Chapter 99
BELLA
Song- Bird Set Free, Sia
Their eyes are on me. One twin worried, one twin burning.
I gave Reggie a little piece of my past when we met. I’d made little comments. I knew one day, he’d want the truth. But I kept this part from Rowan. Not for any reason, just because I didn’t want to taint what we had with my past.
For a moment, I want to run. Then I realize… this is why I brought them here. To stop running.
I nod slowly. “Okay.”
“My ex… he was my first real love. Or at least, I thought he was.” I take a shaky breath. “I did everything to make him happy. Stopped seeing my friends, skipped classes, made my life revolve around his. And then, over time, he started to change. To test how far he could push me.”
Reggie’s jaw tightens. Rowan’s knuckles go white.
“He’d tell me love was about giving. About proving loyalty. And he’d—” My voice catches. “He’d make me do things I didn’t want to do. Made me feel like I was his to share. His to break.”
I swallow hard, the words tasting like bile. “He used to get his friends involved. Men and women. And he’d tell me that it’s because he loves me; he wanted his friends to experience me, too. His enjoyment was watching me be enjoyed.”
I lock eyes with Reggie. “That’s how I discovered my sexuality in a way. Being with women was my preference in that situation. I felt safer. And, after it ended, I still felt the same way. That men will only hurt me. But women saw me as more than just a toy to fuck.”
Rowan blows out a breath.
“I told myself it was love, that it was normal. But it wasn’t. It was control. I-I thought that was what I had to do to keep him happy. It didn’t happen all the time, and I’d almost forget. But I felt nothing doing it. In the end, I resented it. I resented him.”
Tears blur my vision. “And then one night, he threw it all back in my face. He told me he was sleeping with one of my best friends, for months, and that it was okay because I’d been fucked by his friends.”
I stop. The silence between us is unbearable.
Before I can blink, both of them are up. Rowan wrapping his arms around me from behind, Reggie’s hand finding the back of my neck as he tucks me against his chest.
Their warmth hits like a tidal wave, and for the first time in years, I don’t feel small.
I don’t want to run and hide. I want to stay and fight… for both of them.
“The guy is a cunt, Bella. He never deserved you, never deserves another woman near him in his sorry life,” Rowan says, his voice furious. “He doesn’t deserve to breathe the same air as you.”
Reggie strokes my hair, whispering softly. “Who is he, Princess? I’ll make sure he pays. No one will ever hurt you again.”
I let out a choked laugh, still trembling. “You don’t need to fix it. It’s… already handled.”
Reggie pulls back, brow furrowed. “Handled?”
I meet his eyes, a faint, knowing smile tugging at my lips.
“Let’s just say he won’t be hurting anyone else.”
Rowan lets out a slow breath, somewhere between relief and awe.
Reggie has a smirk on his lips. “Come on, tell us more.”
I can hear he’s proud by his tone.
“Theo…” I trail off.
Rowan chuckles. “Bella King, do not lie to us.”
I roll my eyes, and Reggie growls under his breath.
“Fine. Remember that knife I bedazzled?”
They both frown and then nod.
“Well, after he told me about him and Samantha,” I spit her name out like it’s poison.
One day, I might go back for her. “He never left the house that night. Everything clicked into place. The way he’d used me for months as some sort of fucking toy for people to use.
All as a sick ploy to get his dick wet elsewhere.
And what’s to say what he had planned for my future wasn’t worse than that? He had to die.”
I lean in between them, just in case this church is wired.
“So, I stabbed him, fatally,” I whisper.
“Good fuckin’ girl, Bella. I’m proud of you,” Reggie whispers.
“That’s my girl,” Rowan tells me proudly.
I smile through my tears, and it feels like something lifts off my chest—a weight I didn’t even realize I was still carrying.
“I love you two,” I whisper. The words tumble out. “I really do.”
The air stills around us, and everything feels new.
Like the truth has set fire to the last of my ghosts, and all that’s left standing are the men who’d walk through hell to hold me steady.
Then I hear footsteps.
Soft at first. Almost like high heels, echoing down the aisle from the back of the church.
All three of us turn at once. Reggie stiffening, holding me tight.
Beyond the gold cross, movement flickers in the shadows.
A figure steps into the light. Father Byrne.
I blink, relief washing through me, until I see the trembling of his hands.
Until I see the barrel of a gun pressed to the side of his head.
My stomach drops.
The candles flicker.
And the voice that follows makes my blood run cold.