The Beast Within Her Beauty

Prologue

"Who are you here to see, Miss Moore?" The lady behind the front desk of the police station asked.

"Hayden Moore,"

"And what is your relation to Mr. Moore?"

"I'm his wife ma'am,"

The woman nodded and wrote a few things in the big white binder sitting in front of her. She tried her best not to stare at the cuts, scars and bruises trailing along the girls face and arms as she handed her a useless visitors pass. Instead, she asked how far along she was.

"Seven months today, actually. I'm having a girl," she slightly smiled, but it vanished as soon as it appeared. She put a hand on her stomach and rubbed the small round bump as if she were soothing the baby.

"I know it's hard, but it'll get easier. You're still young and I know you'll be a very great mother," the woman stood and gestured towards another officer. "Officer Lanks, take her to see Moore please,"

The girl said thank you before following the officer through a set of double doors.

The building was surprisingly quiet for once, nothing but the sounds of their shoes clicking on the white tiled floors and the jingle of Officer Lanks' keys bouncing off his thigh with each step they took.

They passed through a cell block earning silent stares from the prisoners who stood pressed against their bars. They watched their every move like hungry predators, like hawks. Just ignore them, as the woman at the front desk always told the girl.

Finally, they were at the interrogation room. Standing in front of the door. Time beginning to move slower than ever.

"Are you ready?"

She sat in front of the man she feared the most. His light mocha eyes rimmed with black burned holes through her, she shifted uncomfortably.

"You're seven months today, Lana." He finally spoke. "You know, I've been counting. He's coming very soon. What are we going to name our little guy?" He leaned across the table that separate the two and cupped her face with his cuffed hands.

She flinched.

Girl.

"I'm having a girl.."

"We're having a boy." Hayden corrected. "I can just feel it." He caressed her cheek and she leaned back, not wanting to feel his touch.

I'm having a girl, you're serving a death penalty..

"I'm leaving, Hayden." Lana gulped, thankful that the only thing stopping him from doing whatever to her were the guards standing right outside the door.

"Leaving? What do you mean, where?" His eyes grew wide and his knuckles slowly began to turn white as he clenched them harder and harder every second he waited for an answer. He hated when she mentioned the word leaving. It was what he feared she would do the most.

"I'm leaving you. We're leaving you."

Hayden laughed and shook his head, his long brown curls moving along with him and his perfectly white teeth reflecting against the bright light. The same teeth that gave her a few scars.

"You're not leaving me, Lana. You have my child."

"You're crazy." You're going to die anyway.

"We know this."

"I don't love you anymore.." it barely came out as a whisper, but he could hear her loud and clear in the quiet room.

He aggressively stood up, the chair flying back behind him, and he firmly pressed his hands on the table. He leaned in closer to Lana.

"What did you say-"

Officer Lanks walked in and cleared his throat. He kept his hand on his hip near his gun, not taking his eyes off of Hayden. Hayden turned to Lanks, his eyes darkening and he shook his head.

"What?"

"It's time."

"For what?"

"Your last meal."

Lana and Hayden walked side by side down a long hallway, Lanks leading them. Hayden would often turn to look at her, either with a glare or a look that said he was hiding something 'funny' and she would never know because he was about to be killed.

They entered a room that was nicknamed 'The Meal Room'. The room where prisoners go to have their last meal before they are executed. The room wasn't small but it was not big either. Windowless, beige walls, white carpet, a table- to eat on, of course- a stage and a few chairs. A dull and boring room which had an extra door leading to the execution room.

"Have a seat Mr. Moore," Ordered Lanks. Hayden slowly walked over to the chair at the table, still staring at Lana. The feeling of suffocation was overwhelming her and she did not like it. But she stayed anyway.

"Any orders of what you want your last meal to be, Mr.-"

"Hayden. It's Hayden." He corrected the other officer in the room.

"Hayden.."

"I want a nice juicy steak with a big bowl of Jasmin rice and broccoli..maybe some fried shrimp," he chuckled.

"Anything else?"

"Yeah. I want Lana for dessert," He looked at Lana and winked.

Dessert. The first thing that lead to her pregnancy.

"Did you enjoy your very last meal, Hayden?" Officer Lanks asked.

"I did. But it won't be my last."

Then it was silent as they waited. Waited for the rest to show up to either witness the execution or set it up. Waited for the suffering to finally subside. Lana sat in the front row. Lanks stood by the door as one of security. Hayden sat in a chair, waiting for whoever to come out and end his life. He never took his eyes off of his wife.

He will be gone..and I will be okay. We will be okay..

She watched as they tied the rope around Hayden's neck. She put her head down for a moment, not fully prepared to see what was coming. She knew there was no turning back and even if there was a chance to, she wouldn't. She couldn't.

"Any last words before your time is up, Moore?"

"Yes..."

It was silent for a moment. Everyone stared, Lana anxiously waited.

"... I'm not dying Lana. I'm coming back for you and our precious child and we will live happily ever after." He began to laugh as Lana's expression changed, she was full of fear and regret. Anything beyond fear.

"You are mine. And if you think otherwise, you are dead. Dead to me. You and that child."

She wanted to leave more than anything right then and there. But she stayed to make sure it wasn't true, to make sure he was really dead and would never come back for her or her baby.

And they hung him. She heard the gut wrenching snap of his neck and cried.

He was finally gone. She was finally free.