Yes I quoted the bible, and YES I’m talking about a full chapter from the third installment of the Dangerous Beauty Series!!!

Before you read, let’s do a little recap, shall we?

Carter has been taken!

Who took Carter? Well here the short version of that story. Carter was totes distraught after finding out that her super hot underboss husband was shot by her biological maniac father is could possibly be somewhere fighting for his life. Lost in her sadness she wonders away from her protection, sees a kickass- but familiar- coin on the ground, bends over to pick it up and long story shot, she runs into her ex-boyfriend Henry! TWIST! His name is NOT Henry! What! We find out in the Epilogue of book two that his name is really Cole. Cole takes Carter and though everyone tries to get her back they unfortunately fail, and Anastacia shot by a young woman named Lucretzia (Girl who took Carter, and also claims to be Carter’s sister!).

Now to Nathan. Nathan was shot!

Carter’s biological father shot Nathan in Russia! When the story ends Nathan is walking down a country road with a bullet in his side. He calls Mickey LIVID because Carter has been taken. His anger leads him to say some not so nice things to our beloved Mickey. Mickey vows to find Carter and bring her back home safely.

End!

The Epilogue!

Silas Steele is not only Carter’s Biological dad, but he is Spook Steele’s identical Twin brother, Anastacia’s husband and he is cray!! In the last chapter of the book Silas Steele is staring at his daughter from a small seating area in a viewing room (If you do not remember all of this information take a quick look at the epilogue in book two) Silas is watching Carter prepare for bed. His men walk in on him and join him in a seating area. They try their best to urge him to give her back to Nathan and end the war that they are loosing. Silas trips and tells them no. Further more into the discussion Carter interrupts them and ne of Silas men (Scott) and he makes the mistake of opening her door. When he did Carter made a run for it, and yeah well you know the rest.

People you need to remember from book two . . .

The Steele Family- A family of misfits (not blood related) but brought together by a man named Dmitry Steele. They all came from dark places in life and have a similar lust for revenge. After killing Dmitry Silas became the leader of the Steele family. They are a highly dangerous ever growing family that make the riches they have by dabbling in the sick world of human trafficking. They capture, train, and sell sex slaves. . .

Robert (aka Spook Steele)- Carter’s deceased father and brother of Carter’s biological father.

Freddy Russia- A very dangerous young man in the criminal underworld. What he does remains a mystery (And will until he gets his own story), but we do know he is Nathan’s good friend and he coined “The Five” as well as Nathan’s name “The Russian”.

Cole- Carter’s ex Henry from her dark times in St. Louis as a teen after her father’s death. We found out he works for Silas when he took Carter at the end of book two.

Lucretzia- The young woman that spooked Jenna in book two. She claims to be Carter’s sister. She assisted Cole in the kidnapping. Both Cole and Lucretiza are trying to get back on Silas’s good side after loosing Carter in St. Louis years before.

Of course Silas, not being one to forgive, tells one of his men to “Give them some money and send them on their way.”

Okay, that’s all you need to remember for now! Because DB series has so much going on my advice to all you wonderful readers is to start from the beginning!! Read all three books in a row, pick up on anything you missed! Book three is packed with answers, information, explanations, drama, and action. Then it calms a bit and picks up again.

A spoiler for you below . . .

By the time you finish Dangerous Beauty Part Three, you will have gone through two entire years of Nathan and Carter’s life!

Without further ado . . . I now give you Chapter two of Dangerous Beauty Part Three: This is War

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Note: (Unedited Chapter)

Warning: This book is intended for mature audiences (18+) due to the description of violence and sexual situations. This story is intended for mature audiences. There is some dark matter in this story involving themes that may offend (profanity, talk of incest, human trafficking, sex slaves ect.).  

Chapter 2: Finding Carter: Seven days after Carter was taken…

Present day…

It wasn’t his fault. He’d come to that conclusion days ago. He didn’t want to be this person, and he knew his mother was surely looking down on him from heaven with disappointment. But Nathan couldn’t control himself. He was acting out and he knew it, he didn’t need to be told. But there was no way he would stop. The Steele Family brought this upon there selves. If Anastacia and his father hadn’t have kept him out of the loop on the whole Silas Steele bullshit in the first place, they would have gotten further in their search a long time ago. Both Angelo and Anastacia had bigger armies than Nathan, much more experience and knowledge about the past, and Nathan knew that. When it came to all of that, he wasn’t ashamed to admit that he needed their help. But what he had, that they didn’t have, was what made this search for his wife move a lot quicker.

Connections . . .

Nathan had some very powerful friends that had even more powerful friends. Nathan’s friendships and connections were what made him excel so quickly in the criminal world. Had he gone around wearing his last name like a badge of honor, he would have had the same enemies his dad had. But that was not what he did. Nathan slipped smoothly into the advantage that was given to him by the criminal underworld.

The Russian.

Yes, he knew it may have sounded stupid to do so, but being a Mafia Don’s son had both advantages and disadvantages. Nathan had never wanted any disadvantages, so he wore the title “The Russian” like a badge of honor. Nathan Salerno had responsibilities to others. He had businesses to run, a father to please, and he was being groomed to be the Don of a powerful mafia family.

The Russian had none of that.

The Russian was already a boss. He was a leader, a man both feared and respected. He’d already proven himself. Both men and women alike in the criminal underworld knew not to fuck with him or his men. He’d earned the power and influence he had in the most brutal and unimaginable ways, and he was proud of the accomplishment. He and his men started one of the biggest Mafia wars in the history of the criminal world and won. He had no one to please, and his responsibilities were only to himself and the ones he loved.

Many wondered why a man as young as Nathan was already so powerful, so fearless. The answer was simple. Every step Nathan had taken thus far was well thought out, well calculated, and based off of a lesson he’d learned in the past. While most children tuned their mothers and fathers out when they’d try to teach them something, Nathan had listen. He remembered every detail of his father’s rise to power, the steps he’d took, the mistakes he’d made, and people he’d had to eliminate in order to gain power and respect. Nathan mapped out his own rise to power even after his mother had died. He took the good advice from all that would give it, and weeded out the bad. He learned from the mistakes of others instead of making his own. There was no room for mistakes if he wanted to be someone everyone remembered.

That was a lesson his mother taught him.

Nathan didn’t even think his father knew of the knowledge his mother had when she was alive. How she got that knowledge, Nathan hadn’t know, nor had he wanted to know. His mother lectured him just as much as his father did, and Nathan listened to every word. She had always told him that she didn’t want him to be just like his father; she wanted him to be better. She’d always say that Angelo was too closed off, too mean, and he lacked the charm of a great businessman. “Every good leader needs powerful allies, and you can’t have allies if every person of power is an enemy. There is more to being a leader than being feared and respected. It is important to be loved too, even liked as a person. You have to prove yourself to be someone worth protecting. Money isn’t enough to convince a man to protect you, to be loyal to you. They need to love you. Don’t just be their boss, be their friend, their brother. Make sure they know when you are being a boss and when you are being a friend. Don’t just take from them, give something in return. It needs to be fifty, fifty. You show just as much mercy as you show brutality. This way you will not be too predictable. Then you will be better than your father, yes.”

“Yes, mama” Nathan said aloud in Russian as he rolled up his sleeves. “No room for mistakes.”

Nathan walked forward slowly toward the wounded man sitting in the chair in front of him. His name was Vladek Steele. Yes, he was very much a Steele. Nathan had finally done it, and it had only taken him days. They had found one of the Steele family homes. The place was like a little city, in Germany of all places, but it was packed with Silas’s misfit family.

He never returned to the States after he’d found out his wife was taken, he went straight to the person he knew could help him. Boris Arseny Fredrick Bashmakov. But in the criminal underworld, he was known as the one and only Freddy Russia.

“These Steele men and women have quite the tight lip, Russian” Freddy said, walking up from behind Nathan and standing next to him. “I wonder if he’d sing as beautifully as his Aziz did, when I made him my personal campfire.”

Nathan chuckled, but didn’t respond to Freddy. He looked Vladek Steele in the eyes and was impressed by the man’s lack of fear. Nathan was sure that Vladek knew he was at a disadvantage. He was also sure the man knew that the Steeles were losing the war that they’d started, but he showed no weakness. Nathan respected him for that, but he also resented him for it.

As long as Vladek kept his mouth shut, he was of no use to Nathan. Nathan knew Vladek had the information he needed. He just didn’t know how he was going to get that information out of him. The man was…well, he was steel.

“Vladek?” Nathan said his name and the man turned his cold, blank green gaze to him. “I’m going to try and reason with you…”

“Reason with me?” he asked a German accent thickening his words.

Nathan nodded and sat down in a seat positioned in front of Vladek.

“Vladek, I want you to put yourself in my position.”

“I am in your position!” Vladek snapped. “You killed men I love, my brothers!”

“And you did some killing as well if I’m remembering correctly. You think I do not love my men, my friends, my family?”

It had been a full-on war between two armies when they’d first arrived to the Steele’s estate. There was no mercy shown and many men and woman- from both sides- lost their lives. Vladek and one other were the only Steele’s taken from the massacre before the police arrived on the scene.

“You came to our home” Vladek growled. “You expected us to let you come into our territory and make demands. You expect us to obey you, and not put up a fight?”

Nathan sat back in his seat and frowned. “Of course not” he said truthfully. “Just as I am sure you do not expect me not to fight for my family. Silas sent people into my territory. Not only did they attack my family, they took my wife.”

“The only person Silas sent to retrieve his daughter was Adrien Stone. Silas did not order that attack on your family. Silas was going to kill you and then take his daughter and bring her home. After Adrien didn’t return he found out you were her lover. He had no knowledge that you were her husband. He didn’t even take the time to learn that you were Angelo’s son.”

Nathan took a deep calming breath. Vladek was now giving him information, but it wasn’t the information he needed, nor did he want it. Normally Nathan was stickler for educating himself on a situation before proceeding, but this particular issue was different. Nathan had no patients, nor did he have any more time to waste. It had been seven days since Carter was taken from New York and with every passing second he didn’t have her with him, Nathan was slowly losing his mind, as well as losing himself.

Nathan shut his eyes tight and pinched the bridge of his nose.

He tried to calm himself before it happened again. It was something that had been happening every day since Carter was taken by the same man that took away his mother. It always started with the light tap of his foot on the floor, and then the tense feeling would move to his hands. His fists clenched and unclenched at his sides and the veins in his neck pulsed angrily as every muscle in his body felt as if it would burst free from his skin.

He pulled himself together as much as he could. “Do you know where my wife is?” His voice was tight as he tried his absolute best not to snap. If he killed this man, than there was a chance that he’d never find his wife.

Vladek looked at him, appearing disgusted by him. “Look at you” he shook his head as if he were disappointed. “The great Russian, pining over some woman. You’re pathetic!” he spat. “Weak! Look at yourself!” he shouted. “You reek of desperation. Consider the silence I will give you before you kill me a gift. This woman makes you weak. If you are to be a leader, you need nothing holding you back. You do not start a war over a woman, boy.”

By the time the last word left Vladek’s mouth, Nathan was hollow. So much was said to him while he sat silently in his seat for a full ten minutes staring at an also silent Vladek Steele. After ten minutes had passed Nathan quietly stood to his feet and left the room. He barely heard Kyle and Freddy behind him, asking him what he was doing. He kept his mind blank and didn’t answer their questions. It didn’t matter anyway. They’d find out what he was doing soon enough.

When Nathan returned to Vladek Steele, his hands were no longer empty. There was only one other Steele that they’d taken from that estate, and Nathan was confident that she’d be of use to him. When they’d first arrived to the more deserted location in Germany, Nathan had informed Vladek that many lives were lost back on his estate. Nathan, being as perceptive as he was, noticed a familiar sadness in Vladek’s eyes. That look in his eyes confirmed a suspicion Nathan had had back at the Steele estate. Vladak had a wife, a family. When Nathan captured Vladek, he was shooting off words in German to his men. Unfortunately for him Nathan heard and repeated what Vladek had said to Freddy –who spoke German quite well- and found out what the man had hidden. After Freddy informed him, Nathan sent out group of men to search the estate. After about five minutes they found Gwendolyn Steele. Vladek’s pregnant wife.

Nathan held Gwendolyn’s small hand as he led her into the room where Vladek sat. As soon as they entered young Gwendolyn removed her hand from Nathan’s and ran frantically to the wounded Vladek’s side, sobbing and talking rapidly in German. Nathan didn’t need a translator; he knew what the woman was saying. Although they’d treated her well since they found her, she looked at Nathan like he was a beast. But as she looked at Vladek all Nathan saw in her eyes was love, and fear. It was obvious the woman was an innocent. She was pulled into Vladek’s world because of the love they shared, but was obviously kept ignorant to who the Steeles really were.

“P-please don’t kill him!” Gwendolyn sobbed repeatedly in English. “Please! I beg you. Let him go.”

Nathan nodded and locked eyes with Vladek, whose eyes were now full of a combination of rage and devastation. This went against everything Nathan stood for. He didn’t like being seen as a monster in the eyes of the innocent. He hated subjecting innocent eyes to brutality, to murder. But Nathan had no choice now. Vladek was right to call Nathan desperate because in all truth, he was. Nathan was past the point of mercy. What little he had left was only afforded to a select few. Until his wife was returned to him, this was who he would be. A monster.

Nathan returned to his seat in front of Vladek, never taking his eyes from the man. Vladek maintained eye contact with Nathan even as he began to try and calm his terrified wife. Once her crying quieted, Nathan began to speak.

“I think you and I understand each other a lot more than you let on, Vladek.”

“Fuck you!” he spat angrily.

Nathan nodded in Gwendolyn’s direction. “Does she know where the Steele family gets their money?”

Vladek released a deadly growl. “You watch your fucking mouth in front of my wife. I’m warning you, boy.”

Unfazed, Nathan continued. “It’s quite obvious that she doesn’t know. She wears her innocence on her face. It’s quite beautiful, really.”

“I swear to God if you-”

Nathan waved off the threat before Vladek made it. “Take the woman out of here.” He commanded. Three of his men came forward and did as he asked. When he heard Freddy close the door on the now screaming woman, Nathan continued. “Listen, Vladek. Now that we have determined that you are just as pathetic as I am, I feel we should move forward. I have a deal for you. The girl and your unborn child will live if you give me what I need. If you don’t then I will have to go against everything I believe in and kill the innocent woman. Not only will I kill her I will do it in the exact same fashion that your Silas killed my mother, right here, in front of you.”

“You sick son of a-”

Nathan turned to the door. “Bring the woman back in here…”

“Wait!” Vladek shouted.

Nathan brought his gaze back to Vladek and nodded for him to speak.

“If I talk, Gwen will be safe?”

“You have my word, Vladek.”

Seeming to trust Nathan’s words, Vladek finally talked. “Your wife was given over to Silas by her half- brother and sister Lucretzia, and Cole. They are Silas’s two oldest children, and the first children he kept. Years ago after Silas-”

“I don’t want to know this shit!” Nathan snapped. “Tell me where he’s keeping my wife!”

“You need to have patience!” Vladek shouted. “This is information you need to know.”

After Nathan went silent, Vladek continued.

“Years ago Silas intercepted a hit job. It was the one ordered by one of your father’s guys. He let those men kill Robert and he was planning to take Cecelia and bring her home, hoping it would bring Anastacia Stone back to him. He and Robert had recently had a falling out after Silas found out that Robert and Anastacia Stone were intimate. I was there. I heard everything he said. He said that they were tired of hiding from him and if it was war Silas wanted, then that was what he’d get. Robert wasn’t supposed to be home that night, but he was. Silas planned on going in and just taking Cecelia. She wouldn’t have known anyways. He used to visit her all the time, until Robert cut his face after he had a big fight with the child. Robert and Silas did the back and forth thing for years. Neither of them wanted to kill the other, so the cycle just continued. Anyway, after the hit job, Silas was going to take Cecelia and lock her up until he prepared their family home, but his plans were deferred when Cecelia threw in an unexpected twist that Silas wasn’t expecting. He didn’t really know how to react, so he made a new plan. About a year later he called for Lucretzia and Cole to do a mission for him. They were both eager to please him so he sent them in. He got Cole an apartment and everything he needed in an American area called St. Louis. He lived in America under the name Henry Bradford. Lucretzia was to keep an eye on Cecelia from a distance. Cole was just supposed to befriend her, help her to kick a drug addiction she’d developed until Silas was ready for them to bring her home. When they first found her she was sleeping in a church, and she was high. It took him a full year to get her clean, and somehow during that time, their relationship slipped into a not so appropriate area. It was Cole’s fault, not your wife’s. She was vulnerable and she believed him to be someone he wasn’t. He fell in love with her, completely forgetting that she was his sister. He had sex with the girl anytime she would let him do it. Lucretzia figured out what Cole was doing and called Silas to come and get the girl. But when Silas came two days later, Cole was alone and Cecilia was gone. They didn’t find her again until a few weeks ago. Word came in that Anastacia found her daughter and Silas lost it.”

“Where is he keeping her?” Nathan asked.

“Cole and Lucretzia stole some of Silas’s tools and went after her with a few other exiled Steele’s. They were all hoping to get back in Silas’s good graces by giving him what he wanted, even though they resent Cecilia and Anastacia for being the family that Silas loves. . .”

“What does he want with my wife?”

Vladek shrugged. “For the four days she was there, he just looked at her. He watched her, and spoke of nothing but her beauty and perfection. In the end though, he just wants his wife and daughter back. It isn’t our place to ask Silas why he does the things he does. We just do what ever he tells us to do.”

Nathan frowned. “Where did he take her now?” Nathan had caught when the man said, “For the four days she was there”.

Vladek leaned forward and rested his arms on his knees. “This is what I meant when I told you I don’t know where your wife is…”

Nathan shot up from his seat. “What do you mean you don’t know?” he snapped. “You make me sit through this bullshit story then you don’t tell me where I can find my wife?”

“I knew where she was. She was in Rigton. A small village. Silas owns a castle there. He keeps his slaves locked there for viewing.”

“Where did he take her!” Nathan shouted. He reached forward and snatched Vladek up from his seat “You will tell me where the fuck he’s keeping my wife or I swear to you I will rip you limb from limb!” He roared the words in Vladek’s face and was happy to see the man finally flinch.

Maybe Vladek didn’t want to die.

“Talk!” Nathan commanded.

“She isn’t with Silas anymore!” Vladek yelled. “She escaped him…”

Did you enjoy? I hope you enjoyed! Leave a comment, don’t be shy. Tell how you feel, tell me what you think, tell me whatever you want (lol). You all rock, Love you bunches and have a blessed Holiday!