for surprises. Silas was watching the house, and Robert knew it. This meant that he’d intercepted the men Mitchell had sent, and sent them in under his instructions. Robert also knew that Silas wouldn’t stop Carter from running. He wasn’t ready for Carter yet. He had an end game and that was having Anastacia and Carterina back in his life. Tonight, Silas sent the men in to take him … only him.

Tonight Silas was making his move, and Robert was pretty sure he would succeed.

Fuck!

Robert helped his daughter climb out of the window. “All right, baby girl. We don’t have much time. You know what I want you to do, Carter. I want you to run. Do not look back, just run. Go to the train station and get the money I have there. It’s not much, but it will last until …” Swallowing, Robert took a deep breath as he finally looked into his baby girl’s eyes. The devastation, fear, and innocence there nearly broke him. Robert hadn’t cried since he was a child, but now he could feel unshed tears stinging the backs of his eyes. He could very well be saying good-bye to his little girl for a very long time. Not only that, but he needed to tell her about her mother. Given, this was not the best time, but Robert knew he no longer had a choice. He had to do it. “Baby girl,” he began, “I need to tell you something.”

She nodded and took one step down the side of the house. “Yes, Daddy,” she whispered.

Robert clenched his jaw to keep from pulling his little girl back through the window so he could comfort her. He needed to pull himself together; he had to be an example. He knew that if he didn’t show strength, she wouldn’t.

It was time to tell her to look for her mother. Robert took a deep breath and continued. “Carterina, I need to tell you that your—”

Robert’s rapid words went unsaid when the distinct
pop
of a silenced gun hit his ears and something pierced his leg, causing it to immediately go numb. Completely losing his balance, he fell to the floor with a thump. From outside of the house he heard Carter scream and cry, “Daddy!” over and over again.

Robert shot up to sitting position and quickly pressed his back to the wall. He’d been shot with something, and it wasn’t a bullet. He was positive he knew exactly what it was since he’d come in contact with the numbing chemical many times before. It was Silas’s favorite toy, and he’d armed whoever was coming to attack Robert with the cowardice shit! Robert gritted his teeth and raised his arm out of the window just as a man he recognized slowly walked into his bedroom.

Interesting
, Robert thought. Mitchell had hired contract killers that Robert knew personally, and the motherfuckers took the job … huge mistake.

Robert hit the side of the house, and calmed his terrified little girl. “I’m here, baby,” he yelled. “Run, Carterina! Leave here now!”

As he heard her sobs getting further away, he closed his eyes, praying that her mother would find her and that she would be safe from Silas.

“I love you, baby girl,” he whispered.

“You know, I always thought that the moment you became a father was your weakest moment, Spook.”

Robert’s jaw ticked as soon as the man spoke to him. He looked up at the sneering man and smiled. “Weakness?” Robert growled. “If I am weak, then what are you, Mr. Matt?”

Matt Dunn was a successful contract killer, and Robert’s old friend. Well, not so much of a friend, but they had goofed around a few times. This was why Robert would kill him quick.

Matt let out a deep chuckle and took a step forward. “You are outnumbered, Spook Steele. You should watch your mouth. You’re lucky that your brother caught us before we came in here to massacre you and your women.”

Suddenly the piercingly shrill scream of Carter’s nanny, Christina, filled the house. Arching an eyebrow, Robert chuckled, but it was cut off by a groan of pain as he ran his hand down is face. “If you thought that the tortured cry of my daughter’s nanny would rattle me into begging you for something, then you don’t know me at all.” It wasn’t nice of him because, in truth, Robert had known Christina since he was a teen, but Robert couldn’t pretend he was a nice man in a situation like this. There were only two people in this world that truly mattered to him, and they were the two females that belonged to him. Anastacia and his daughter.

Robert inhaled a deep, shaky breath as he began to feel the effects of the chemicals in his body. Sweat beaded on his forehead and his hands began to shake.

Matt smiled, looking down on Robert’s shaking body. “You don’t look too strong down there, do you?” Chuckling, he came forward until he stood directly in front of Robert, and squatted so that they were face-to-face. “I’m just glad I get to tell everyone I made the great Spook Steele piss in his pants.”

Robert didn’t reply; he looked into the man’s dark eyes. He continued to stare for a moment longer before he mustered up the strength to lean forward a bit. “What did Silas offer you out there?” he asked. He knew the money-hungry bastard wasn’t doing it for free.

A frown fell over Matt’s face. “Everything, Robert. He offered us everything.”

“What will you tell Mitchell?”

“That you are dead, that your daughter is dead. We will give him your money, and your bank books. We will make sure the woman downstairs is unidentifiable. They will all think she was Cecilia. After we hand you over to your brother, we will find her. She is to be given to one of Silas’s men. He wants to use her to bring forward Anastacia Stone.”

Robert nodded his head slowly. “Tell me, Matt. How many men are in my home?”

“Six,” he answered. “That is including myself.”

Robert’s swallowed and clenched his jaw tight.
Shit! Six men. How the fuck am I supposed to kill six men with this shit in my body?
Once again, he looked into the dark eyes of his former acquaintance and silently wondered if there may be a possibility that he could convince Matt to fight for him. He pondered the possibility, then realized that there was no way it would happen. Silas had already lured the men over to his side. He’d most likely threatened them. Silas was good at that. He had the ability to make other’s think that he was more dangerous than he actually was. The truth was, in Robert’s opinion, Silas was a coward … always had been, and always would be.