Luke
“Did my PI send you all the new evidence?” I asked, pacing across the conservatory.
“Yes, Mr Newbury. But Ms. Rayne will need to lodge a complaint directly at her local police station. I can provide a cover letter to go with the proof. I’ve already begun a file to document every single infraction Mrs. Newbury has committed.”
I grimaced at the Jezebel’s name still linked to mine. My lawyer would keep on top of it all, because this would end up in court eventually. I wasn’t about to let her wreak havoc in my life again. Once was enough.
“Okay. Thanks, Stefan.”
I listened as he confirmed the legal process once more. It only angered me further.
Sadie could claim mental illness, and all of this would be dismissed as a nuisance rather than a real threat. This could take years to convict her.
The holidays meant I couldn’t look into a bodyguard for Bella right now, but I could feel the danger settling in my gut all the same.
Once Stefan was done, I hung up and stared out into Bella’s garden.
So much responsibility resting on one set of shoulders.
I’d listened to her on every single date we went on.
I’d listened to both of them in their own home—mundane conversations that revealed exactly how deep their bond ran, forged through tragedies and hardships Michael had painstakingly uncovered for me.
My home was already in the midst of renovations. A place rebuilt for all of them.
A fresh start for the whole family, possibly even for that third-nipple menace Zach, if he panned out. He needed to become a man, and Clive Rayne was no longer around to make sure of it.
There was less malice in him and the way he gravitated towards Amber was no coincidence. All three of them had history. I’d be respectful, for Bella’s sake.
That didn’t mean I couldn’t have some fun with my future stepson.
? ? ?
The following day, I went straight to my office to attend a meeting with Michael. My PA ushered him in and left again. Security had been tightened across the board—business and personal guards deployed.
All because of one email Michael had forwarded, then deleted, from Bella’s account. She wasn’t big on social media, one account with a handful of followers and Amber. It was her LinkedIn profile that had been tampered with, the point where her data had been harvested.
I loaded my computer and opened my emails to find the one Michael had sent.
kristie.kills@
“Her middle name is Christina,” I murmured, beginning to read.
Michael nodded. He already knew. The man was in his early fifties, an ex-Met Police officer. He understood the system, and exactly how to exploit it.
When you steal from others. There are consequences.
WATCH YOUR BACK.
BITCH!!!
No one can take my place.
“Have you considered paying her off?”
I shook my head, unable to tear my eyes from the screen.
“She’s too far gone to be reasoned with,” I said, glancing at him and waving a hand toward the monitor. “This is beyond delusion. You know how many flings she had. Did she show any remorse?”
He shook his head.
“Hack into her phone, her car GPS. Whatever it takes to ensure you know where she is at all times.”
“Already done. Though she doesn’t always take her phone with her.”
She was adapting. Already thinking ahead.
All that anger and hatred should have been aimed at me.
Bella had nothing to do with our marriage falling apart.
Had Sadie actually read the prenup, she might have thought twice before flaunting her affairs.
She hadn’t needed or wanted me during our marriage, and now, conveniently, she’d decided she loved me again. How convenient.
“I don’t understand women.”
“Any man who says he does is a filthy liar,” Michael said, standing.
“Words of wisdom.”
“And I’m not even charging you for them,” he said, pulling my office door open. “Remain vigilant.”
“You charge me for everything else,” I muttered, just as he shut the door.
We both knew what I was willing to do to keep my budding new family safe. Money couldn’t magic this problem away.
Sadie Christina Rochester had been a well-liked socialite when we met.
The media captured our image every time we stepped out together.
I’d enjoyed having someone as beautiful and vivacious as Sadie on my arm.
The relationship naturally progressed to marriage.
My legal counsel at the time had convinced me to protect my assets.
Over the years, I realised we held two entirely opposing opinions on what it meant to be married.
So seeing her email on my screen came as a shock. The audacity of that Jezebel trying to claim me was astounding.
Michael had uncovered the debt piling up from the divorce lawyer she’d chosen to pit against me. Yet she refused to work, spending her days instead on social media and harassing others.
She was not as resilient as Bella.
Isabella. Even her name flowed beautifully.
Mia Bella.
I tapped my phone, and she appeared on my wallpaper. Soft, asleep, unaware that I had infiltrated not only her life and home, but her womb too.
I opened my calendar notes.
Check for pregnancy.
I scrolled further down until I reached Saturday, the 6th of March.
Wedding day.
I’d become tired of coming home to an empty house long before I divorced Sadie. I longed to hear the sound of children in that home.
I sighed, tracing my finger over Isabella’s cheek on the screen.
I longed to hear the sweet word from my child.
Daddy.
But now I could picture the woman who would make all my dreams come true—the DNA coalition to my future. A certainty that Bella was the best mother for my son or daughter.
Sadie had only ever had the capacity to love herself.
I winced, eternally grateful that she’d prevented us from having any children. She’d have used any child we shared as leverage, and that would’ve had me dancing to her tune. For once, her vanity had saved an innocent soul.
I turned my focus back to work.
The sooner I finished, the sooner I could return to Bella.