Beautiful Devils (Filthy Wicked Psychos, #2)

by Eva Ashwood

That’s why I ran away. Why I couldn’t stay there. Because if that’s how they see me—if that’s what they’re telling people about me—then I don’t want to be anywhere near them.

A little deer came creeping out of their warehouse, and I saw an opportunity.”

“Because little deer are so much easier to break than wolves.”

“So I captured you,” he continues. “You have the information I need to take out those men, and you will give it to me.”

Willow means something to all of us, and having her gone and in danger makes me feel fucking feral.

“We ran the DNA we were able to get,” he explains. “Your attacker was a man named Ilya Petrov.”

“He’s dead now, killed in the fire. He didn’t manage to make it out.”

“Ms. Hayes, your DNA was also flagged in our system.”

“It was a match for a cold case. A little girl that went missing a long time ago. We had the DNA provided from one of her parents to try to use as a match if she was ever found, but she never turned up anywhere.”

“Until now.”

“Your parents are dead, according to our files, but you have a grandmother who’s still alive.”

“Of course. You went missing when you were little. Your mother did die in a fire, and in all the chaos, you went missing. We were never sure if it was a kidnapping or an accident or something else. Your father died a year or so after that.”

“I think it was from a broken heart. He’d just lost too much.”

“Why do you even care?” I snap back. “I know you never gave a shit about protecting me. So you can drop the fucking act now.” “What?”

“Is that what you think? After all that’s happened?”

“I don’t know what else I’m supposed to think!”

“You say one thing and then do another and expect me to just go along with it. To let you treat me however the hell you want and be grate...

“Willow,” he says gently. “What happened? Why did you leave? I thought everything was good with us. I thought you were happy.”

“I was!” I blurt. “I was happy. I thought…” I swallow hard, my

eyes stinging as I huff out a breath. “I saw your fucking tape.” “What?” Ransom frowns. “W...

“The video. The one he put...

direction. “I saw it in his room on his fucking computer. All the footage from my apartment when you were spying on me. Footage from that fucking golf course ...

“I saw it, and I saw what you wrote about me. I know what you re...

show up now trying to pretend you ever ca...

“Willow,” Ransom says, stepping in even closer. “That wasn’t what you thought it was. We had to—” “Ransom.”

They don’t try to stop me, and for some reason, that hurts too.

“It seems like you’ve lived a hard life,” she murmurs. “You’re clearly a survivor.” “I… guess so. It wasn’t easy, but I got by.”

My grandmother isn’t just rich. She’s fucking loaded.

To turn her into trash in his eyes. But that was just for the ruse. She was never trash to us. She was never worthless.

Dead inside. Like Willow took all the oxygen with her when she left.

She came into our lives like a butterfly, flapping its wings and

causing chaos. Changing things little by little until she had rewritten so much of our everyday existence. Until she ...

And now the butterfly...

Because even though our plan worked and we managed to protect Willow… We lost her too.

“I would have done everything in my power to bring you home, if I’d known,” she agrees, her refined voice taking on a fierce tone. “I believe you,” I whisper.

“Cold case solved. Missing member of the Stanton family reunited with matriarch,”

“That’s her picture,” one of her friends point out. “That’s Willow.”

“That’s insane. The Stantons are one of the richest families in the fucking state. There’s no way a nobody like Willow is one of them.”

Malice is standing in the middle of my living room.

Even after everything that’s happened, there’s still a part of me that feels glad to see him—and I hate that.

“Why the fuck would I stay with

people who think I’m worthless? Who fucked me like a whore and treated me like one too? Worse than one, because at least whores get paid. You three just saw me as nothing but a hole to stick your dicks in. You used me. You lied to me. Of course I couldn’t stay there. Why the fuck would I?”

“That’s not true.” His voice is low and rough. “That’s not how we see you.”

“There’s no reason for me or my brothers to be in your life anymore. We shouldn’t be in your life.”

“There’s no reason for us to be in your life,” he repeats. “Except I can’t fucking stay away.”

“We did it to protect you, alright?” he growls. “Because we didn’t have another fucking choice!”

“I didn’t want to tell you. Hell, I probably still shouldn’t tell you. But we used that footage to try to keep you safe.”

“Between you and me, putting old rich men

in their place is something I quite enjoy doing now and then.”

“You’re somebody now. Classy. Grown up.”