Arabel's POV
Richard kisses me with every ounce of passion and it makes me feel bad about leaving.
Even though I don't feel like going back to London alone, I really need to. Work is calling, and I have to go back to my staff at home.
“I will come see you next week, as soon as I am done with this shitload!” He mutters, cursing beneath his breath as he drags a pleat of hair behind my ear.
With a light smile on my face, I nod.
Since the night with Richard, he has been so clingy that it scares me so much. I thought I was the clingy one, but he is worse.
Marrying him again is no longer in question, and I hope he doesn't ask me that anytime soon, because the answer would be no.
This is just because I can't help it.
I want to test the waters. Even though my emotions are taking over my head.
Richard has been treating me right. So fucking right that it scares me. It makes me happy. And it makes me so sad.
It's so fucking crazy with the whirlwind of emotions I am feeling these days. It makes me want to stay back, forget everything, or pretend like this is just two new people meeting and falling in love.
“Could you perhaps stay back for just a day?” He flashes his finger at me, and I shake my head with a chuckle.
“No, I can't risk it. I have been away for too long,” I tell him, and he nods in understanding.
Since I started Eagles Home, I haven't been away for this long. My trips are always a day or two or a week. Even when I signed a partnership with Richard, I was always going back and forth.
Just because we are back together now, when our separation was what birthed Eagles Home, doesn't mean I have to sacrifice my company for this.
“Bella.” Ashley's voice jerks us away, making embarrassment creep over my face.
She raises her eyebrow, and I immediately look away.
I haven't told her about this new thing with Richard. The last time we spoke, she tried to convince me to accept him, but I felt I wasn't ready.
“Bella?” She calls again, dragging me in for a hug as her husband approaches, too. In a whisper, she says. “Did I see right, or do I have to see my eye doctor really soon?”
I chuckle again. “Yes, you did,” I whisper back.
“What?! You two are back together??” She shrieks in excitement, bouncing her gaze from me to Richard.
Flushed, I hit her hand to stop her from embarrassing me when Caleb is also here. Apparently, he is also in support of us getting back together because he flashes me a sweet smile.
“Finally!” He mutters and pulls Richard in for a hug.
“Thanks, man.” Richard mutters. “We should go. She's going to miss her flight if I delay her anymore.”
Mom appears on the stairs with Daisy and Ashley, and I move out. I have already packed my belongings from the penthouse.
I no longer stay there. I am going back to London to face my fears. And I'll check in on Richard once in a while until he gets his memory back.
When we are out with others, Richard pulls me into a hug again, like we weren't heading to the airport together. I wonder what he will do when we get to the airport.
Daisy is clinging so hard to her grandma, who is all teary. After our final goodbyes, I slump into the passenger's seat with Richard at the wheel, and Mother places Daisy at the back of the car, also getting in.
Ashley and Caleb also intend to go along with us in their car, making me feel emotional, with tears threatening to spill.
Just before we can drive out, a car drives in, forcing Richard to stop and get out. From the window, I see who it is.
Leo.
This is probably about Eve or Alex.
This issue has been giving Richard sleepless nights, and I know this can't wait.
Checking the time, I see I still have thirty minutes to go before I miss my flight, so I signal to him to go see him real quick.
He kisses me briefly on the lips before stepping out of the car.
“Is it that important?” "Is it really that important?" Mother asks, glancing at the figure retreating from the car.
"I'm sure it is," I reply with a smile, knowing full well that she is unaware of the so-called impersonation and Alex's issue. I'm sure she doesn't even know Alex, and I am glad Richard didn't tell her.
If he did, Mother wouldn't let me go back. She would be so scared for me. I am also scared, but Richard has plans for me. His men are coming with us. To protect Daisy and me.
Leaning my back against the seat, I think of what to do to keep myself busy on the plane. Daisy always sleeps whenever we are traveling.
Then it hits me.
My book.
I got a novel from a bookstore Ashley recommended sometime ago, with the intention of reading it while on the plane, heading back home.
Glad for the intervention of Leo, I open the car door and step out. If he hadn't come, we would have been halfway to the airport before I realized it.
“I forgot something, mom,” I call out to her before she can question me. In a haste to grab it before Richard is done with Leo, I rush into the house, heading for the room I share with Richard.
When I get there, I glance around for the sight, but it is nowhere around. Quickly, I move to the drawer to check if I left it there.
I pull out the first one, but it's not there.
Turning around with arms akimbo, my head spins with possible places where I must have kept it.
My gaze flickers to the side drawer, prompting me to rush over and pull it out to see the book there. I let out a sigh of relief and rise up, but something makes a ding sound as it falls to the floor.
I lean down to pick it up, thinking it is from the book. It looks like a recorder, and I wonder how it got here.
If it were Richard's, he wouldn't put it in between my books. Did this come along the book?
I tap the button out of curiosity, and it begins to speak.
“No, I am not!" The familiar voice yells, causing me to scoot backwards, goosebumps spreading over my skin.
“But you have a child?” A man's voice booms after the long moment of silence.
“Yes.”
My voice.
What the hell is happening? How the hell did this get here?
This was the night of the party at Griffin's. Richard was also there, and he insisted on talking to me. I was still pretending to be someone else, not his ex-wife.
How did he get this?
“I was married,” the voice points out again, making my throat go dry, the moment I figure out the next word. “I am a divorcee.”
A powerful tremble shudders through me, making me slump to the bed in disbelief. Reality gradually replaces my confusion.
A heavy realization.
This conversation was supposed to be between me and that man. The same one who promised me a partnership and disappeared into thin air. The same man I thought was going to help me get away from Richard.
The same man I went back to London to find out why I couldn't reach him and why he wasn't contacting me so we could discuss the partnership further.
Griffin explicitly told me he didn't know him. He made it appear as though I was foolish or the man didn't exist.
But now that I think of it, my mind goes straight to Richard. He was there. Perhaps he paid someone to do this. He obtained a recording of me disclosing my identity and my divorce status.
Would Richard go to such lengths? Did he truly pay that man?
No wonder I found him too young to be in the same peer group as Griffin.
The recording beeps, pulling me out of my reverie. With my fingers frozen, it drops to the floor as the realization hits me hard in the face.
Feeling a sudden flare of rage, I dart to the door, raging forward towards his room after having picked up the recorder from the floor.
My heart is beating twice its normal rate. It feels like it is going to burst out of my chest.
A dark dread of panic starts to slowly take over my heart. Just when I thought everything was in the past, regret begins to form a jagged rock in my chest.
When I get to the door of his study, I don't bother to knock when a voice booms, sending a weird sensation down my spine.
“He is dead,” The voice mutters, making me stare at my frozen fingers holding the recorder.
That voice.
Leo?
Was that Leo?
Did Richard pay Leo to be on my trail and get this as evidence? Was he planning to use it against me because I didn't admit to being Arabel?
I almost stumble backward.
“When?”
“Few months before you saw her. It turned out she killed him, but the case was closed as suicide.”
“Shit!” Richard curses out loudly before saying. “I should have known the moment I saw that bitch at my mother's party. I should have known she was up to no good.”
What?
Mother's party?
Did he remember that?
“I believe it is unsafe for her to travel now. "Maybe you can delay her for a week or two until we find a way to get rid of him," Leo mentions, making my heart slam against my chest.
“I can't. I have delayed her enough. If I keep her, she will know I have my memory back. She is already suspicious as it is.” Richard points this out, and my breathing hitched.
His memory? When? How? Why?
Fear suddenly grips me as I realize I don't even know the man I have been sleeping with.
A tear rolls down my eyes as pain gnaws at my heart, making the knot in my stomach tighter until I can barely breathe.
“Arabel? What are you guys still doing? We have to go now!” Ashley calls out from downstairs, but I can't turn.
My body is numb.
My head is spinning.
My fingers are frozen.
My legs won't budge.
And I can barely breathe.
“Arabel?”
“Shit!” I hear Richard curse out, probably at the realization that he is keeping me waiting or because he suspects I might be overhearing his discussion with Leo.
The door flings open, making me lift my head to see the man I thought I loved, and who loved me back.
The cold-blue-eyed devil I fell in love with. Trampling over my heart once again. Shredding it into pieces until there is nothing left of me.
Seeing the guilt flicker across his expression brings back my strength.
I raise my hand in the air and strike his face so hard that it hurts, then turn back to the staircase and run past Ashley, who doesn't stop calling me.