Chapter Seven
Bella
River stays the night, but I can’t sleep. I am sure he thinks we’re fine and maybe we are, but something is still not sitting well with me.
I need to figure out if I want to live this life. A life with half-truths and violence. I think I can get over the violence if there was truth. But he can’t even give me that. I know I love him. I just don’t know if I can forget what I saw. Or forget what he does for the club.
As I’m getting ready for the morning, I open one of Sally’s twenty emails that I didn’t answer yesterday.
To: Bella Callisto bella@angelsproperties.com>
From: Sally Henderson sally@angelsproperties.com>
Subject: URGENT: Lansdale Property—Signature Needed
Bella,
I was able to find the information needed for the Landsdale property, but it needs your signature still. I’m unsure what to do because we need to close by end of day today or else we lose the property and you’re not answering your calls. What should I do? Can you please let me know?
Sally
FUCK! I was so preoccupied by what happened with River yesterday that I left the office early and messaged Sally that I wasn’t coming back for the day. She sent this email yesterday at 2:30 PM. I’ve missed the deadline. Julianna is going to be so upset.
I send a text to the seller’s real estate agent, playing it cool. Maybe he didn’t realize the paperwork was unsigned.
Bella: Hey Tom, everything still good with the Lansdale property?
I cross my fingers and toes. I see the three dots working. Of course he’s up this early working.
Tom: Bella! Yes I was messengered the paperwork yesterday right before 5pm. Everything looks good. Drinks to celebrate next week?
Did he miss that the papers weren’t signed? I respond to Sally’s email.
To: Sally Henderson sally@angelsproperties.com>
From: Bella Callisto bella@angelsproperties.com>
Subject: Re: URGENT: Lansdale Property—Signature Needed
Sally,
I’m so sorry about this. Was this handled? What happened with this?
Bella
She won’t respond until she’s in the office. She’s one of those “I stick to working hours only” and I actually admire that about her. And if Tom says everything is good, then I am not worried. If there is a signature still missing, I’ll correct it today. I make a mental note to look at the copies as soon as I get into the office.
Instead of worrying, I make River and me some breakfast and queue some music videos on. When a certain one comes on, I get distracted and spend the next four minutes sobbing.
When he comes into the kitchen and sees me crying, he rushes over, worried. “What’s wrong, Bella? Why are you crying? I will kill whoever made you this upset—”
I cry harder. “No, don’t kill him. It’s just, I watched Lewis Capaldi’s new music video and now I can’t stop crying.”
He pauses, studying me. “What?”
I restart the video clip and hand it to him. “Watch it and you will understand.”
Anything with animals in it makes me cry, I can’t help it.
He leans back against the counter and watches it, and then looks over at me, blue eyes as gentle as I’ve ever seen them. “You are very cute, you know that?”
I’m still wiping my eyes at this point. “How did that not make you cry, how?”
“It was very sad,” he admits, pulling me against him and stroking my back. “Anything with animals in it can be hard to watch.”
“I know,” I whimper, looking over at Hades, safe and warm in his bed. “I need to go and hug my dog right now.” He laughs and lets go of me as I all but climb into Hades’s bed and love on him. “Never leave me.”
He licks my face in return, and I take that as we have a deal.
River finishes up breakfast for us, and we eat it in the garden, sitting on the rattan love seat together. I do love the man. I meant what I said, though. I will not be in a relationship with someone who lies to me. I need to know what I’m getting into or else how can I really know the man I’m in love with? He obviously has some demons, but I know that he would never hurt me. I probably sound like an idiot with those famous last words, but I truly believe them. It’s what’s keeping me here.
Romeo calls River, sending us back into reality, and he leaves for the clubhouse while I get ready for work. When I get in the office, I pull up the paperwork from the Lansdale deal and see that my signature is in fact on the paperwork. Only I don’t remember signing it. Did Sally forge my name?
When Sally comes in, she brings coffee and doughnuts.
“Sally, can you come into my office for a moment?” I say.
She walks in. Sally is a petite woman with girlish features, someone who is hard to be angry at, but I can’t let this one slide.
“Close the door,” I say, and take a breath. I’m still not quite sure how to play this. Do I berate her and tell her to never do it again? But at the same time, she saved a hundred-million-dollar project. I can’t condone this behavior but at the same time I can’t yell at her for it. Shit. What would Julianna do?
“What happened with the Lansdale project?” Instead of making assumptions, I want to let her say her piece.
She starts wringing her hands. “Well, I emailed you and then I kept waiting for you to return to the office or call or email back. But it was 4 PM and I knew the papers needed to be in the seller’s agent’s office by five. So I started calling the emergency numbers you gave me, starting with Julianna.”
Okay, she is smart, she did all the right things. And I have to own my fuckup here.
She continues, “But no one was picking up until I got in touch with Rosalind Callisto. I think she’s Julianna’s sister? She said she’d be right in. You have on the information sheet that any Callisto can sign paperwork, so she signed. But...”
I sigh. “But you saw that she signed my name.”
Sally nods. “By the time she left, it was 4:45 and I knew if I left I could drive down to the seller’s agency to deliver the paperwork. So I made copies and delivered them. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know what to do. I assumed since Rosalind was a Callisto that she’d have authority, but I didn’t realize. Am I in trouble?”
Sally starts to tear up and I stand to give her a tissue. This is all my fault. My distractions almost cost a big deal. It put this poor girl in an uncomfortable position when all she did was follow directions. And fucking Rosalind. She’s been a wild card ever since she found out that Julianna was with Romeo, who she apparently was sleeping with before he met her sister.
“Sally, you did nothing wrong. I’m sorry you’re in this position. Please forget about it and I’ll figure out the best way to handle this.” I usher her out and sit back at my desk going over the possible solutions. I decide to call her.
“Hey, bitch, it’s been a while since you called,” Rosalind says in a cheerful tone. “What’s up? My sister’s an old married woman now, so you want to live it up?” Rosalind used to be so fun and easygoing. Over the last year she has turned bitter. I definitely went Team Julianna after everything went down and I haven’t been a great cousin.
“Hey, Ros, thanks for helping out at the office yesterday. Sally says you stopped by to sign some paperwork?”
“Yup, and you’re welcome.”
I decide to just cut to the chase. “Ros, why did you sign my name? You know you are capable of signing your name on paperwork.”
Rosalind laughs. “I was doing it for you. This is the first big deal you’re doing without Julianna and I didn’t want people to know that you fucked it up.”
“I would’ve dealt with it. You put both me and Sally in a difficult situation. The signature doesn’t even match my own.”
She grunts, clearly over the conversation. “Please. No one will look at it. Is this what I get for doing you a favor?”
I take a deep breath and realize that what is done is done. “Thank you. Please, next time, just sign your own name.”
“Aye aye, Captain,” she says, and hangs up on me, clearly annoyed.
I know Rosalind forged my signature. But it was for the greater good. Would anyone ever really find out? Will it make a difference? Making a bigger deal out of this could get us into deeper trouble, so I decide to do nothing.
Including not telling Julianna. I don’t want to cause any more stress on her and there is nothing she can do about it now. It’s like telling someone you cheated on them after the fact. What good comes from that? People only do that to make themselves feel better. I don’t want to know that shit. And yes, I may be in the minority here, but as much as people say “I would want to know,” I call bullshit. Let me live in my ignorant bliss.
As soon as I think it, I realize what a hypocrite I am. I just spent the last two days demanding honesty from River. Do I really want to know what he does for the club? Do I want to know what he does to those who threaten the people he loves? Shit, I don’t know anymore.
Julianna surprises me on my lunch break, and unlike River, I’m thrilled, despite the secret I’m taking to my grave. We go to this cute little café I’ve been wanting to try for a while. They sell these thick yet light, fluffy pancakes that make my mouth water just to think about.
“I’m so happy we came here,” I say, scanning the menu.
“Me too, I was craving some pancakes,” she replies, smiling at me. “What have you been up to?”
“What did you hear?” I ask, arching my brow.
“That you went to the clubhouse yesterday and were seen running out,” she says, eyes wide. “What happened? Romeo didn’t know the whole story.”
I give her a quick rundown. She goes quiet, which means that she knows something but doesn’t want to tell me. “Come on, just say it.”
“Okay, but don’t say anything to River, because he would kill me if he knew I told you. I heard Romeo on the phone and then he told me everything,” she says, lowering her voice. “Apparently they found some guy following them and River brought him back to the clubhouse. Like he’s still there. That’s probably why he freaked out so bad.”
My lips open, then close. “I walked in on Romeo using some guy as a punching bag.”
Julianna looks at me. She’s not surprised.
“You knew.”
She nods.
“So you know that this is something River does regularly?”
She reaches for my hand. “Bella, he’s the enforcer. What did you think he did?”
When she says it like that, I feel dumb. “I guess I never gave it any thought.” And it’s true. Ignorance is bliss. But do I want to stay ignorant?
“Does Romeo tell you most things that go on in the club, then?” I ask Julianna, leaning toward her over the table and whispering. “I mean, I know it’s different for you—you’re leading us with him.”
“Yes, I need to know everything going on. But the little details about any violence? Romeo isn’t going to give those to me, especially when I’m pregnant. I get the PG version, and that’s how I like it,” she explains, tucking her blonde hair back behind her ear.
“River tells me nothing, and I know I’m not as involved in the MC as you, but I’m still a part of it,” I grumble.
She surprises me by laughing. “You’ve never cared about what goes on in the MC. You just want to know what River’s up to.”
“I gave him an ultimatum. Sort of.”
Julianna raises her eyebrows, her lips quirking to the side.
“I know, I know. I told him he couldn’t lie to me. That this was the one time I’d let him get away with lying to me.”
“Brave,” she says with both admiration and trepidation in her voice.
“What?” I ask. I can tell she’s fighting to not say something.
“Bella, I love you. But you don’t want to know the truth. You want to live in your world where there are fairies and princes and you get to live happily ever after.”
I am taken aback. She’s not wrong, but it makes me sound like a child.
“There is nothing wrong with that. I love that about you. But you shied away from the MC for years—your whole life, really. And now you want to be all up in its business? I don’t want to know everything and I am in charge of it. Think hard about what you’re asking.”
My lip twitches, because she’s right, and of course she called me out on it. “As if you wouldn’t be curious?”
“Oh, I definitely would be. I’m not judging you one bit. River is so mysterious, too. That would do my head in, too,” she replies, amusement dancing in her blue eyes. She leans back in her seat and puts her hand on her stomach. “He’s definitely an enigma. Look, I’m not going to sugarcoat it. I’ve heard that River is a bit of a hothead. He is the MC’s enforcer. He does it for the Angels too now.”
That is new information. I had no idea he was handling the Devils and Angels, too.
“Okay, dumb question. What does an enforcer do?” I whisper. I have known he is one. But I never stopped to ask what that means exactly.
Julianna leans in. “He enforces,” she whispers before breaking out into laughter.
I can’t help the giggles that come out. “Julianna,” I whine.
“Okay, okay. Real talk. He’s the muscle. When they need someone to get someone to talk, River comes in. When they need someone to be in charge of cleaning up...after certain things, they call River.”
I knew all this. But hearing it and picturing it, I don’t know how I feel.
“Does he like...kill people?” I ask, knowing the answer but needing confirmation.
All the laughter is gone from Julianna’s face. “What I will tell you is what I know for sure. Even after what happened to me, Romeo allowed River to handle Victor.”
I look at her with questions in my eyes. What does that mean? “But—”
“That is all I will ever say about Victor, Bella. I’m done talking about this.”
And there is the president of the Angels. She looks down at her menu again and I process what she said.
Victor, who Julianna originally was betrothed to, got into a fight with Matthew, who was River’s brother, and Matthew died. Victor also beat up Julianna. Victor is also no longer with us, and the club is better for it. But I didn’t realize that River was the person responsible for his death. I can’t turn a blind eye to this, and while the sight is uglier than I have ever believed, I still can’t convince myself to walk away. How many people has he killed? Do I even want to know? How much of this truth can I handle?
Julianna looks up and must see my brain working a mile a minute. “I’ve never seen him softer than when he is around you,” she says to comfort to me.
“Does it bother you?” I ask. “Knowing what they did. What they are capable of.”
She shakes her head. “No. It wasn’t done in haste. Sometimes people do bad shit for good reasons. And I believe that given the chance I would’ve done the same thing.”
“I don’t know how to feel about that.”
“That’s okay. You don’t need to decide now. But you will need to decide eventually. And I’ll love you no matter what you land on.”
I appreciate that, and right now I don’t know how I feel. I do know I don’t want to live without him. Does that make me a bad person?
My mind is a total mess right now.
I force a smile and decide I need to lighten the mood up. “Corey told me I must be really good in bed,” I state, and Julianna makes a sound of laughter mixed with choking.
“Is that what she said? What, to have kept River’s attention that long?” she asks, on the verge of laughter again.
“To be known as his girlfriend, I’m guessing,” I mutter, shaking my head. I want to mention the cuts I saw on her wrists, but I figure that’s not really my business. I don’t want her to hate me after only meeting her once. But I also don’t want her to get hurt and I didn’t say anything, so I feel very torn.
“Like that’s all you have to offer?” Julianna replies with a roll of her eyes. “It’s nice to see Corey being more of herself these days. She took the loss of her brother Matthew so hard. And it still hurts to know the Angels MC was behind that. What a senseless loss of life.”
“I know, I can’t imagine how hard it must be for her,” I say, really feeling for her. I’m an only child, but I love Julianna like my sister, and I’d be devastated if anything happened to her. “River loves her so much and tries to be there for her in his own way.”
“He does,” she agrees, nodding. “Corey told me he’d always protect her and his mother. He was their hero. I think Matthew was the one who was more there for her emotionally, though.”
“Yeah, I can’t imagine River being too emotionally open,” I admit, experiencing that firsthand.
Our soufflé pancakes arrive, and they are as perfect as I imagined. I can’t help but be one of those people and take a photo of the meal before I taste it.
Julianna softly moans. “Wow, this is so good. We are coming back here. The baby approves.”
“Yes, we are,” I agree.
Sometimes a lunch date with your cousin is all the therapy you need.