A Ruthless Love Story 2

By K.L. Hall

In part one of A Ruthle$$ Love Story, Lourde’s only focus was proving to his father that he was worthy of the throne. Now that he knows Belmonte blood doesn’t run through his veins, he’s left with questions about who he really is. In the midst of all his family’s dirty laundry, he finds himself in love for the first time. When he loses himself, will he turn to Loyalty to remind him who he really is or feed into the ruthlessness he’s been immersed in all along? Loyalty’s entire life has been one emotional rollercoaster ride after another. Now, she’s just praying for the moment her feet touch solid ground and hoping she’s alive to witness it. All she wants is to be back by Lourde’s side, but soon learns that underneath the glitz and the glamour, there’s nothing picture perfect about the Belmonte family. Neenah finds herself bilious over her accident, which puts a strain on her relationship, mental health, and pregnancy. She’s determined to make things work with O’Shea and walk down the aisle, but Chanel just may have other plans. Her world is flipped upside down when a betrayal far greater than that of her father’s is revealed. What will she do when she finds out who the father of her best friend’s baby is? In A Ruthle$$ Love Story 2, friends become rivals as everyone lines up to see the Belmonte empire fall. With so many harbored secrets, who will make it out alive and who will be just another casualty in a war between families?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Royalty Publishing House
• Release date: Jul 24, 2018
• ISBN: 9781648404788

Book preview

Chapter One

Previously in A Ruthle$$ Love Story

Bell

Come sit down, baby girl. There’s—there’s something I need to tell you.

What is it? she asked, pulling a chair over to my bedside.

I know I don’t have much time to say all of this, but I’ve come to terms with the thought that I might not make it out of this hospital bed alive to see you graduate college, get married, or even start a family of your own one day.

She brushed a tear from her cheek and shook her head. Don’t say that, Daddy.

I sighed and looked up at her. It’s because I love you that I’ve kept things from you all these years.

Things like what, Daddy? You’re scaring me.

It doesn’t matter. Just know that when I die, I’m giving you complete power over everything. The company, my estate, everything.

Wait. What?

I want you to be the head of the Belmonte family, Neenah, I said, clutching her hand inside mine.

What? Me? What about Lourde?

I’ve made my decision. I’m not asking you to like it, but you will respect it.

I understand all of that, Daddy, but… I just don’t understand why. I mean, you practically groomed him for this, and now you’re giving it to me just like that? You know I’m trying to take my life in a totally different direction. Plus, what about the big announcement you made at the gala? You can’t go back on something you said in front of all those people…

Look, Neenah. Sometimes in life, you say or do things to get people to do things for you that they may not have done on their own will. You understand?

Yes, I do.

It’s just business.

Business? He’s family, Daddy!

Family? He’s not even my son! I yelled, cutting her off.

Neenah’s mouth gaped open wide. W—what? she mumbled.

You heard what I said. Lourde is not my biological son. He’s—he’s adopted.

What the fuck did you just say! Lourde yelled, walking back into the room.

To be continued…

Chapter Two

Lourde

What the fuck did you just say! I yelled, walking back into the room.

I briefly cut my eyes at Neenah. There was sheer terror in her eyes. Thinking quickly on her feet, she stood to block me, but she wasn’t fast enough. I shoved her to the side and went straight for my father, grabbing him by the front of his hospital gown and drawing his face close to mine. My jaw was clenched together so tight that my teeth started to grind against one another.

You fuckin’ heard me! What the fuck did you just say? I said through gritted teeth.

I would’ve been a fool to expect him to be afraid of me, even though he had the disadvantage of lying in a hospital bed with bullet fragments still lodged inside his body. He wasn’t. Instead, he smirked, which only pissed me off more. With all the force in me, I slammed his body back onto the hard mattress and hovered over him. The blood coursing through my veins was filled with venom as I wrapped my hands around his throat, ready to take his very last breath.

Darkness crossed his eyes as he looked at me. "You could never be my son," he hissed.

Hearing his words left me numb. One thing was for sure, and two things were for certain: Furious Belmonte didn’t give a fuck about family or me. He only cared about himself. He may as well have put a gun to my head and pulled the trigger. All my life, I’d been vying for his love and respect, trying to show him that I could be the man he was trying to mold me into when he didn’t even deem me worthy to be his son.

Lourde! Stop! Neenah yelled, tugging at my arm.

Get the fuck off me! Just get the fuck out, Neenah!

No! Lourde, please just stop! Think about what you’re doing!

With anger laced in my voice, I yelled, "I said get the fuck out!"

All of Neenah’s pleas and screams didn’t fall on deaf ears for long. Minutes later, hospital security burst into the room, and two guards tried their best to pry my hands from around Bell’s neck, but all I saw was red. My skin was boiling with rage, and I wasn’t going to be satisfied until he was dead.

Stop before you kill him! Neenah yelled. You can’t kill our father, Lourde!

My eyes darted over to her as I watched the words our father fall off her lips. It was the first time I’d heard those words and knew that they weren’t true. Furious Belmonte wasn’t my father. He wasn’t shit to me. In the blink of an eye, my world began spiraling out of control, and for the first time in my life, I didn’t know who the fuck I was. Neenah covered her tear-stained face when security finally got me away from him and tried pinning my arms behind my back to restrain me.

You better hope you die is this mothafucka, or I swear to God I’ll kill you myself! I yelled.

I quickly shoved both security guards off me and stormed out of the room, ready to set the entire fucking world on fire. As my feet paced down the hall toward the elevator, people darted out of my way as if I was Moses parting the Red Sea. As soon as my finger parted from the button, I felt a hand on my shoulder. My body did a sharp 360-degree turn, and my eyes landed on Neenah.

Please, Lourde… don’t leave like this.

She made another failed attempt to grab my arm, but I jerked it away.

You and that mothafucka need to stay the fuck from around me! I warned.

Lourde, listen to me! This is all news to me too! I didn’t know anything about any of this until seconds before you walked in!

I started to speak but huffed out an exasperated breath instead. Fuck you, Neenah.

No matter what he says, you’re still my brother, and he’s still our family. Nothing has changed in my eyes.

"Then maybe you need to open them mothafuckas! He’s not my father! Because of him, I don’t know who my family is!" I shot back.

The elevator dinged, and the steel gray doors slowly opened. Without uttering another word, I stepped in and let the silence draw an even bigger wedge between us as the doors closed. As far as I was concerned, my entire family had turned against me. I’d been living in a world constructed by my father’s lies, and with his secret revealed, I didn’t know who the fuck to trust. The moment I stepped out of the hospital, I vowed to only fuck with the one person in my life that had never sugarcoated shit to me, Loyalty. If it wasn’t about her, then I didn’t give a fuck. It was just going to be the two of us. No friends, no family, no nothing.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and called her, just needing to hear her voice. The phone rang three times, and then I heard her voice recording. Hey, this is Loyalty. Sorry I missed your call, but if you leave your name and number, I’ll be sure to call you back when I can. There was a beep that followed, and then I left a message.

Lourde: 9:46 p.m.: Hey, call me back when you can. I’ve got some business to handle tonight, but I’ll be over to see you in the morning.

I locked my phone and headed home. The only thing I wanted to do was pack my shit and get the fuck out of Furious Belmonte’s house and life for good.

Chapter Three

Neenah

I hadn’t seen that much hurt on my brother’s face since the night our father told us that our mother died in a car accident. The pain in my heart only amplified as I walked down the hall, and my eyes caught a glimpse of the news on the television.

This is Sharon Herron with News Eleven, and we have a breaking news report. I’m live in the parking garage adjacent to the Newton Professional Suites where earlier today a pedestrian was struck in what appears to be a hit-and-run crash. The male pedestrian, sixty-five-year-old John Miller, was found by another pedestrian, who then called for medical assistance. He was then transported to Calvary Hospital and is currently in critical condition. If you have any information on this incident, please call Crime Stoppers.

Fuck, I mumbled, frozen in my step.

With my right hand latched around my lips, I used the other to pull out my cell phone and call O’Shea. With my immediate family in shambles, he was the only one I felt that I could turn to in that moment.

Hello? he answered.

Baby… My voice shook.

Neenah, what’s wrong?

I need you to—I need you to meet me at the hospital.

The hospital? Are you okay?

No. No I’m not okay, I said, clutching my chest as if I was on the brink of having a panic attack.

Baby, talk to me. Which hospital are you at?

Calvary.

Okay, I’ll be there as soon as I can. I’ll call you when I’m there, okay? Stay by your phone, aight?

Yeah—yeah, okay.

With all my emotions built up in my throat, I simply nodded as if he could see me and then ended the call. A wave of nausea overcame me, and I shot down the hall like there were lit firecrackers stuck to my ass. I found the nearest bathroom and flung my body over the toilet, spewing my guts out. I reached out to flush the toilet and simultaneously wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. I didn’t know if it was the pregnancy or the fact that the man I’d hit was inside the same hospital as I was, dying. Just knowing that sent chills crawling up my spine. I stepped out to wash my hands and made the mistake of looking at my reflection. There was a hollowness in my chest every time I looked at myself in the mirror. On top of everything that had just transpired between Lourde and our father, I couldn’t stop replaying the accident in my head.

I whipped into the first vacant parking spot I saw and continued to cry. My body was still trembling when I opened the car door to see I’d parked over the line. I wiped my eyes, jumped back inside my car and put the car into reverse without so much as a second though. My tires screeched the moment I hit something.

Fuck! I yelled, staring out of my rearview mirror.

I shifted the car back into drive, pulling forward, then parked it to get out and look at the damage. The faint smell of motor oil danced past my nose as I walked around to the back of my car to see what I’d hit. I looked down and gasped, then slowly raised my arms over my head.

Oh my God!

There was an old white man lying on the ground, gasping for air. His eyes settled directly on mine, and I burst out in tears. Panic spread through my body like a wildfire. I backed away from him until my back touched the gray concrete pillar in the parking garage. I looked down at the oil stain on the ground and scanned through the rows of cars and trucks parked within the lines for any witnesses.

H—help me, he whispered, voice thick with emotion.

---

Oh my God. What have I done?

As much as I wanted to say anything else, all the words I’d ever spoken in my life were jumbled together inside my throat. I watched his chest expand rapidly as he took shallow breaths. I stood frozen, watching the man take his last few breaths. I should’ve called 9-1-1. I should’ve screamed for help. Instead, I jumped back into my car and sped off.

I shouldn’t have fucking left, I whispered as my chin quivered.

My guilt was pulling me in one direction, while my fear was pulling me in the other. I thought he’d died at the scene, but there was still a chance he would live, and I could right my wrongs. I dabbed my glossy eyes, exited the bathroom and then darted to the first nurse’s desk I saw.

Excuse me. I have a quick question.

Yes, how can I help you?

I was wondering if there was a patient here by the name of John Miller.

Uh, give me one second while I look that up for you. She paused for a few seconds while her nails clicked against her black keyboard. Uh, yes… it looks like we have three patients by the name of John Miller here. It’s a pretty common name.

Um, he’s older, I think in his sixties. Does that narrow it down? He was brought in today for an um… a hit and run, I mumbled.

He’s in the intensive care unit, but visitation is limited to only family members. That’s all the information I can give you being that you aren’t related to him, correct?

Yes, I understand. Thank you so much. I nodded.

I spun around on my heels and turned for the elevator to go down to the intensive care unit on the fourth floor. I was determined to find him and speak my peace. My fingertips glided against the plain white walls as I read every name slot outside of the doors on my left, then turned to my right and did the same thing. My heart almost sprang out of my chest when I saw it. His name was written just like the dozens of others I’d seen, but I felt different just knowing that my carelessness was the reason he was in there. I nervously swallowed down the lump in my throat as I swiped a bead of sweat from my forehead and opened the door.

His room was dark, and there was only the sound of a beeping heart monitor mixed with my own heartbeat ringing in my ears. He was lying on his back with his eyes closed and tubes streaming out of his nose. My muscles froze, prohibiting me to move from the doorway. All I could do was watch as the machines pumped his chest up and