Chapter Nineteen
Bella
“Wait, what?” I ask when River tells me about the new plan. “Someone kidnapped Mark’s fiancée?” No wonder he went quiet when I asked him if he really was married to someone.
“Yeah, and he got fired. Seems like he’s having a pretty shitty run. And not that we’d usually care, but we think the person who might have his fiancée is Cathy,” River explains, sitting down on the daybed in my new office.
My jaw drops. “Okay, wow. I didn’t see that one coming. Do you really think it’s her?”
I’ve obviously heard about their grandmother and how she chose Victor over them all, and I know she pretty much got banished from the family, but I thought that was it, and she moved away and on with her life. I guess the old lady still has plenty of life and hate in her, which is sad. She’ll probably only know peace when she dies.
“I don’t know. All we know is that it’s a woman, and she’s the only one we can think of with a motive. Problem is we can’t find her, and we really don’t have much else to go on,” he says, shrugging. “But Mark isn’t going to try to put you in prison, especially after we let him go, so there is that.”
“That is a good thing.” I smirk, swiveling around on my chair to face him. “What do we do now?”
“Keep an eye out, don’t trust anyone, the usual,” he says. “I thought I could take you to go and visit my mom in the next few days. It’s an hour’s drive to get there.”
“I’d like that.” I smile, excitement filling me. “It might be nice to get away too, even if it’s just a day trip.”
And I love that he’s letting me in. I know that being introduced to his mother is huge, and I’m not going to take it for granted.
“Good. Now I’m going to run some errands and I’ll get you some lunch. What are you in the mood for?”
I give him my order for a pizza and after he leaves, I get some work done, making business calls. I’m going to have to go in to view some properties soon, but right now I’m not going to take on any new clients and leave my workload light. I’m lucky that money isn’t an issue for me. I’ve always been a good saver and have a nice little nest egg in my account.
Corey is in the living room watching Married at First Sight, her arm around Hades while he snuggles in her lap, and I sit down and join her, getting pulled in quickly. “I should apply to go on this show,” she says, laughing, which makes Hades jump. “Sorry, Hades,” she says, rubbing his head, and turns back to me. “Could you imagine River sitting there and watching me? He’d be pissed.”
“Yeah, I definitely wouldn’t be watching it with him,” I reply in a dry tone. “You don’t need to go on a show like this—you’ll have men throwing themselves at you when you are ready to date or settle down.”
“Do you want to have kids?” she suddenly asks, looking at me. “Because I don’t think I do, and I know that is going to deter a lot of men.”
“I want kids, yes,” I reply. “Two would be nice. And I’m sure there are men out there who don’t want kids, or already have kids and are done having more.”
“Maybe,” she says, shrugging. “But I don’t personally know any men who don’t want children. Probably because they don’t have to do as much work as we do to have them, and look after them.”
“Depends on the man,” I say, contemplating her words. “Obviously we do all the work at the beginning, but when the baby is born a good dad will help raise a child as much as a mother. I think Romeo will be a wonderful dad.”
“So do I,” she admits, hazel eyes gentling. “Maybe I’m a little cynical. My dad was an asshole.”
“Sorry to hear that.”
“Yeah, me, too. But at least he’s not around anymore. How about you? You close with your parents?” she asks, resting her cheek on her palm.
“I think I was always like a third wheel with my parents. I’m an only child, and children didn’t really fit into their lifestyle. They are very fun people, and they do love me. But I didn’t have your stereotypical family growing up. I did a lot of things by myself.”
“That’s kind of sad,” she blurts out.
“Yeah, I don’t think about it much,” I say, looking back to the TV. “But I’d definitely never have just one child. I look at you and River and feel a little let down that I didn’t have that. I have Julianna, of course, and we are close, like sisters. And now I have you, too.”
“Yeah.” She smiles. “That’s the best thing about our MC—we are just one big family. Everyone here is so nice and always willing to help. Like how cool is Jag? He only just got here, and he’s already part of the family. And all the Angels MC, you guys are all cool. The younger crowd, anyway.”
I laugh. “Yeah, I suppose the older members aren’t fun anymore.”
River shows up with pizza for everyone, and we all sit on the couch together and eat it. It’s nice to just hang out. I try not to think about all the drama going on, but it’s hard. Even though they let Mark go, he doesn’t know that his car has a bug in it, and Jag got into his phone and security system while he was here. So if Mark betrays us, everyone will know, and we’ll be able to determine if he was telling the truth about the whole thing or not. You never know with him—he’s turned out to be quite the wild card. River tells me that even though things seem okay now, we need to be careful, because the danger isn’t over.
And he’s right.
We have to watch our backs and be on alert at all times.
The next day we go to meet River’s mother, Lisa. I buy snacks for the drive, excited for our first mini road trip together. I made sure to dress nicely, in a long maxi dress and cute little cardigan, with natural makeup and my hair tied up. I really want Lisa to like me, and for her to know that her son is loved and taken care of.
“I love this song,” I say, turning the volume up on “Life Goes On.”
“You like to listen to sad songs, don’t you?” he comments, amusement laced in his tone.
“I mean they make you feel, so yeah, I guess I do. I just love anything by Ed Sheeran, though. This album just happens to be a mostly sad one. What music do you like? You always listen to anything—I’ve never actually seen you put on a favorite band or something.”
“Yeah, you’re right, I kind of do just listen to anything,” he replies, staring ahead at the road. “I like rap, metal, rock. Pretty much anything other than country.”
“I don’t mind country,” I say, shrugging. “But noted. Do you like Ed?”
“If that’s what you like and makes you happy, I’ll listen to Ed all fucking day,” he replies, reaching over to take my hand into his.
What a contradiction this man is.
The same hands that can be so violent can also be so sweet.
“Am I the first woman you’ve brought to meet your mom?” I ask, sighing in contentment as he runs his fingers up and down my thigh.
“Yes, you are. I haven’t been in a committed relationship like this before. I never really wanted one, I don’t think. But you kind of fell into my life, and now I can’t imagine my life without you,” he says, squeezing my thigh gently. “I was just waiting for the right person the whole time, apparently.”
“What did you do before, just casually hook up?”
He nods. “Pretty much. Casual sex. Not as much as you’re probably thinking. I wasn’t a playboy like Romeo.”
I laugh. “Well, that’s a good thing. I’d hate to find out that you’ve slept with any of my family members or friends.” Like Romeo did with Rosalind before Julianna.
“No, I don’t think you have to worry about that,” he says.
I put on some nineties hits and the two of us sing along to them all until we arrive at a cute little town house right next to a forest near Mount Charleston.
River opens my door for me and helps me out, and I grab the bouquet of flowers that I brought for his mom, not wanting to show up empty-handed.
And then we walk up to the front door and knock.