Prologue

La Bete

“And the best law student of the year goes to Vaughn Saint-McCarthy!!” The emcee announces and the crowd erupts into cheers as ‘the best law student of the year,’ emerges to collect his award.

“Vaughn Saint-McCarthy.” His name rolls out of my tongue casually and I scoff, my eyes glued on the TV in front of me. Anyone who would see me now will think that I'm the biggest fan of Vaughn but I'm going to be his worst enemy and I will strike him where he would least expect it.

Flashes from that night come flooding back and I clench my jaw tight. The scar on my face reflects on a nearby mirror. Seeing these scars does nothing but rub salt on my old wound.

Vaughn begins to give his damned acceptance speech and I angrily stand up from the couch. I have no fucking interest in listening to whatever shit he has to say. My only interest is destroying the whole Saint-McCarthy family and I will do just that.

In a fit of rage, I stride over to the TV and snatch it up, slamming it to the floor with a deafening crash. The screen explodes into shards of glass and twisted metal. I can feel my hatred increasing even more, coupled with the need to spill blood. I'm not going to callm down until I fucking kill someone.

Storming out of the room, I walk outside, to see my second-in-command, Bryce standing by the door.

“Boss.” He calls and I pause, turning sharply to face him.

“If you have anything to say, spill.”

“I got some intel on Vaughn Saint-McCarthy.” That sparks up my interest and a malicious glint appears in my eyes as I stare at Bryce.

“Go on.”

“I got the address of the place he's going to be after the award party.” I scoff, running my tongue towards my lower lips.

“And What am I going to do with his fucking address?? Or a damned location??? I asked you to get me dirt on Vaughn Saint-McCarthy. Not his stupid location. Do you think I care about the fucking places that he's going to attend?” That fucker just won an award and was smiling so widely as he accepted it.

I want to wipe that smile off his face. I want to see to it that Vaughn Saint-McCarthy never gets a reason to smile again. Not in any fucking way. And I will do it. I'm going to see to that.

“Y…you d…did n…ot allow me to finish. He's visiting a bar.” I pause and then the corner of my lips curves up. A bar? What's the golden boy of the Saint-McCarthy family doing in a bar? Now, that's interesting.

“What bar?”

“Here.” Bryce hands a piece of paper over to me and my smile widens even more. The bar belongs to me, making all these so very easy for me. My day has been going so bad, but this piece of information just made my day go so much better. I'm going to pay ‘THE’ Golden Boy a visit.

“And what about the other thing I told you to do?” I ask and my smile suddenly fades as I look at him with a hard look on my face. “How long is that going to take??” I howl angrily and Bryce takes a cautious step back.

“Well…I managed to get to him. But setting a meeting has been impossible. Mr Saint-McCarthy has been so busy and caught up with trying to clear his debt, so I've not–”

“Do all you can to approach him!!” I snap at Bryce who nods. While he deals with the father, I'm going to deal with the son. And when I'm done with both, I'm going to burn that family to the ground.

“Okay, Boss.” I'm about to dismiss him, but I pause. I need something to calm my rage and cool off the bloodlust that's looming inside of me. If I don't kill now, who knows?? I may lose my cool and kill Vaughn once I go to the bar.

“Get me that bastard. The intel from the serpents that we caught. Bring him here.” I instruct and while Bryce walks away, I bring out a cigar, pushing it into my lips as I light it up.

A few moments later, Bryce comes in, dragging a bloodied man who's grunting in pain. He shoves him, who is missing most of his teeth down to his knees and he spits out blood.

Once Bryce does that, I grab a fistful of his hair from the back, forcefully lifting his head to look at me. “What a sight to behold.” I smile widely, making sure to exert force on my hold, so it will hurt. I love seeing them hurt. It gives me this indescribable joy. I don't argue when people say I lack humanity, because I really do.

“La Bete!” The man grunts in pain as he tries to struggle with me. “The one and only.” I remove my cigar from my mouth, blowing out smoke as I speak.

“You really outdid yourself in thinking that you could spy on me. Haven't you heard the rumours? No one crosses the path of la bete and gets away with it. I bring trouble wherever I go and the best advice I'll give to anyone is to avoid me.” Know that an impending doom is coming for you once I set my eyes on you. And that's exactly what's coming for Vaughn. Doom.

“You don't have to tell me. Your scar says it all.”

“Oh, this.” I chuckle, pointing at the scar on my face. I have a long, diagonal scar that starts at my eyebrow and extends down to my upper cheek, where it ends. And what can I say? It fucking makes me stand out.

I hate and despise how I got it, but this scar has made me who I am today. “It is meant to scare you, actually. And I still got the looks. Women love me.” I deadpan and it's not as if I'm bluffing.

Despite my ruthless nature, I can open a harem full of men and women if I want to today.

“Kill me if you want.”

“Death will be too easy.” And that's the mere fact. I begin to move the dangling cigar in my hand close to his right eye and he begins to struggle with me, shaking his head. But I hold him still and with a hard look on my face, I push the cigar right into his eyes.

His screams fill the room and I leave the cigar there. I was already planning to extinguish it, so the moisture in his eyes would do the job. I'm about to pull the cigar out when Bryce walks in.

“It better be worth it.”

“Mr Reynolds Saint-McCarthy gave me a reply. He wants to meet.” I raise my head with interest and a thud is heard as I release the man’s body. He's still alive, but weak. Bryce will finish him off.

“Arrange a meeting and the money.” Reynolds' past crimes are coming back to haunt him. I let out a devilish smile, the thought of destroying that family feels so satisfying. Watch your back, Vaughn Saint-McCarthy. La bete is coming for you!