Free The Devastatingly Beautiful Series by M Dauphin Page B

head.
    First thing that comes to mind is that they want the money and think stealing me is the way to go. Maybe they found out who Tatum is and want to hold me for ransom. Brian’s alive, though, so he would be the better option of finding the money. I had no clue there was even money missing until that night, and he seemed to know everything about it right before they shot him.
    Dammit, I still need to talk to him. Maybe he’s undercover for the police, working the good guy angle, trying to get in and do a bust when things go south. That’s what I’m going to choose to believe because right now I don’t think I can handle the thought that he’s been one of them all along. Thinking back, I had my blinders on during our whole marriage. I wanted a baby and my photography studio. I was doing as much work on those as I could, but anything outside of my little daily world didn’t matter much. He could have been mixed up with them and I never would have known. The more I think about this, the faster my breath becomes. I still have something over my head, which freaks me out even more, and I start to gasp for air. My hands are still tied so I can’t get the bag off of my head. I’m gasping for air now, the bag not helping the attack. I can’t breathe or move and I think I’m going to die like this.
    “Take it off, she’s having a panic attack!” his voice booms from somewhere in the vehicle.
    Someone rips the bag off of my head and I open my eyes, trying to get them adjusted. It’s dark, but with my head no longer covered I can focus on my breathing. Deep breath in, deep breath out. I do this a few times and things seem to normalize in the breathing department. Not to say this is normal, though.
    Once I’m calm enough and the attack gone, I look around. I immediately recognize the man sitting across from me, grinning from ear to ear. The bastard that shot me. I don’t think I will ever forget his face. It’s etched in my memory permanently. Just like the events of that night.
    ****
    Brian and I had just finished putting the finishing touches on Alice’s room. It was going to be so cute with little red and pink ladybugs everywhere. His mom was insistent that we had lace everywhere, but I can’t stand it so we met in the middle with a lace crib skirt that matched the theme of the room. It would have been her first time being a grandma and she wanted to be as involved as ever.  It’d been such a long day and my feet were starting to swell. All I wanted to do was sit down and put my feet up. Brian was making dinner, thank the lord! I couldn’t stand to be on those monster feet much longer.
    People say pregnancy causes weird cravings and they are right. I’d been craving steak and fries. At least it wasn’t pickles and ice cream. Steak is delicious!
    The smell of dinner being finished up was making my stomach growl even more. With the extra movement from our little soccer player it felt like my stomach was doing flip flops. At about 15 weeks I’d been able to feel her flipping around in there, but she became so big that she was running out of room. My doctor thought I’d make it to my due date, but wasn’t so sure.
    The doorbell rang and Brian called out for me to get it. I begrudgingly got up from my spot on the couch and wobbled over to the door, sighing as I opened it to one of Brian’s coworkers.
    “Oh hey, Mark. Brian’s in the kitchen.”
    “I’m so sorry,” he whispered.
    It’s then that I noticed the two men behind him with guns pointed at me.
    ***
    I get jolted out of my flashback when the back of the van opens up. Looking around, I see Brian glaring at me.
    “Dammit, Mol, you just have to be weak, don’t you?” he growls.
    Brian instructs the other man, the one I remember from that night, to take me inside. He grabs me by the arm so hard that I will definitely have marks, and he pulls me out of the van. The alley is covered and I can’t tell where we are. I stumble inside, where I get