Chapter 06
Bella was glad that nobody commented on how she thought that Henry might be Grant, her dead twin brother, because that was embarrassing. While she never believed in coincidences, it was just a coincidence that Henry used the name Grant Swan in Afghanistan/when he enlisted and it was likely he had meant his own sister to look out for, not Bella.
On top of that, he didn’t look anything like the boy on the picture, while it was very obvious that the girl in the picture was a younger Bella.
She was sitting quietly in the courtyard, away from everyone else as she worked on her list of notable associates of the Cullens to give to Myriam when she had the brilliant idea to just double check to see if Henry might be Grant. Bella simply couldn’t let it go. She took a picture of her picture, sent it to her computer and hacked into the FBI database to use their age progression algorithm. It was one of the tools she didn’t have, and never needed.
Until now.
She let the program work in the background while she continued to make her list and didn’t notice that Henry sat down next to her. “So, what did the Cullens do to you?”
Bella looked up and blinked at him. “Sorry?”
“Better question,” Henry nodded. “Why do they want you dead?”
“Didn’t Myriam tell you?”
He relaxed in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “She’s the mastermind. If she has a job for me, like this one, she only tells me what’s necessary. In this case, she asked if I wanted to help screw over the Cullens and I said yes,” Henry replied with a shrug. “And it’s not because of the money, hell, I don’t care if I get paid for this. I have my own experiences with them that makes me want to do something about it.”
“Why didn’t you do something about them before?”
“I dunno, I wasn’t ready, I guess,” he let out a breath. “Or maybe I was, but while I’m extremely talented and all, I just never found a good team.”
“You’re very humble,” Bella let out a snort. “And you’re right, going up against the Cullens by yourself is a bad idea, but by them now knowing where I am, and sending Emmett, I’m going to talk to the FBI so the Cullens can be taken off the streets faster than any con we can come up with.”
“You still haven’t answered my question.”
“I could ask you the same thing; what did the Cullens do to you? I mean, no offense, but I’ve been around them for quite a while and I’ve never seen you.”
“As I said, I have my own experiences with them. They’re not good people.”
Bella nodded as she looked at her computer, the software had finished and the connection was severed, but she didn’t dare to look at the results. Letting out a sigh, she maximized the window and was stunned to see the result. If she’d add a little bit of scruff and a better haircut… “I know who you are,” she said in a low voice, making sure nobody else heard them and looked at Henry.
“Sorry?”
“I know your real name,” she whispered. “I mean, I already thought I knew who you are, but everyone said I was crazy for thinking that because you never told them, did you? You never told the Michaels that you’re Grant Cullen.”
He briefly looked surprised before shaking his head, dismissing her claim. “That is crazy, the Cullens don’t have a son called Grant.”
“Not anymore, no. I was told he died in foster care after the cops swooped him up when a con went sideways. Wasn’t even his fault, it was his sister who remained behind after getting stuck, and he went back and got her out, because the cops were bad people and they would hurt criminals, especially if you were a Cullen.”
He paled then. “How do you know this?”
“My name isn’t Izzy Shepard. Your friend Auggie Anderson helped me with that name,” Bella said as she turned her laptop around, showing the aged up photo of her and her brother. “It’s Bella Cullen, and I’m your sister.”
“Wait…” He looked at her laptop, and the original picture and then at Bella before looking back at the picture. “That picture was taken a few days before I thought I’d saved you,” he said remorseful as he looked at her with a sad expression on his face. “I’ve always felt so guilty that I was living a different life, a better one, while it should have been you in this life. You should have had my life.”
“I was told you were dead, so finding you alive is pretty much a bonus,” Bella smiled at him. “It also means that I’m not crazy and that Mingus can be trusted.”
“Yeah, of course he can be trusted, why do you think you can’t?”
“You were swept away by cops and I was later told you died,” she replied as she turned her laptop back to her. “Naturally, I started to take the teachings more seriously and I always did my damnedest to make sure no one got caught and got a clean getaway. Law enforcement is bad. Really fucked with my head in the last month.”
“How so?”
“You really don’t get told anything, do you?”
“Nope,” Henry. Grant. Henry whatever, replied with a smile on his face. “But I’m guessing that seeing as that’s Neal Caffrey, you weren’t particular a fan of his FBI friend,” he jerked his head towards Neal. “How on Earth did you two meet? I mean, completely different worlds.”
It was strange. This man was her twin brother, but she didn’t really feel it. He had some knowledge of how the Cullens worked, but he was nine when he got taken away so he didn’t experience most of it. “I was in Paris, he was in Paris…” Bella shrugged. “Even when Uncle Garrett told him who I was, he didn’t run, because he could tell that I was different and not like a Cullen.”
“Well, you do seem a lot more relaxed than any of our siblings,” he replied. “Must be Uncle Garrett’s doing.”
Bella wasn’t even sure if she’d been on his mind for years like he’d been on hers. But, then again, life had been different for him, and while Cole, Nick and Myriam had told her about his skill set, things simply were different. He was no longer a Cullen. Whereas she was, no matter how badly she tried to fight it. “Every summer he planted the idea in my head that I can do things differently, it finally stuck, I guess.”
“So you left.”
“So I left,” she nodded. “They gave me about a year to return and then I got shot.”
“Well, that’s nice, isn’t it? Your own family wanting to kill you?”
Bella looked at him. “Just like they lied about you being dead and using you as an example of how not to screw up because the pigs will get you and kill you, because if you get caught, you’re dead and they’re not going to help you out.”
“True, but I wasn’t aware of that,” he agreed. “I was scared for a while because like you, I believed what the Cullens had taught me, and the Taylors didn’t have it easy with me, until I met Cole. And Nick. Their parents. I realized I wasn’t as defective as I thought and I eased up. Jason taught me martial arts and he taught me everything I know about guns.”
“They weren’t all lies.”
“And yet, they sent Emmett to kill you.”
“Yeah, because I left.”
“No, it’s because they have something to hide and they don’t want you to find out. It’s not about leaving, even Edward left for a year or so. He tracked me down in Afghanistan so I had to leave and I told Auggie to keep an eye on you.”
Bella remembered that Edward was gone for quite some time, but she’d believed he was working a long con, that’s what she was told. “He left? He wasn’t doing a con?”
“No, he left,” Henry was sure of it. “Edward told me that he didn’t like the way that the family was dealing with shit, and tracked me down to see if I was okay as he had just found out that I wasn’t dead.”
“That doesn’t sound like him.”
“Well, he tried to kill me.”
“Okay, that does sound like him,” Bella agreed. “But why didn’t he tell me?”
“Somehow I believe you weren’t told anything that didn’t have anything to do with the job.”
“Of course I was told stuff, I had my teachings.”
Henry visibly winced. “And I was raised after I was separated from you and with a new family. And instructed in other things.”
“See, I don’t know what the difference is.”
“Love. Attention. Affection. Parents saying how proud they are of you for getting straight As in school,” He replied without hesitation. “Social skills.”
“My parents took care of me and my siblings and it was hard after you were gone, but we made it through.”
“And yet, you left them and now they want you dead.”
“Yeah, and that sucks but it’s the rules.”
“Family doesn’t kill family, Bella. Stop thinking about your… teachings and stop thinking that the rules are law, because they’re not. You’re free,” Henry told her, a hint of aggravation in his voice. “I took great pleasure in killing Emmett this morning and I will kill every single one of them if I have to even though Myriam doesn’t want me to.”
There was no way that Henry was that angry with the Cullens if he claimed he had had a great family he lived with after he was taken by the cops. He’d only been nine years old, too young to form a normal opinion on them.
There was also no way that Henry wanted to get rid of the Cullens for her, either. It seemed like he had put her and their family in the darkest corners of his memories, to be forgotten and to be replaced with new information. On top of that, she wasn’t quite sure how it had impacted him to be away from her. She had used him as an example to do better. To be better.
“What aren’t you telling me?” Bella asked, tilting her head as she studied Henry’s face. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”
“I don’t know you, I don’t have to tell you everything,” Henry replied harshly as he got to his feet. “And I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t tell the Michaels or your boyfriend about who I truly am, because I stopped being Grant Cullen a long long time ago. We’re related by blood, but you’re not my sister.”
“Got it.”
“Finish that list. No more messing around. When you’re done, you give the list to Myriam and then you’ll talk to Auggie. Tell him I said hi and thank you,” he instructed as he walked away to rejoin everyone else and Bella wasn’t sure what to make of him. He was right, of course. Henry was a complete stranger, not her brother Grant. Henry just looked like him.
She could only be grateful that he was still alive. But Bella wasn’t sure where that left her beliefs, either. His death shaped her to who she was now, and her ideals were already conflicting with Neal’s ideals and ideas about life, and with the Michaels’.
Bella was going to worry about that later. She needed to finish the list and talk to Auggie to get the Cullens off the street and out of her hair as soon as possible before they’d hurt someone other than her. Someone like Neal, for example.
She was going to continue as if her brother was still dead. Move forward.
~o.O.o~
She was meeting Auggie in an office of the Voodoo museum, it was nice and secluded and in a controllable environment. Myriam was outside the door, and Neal was with Bella talking to Auggie who was recording everything on his recorder.
It felt like the ultimate betrayal. She was turning on her family, something she’d sworn not to do. If she’d been in trouble before, it was going to be worse now.
It felt as if every single thing she told Auggie was another stab in the heart. All the information he’d need individually, but also on jobs. That she’d been involved in as well, and she made sure that she included that, too. She was still a Cullen and nobody got left behind.
“You know, you haven’t even asked for immunity,” Auggie said as he stopped the recorder. “Why is that?”
“Well, seeing as you didn’t offer, you didn’t talk to your superiors yet,” Bella replied with half a shrug. “And I usually was the one responsible that nobody got caught, so…”
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you’ll get that immunity. Might even have to put you through WITSEC for real this time.”
“No,” Bella shook her head. “Absolutely not. I love New Orleans and I will not relocate. I’m not going to run. And I don’t particularly fancy leaving Neal.”
“Could get you both in?”
“No,” Bella and Neal chorused.
“Because while this is brilliant,” Auggie said as he waved his recorder around. “Once this is all processed and your family is all picked up and all, you’re going to have a target on your back, an even bigger one than you already have. You know I promised your brother to keep you safe.”
“I know you did, and I’m pretty sure he’ll agree that I’m a grown woman now, able to make my own decisions and ask for help of others if I need them,” she countered. “Which is also why I didn’t ask for immunity, because I did have a hand in shit.”
“Fair enough,” Auggie nodded. “So you have nothing on your parents?”
“Nothing that would stick. Maybe if you can find Grant, he might have something.”
“The guy is a ghost,” Auggie let out a snort. “I’ll try to find him. So last chance to back out, are you sure you want to do this? Your family is going to spend a long time behind bars.”
No, she didn’t want to do this but they hadn’t left her with any choice. “They want to play dirty? I’ll play dirtier and break the rules we set as a family.”
“You’re absolutely sure about this?”
“Yes,” Bella nodded. “Now, please stop asking before I chicken out and change my mind and fuck shit up even more.”
“This isn’t your fault, Bella,” Neal gently rubbed her hand and smiled at her. “And I think you’re very brave to do this, no matter how it all plays out.”
“It’s okay to be scared and I know you have friends who are helping you now, but if you want, I could have some agents—”
“Auggie,” Bella said sternly. “I don’t want to complicate my life even further.”
Auggie let out a breath and nodded. “Fine. But seeing as you never use your phone, I want you to message me on your new handle if something’s wrong, okay?”
“Fine.” Yeah, she was going to make a new new handle to communicate with Mingus so that he wouldn’t be able to keep tabs on her. “Now what?”
“Now, I’m going back to New York and I’m going to hand this in to my supervisor and we’re going to arrest the Cullens as quick as we can. You just stay out of trouble.”
“I’m not going to do anything.”
“Good,” Auggie nodded. “I believe Agent Burke is staying in New Orleans for a bit longer though, he wants to catch up with you some more, Neal.”
“Great,” Neal smiled widely, not minding his friend’s presence in New Orleans.
“I do want to tell you to be careful though, unless you do want some agents on you?”
“Hell no, thanks, both Bella and I will be fine,” Neal said as he looked over to Bella who looked as if she couldn’t wait to get out of the office. “I think Bella’s tolerance for being in one room with the FBI is coming to an end.”
“I figured,” Auggie laughed. “Go. I’ll find my own way.”
~o.O.o~
She couldn’t help but wanting to withdraw from everything and everyone, but seeing as the Michaels wouldn’t allow her to go back to her house, Bella wandered around the Michaels home and eventually found access to the tunnels. It was rare to have tunnels or basements in New Orleans due to the water and soil, but the tunnels to her house were solid and well supported, and seeing as her house was behind the one of the Michaels, she figured this home had access to those tunnels too, which was great.
The tunnel was a bit damp, like expected, and some rats were there too, but she found her secure door with no problem and made her way inside her own house for some peace and quiet. Neal was with Peter, he was safe, and they wouldn’t miss her if she’d just stay away for a couple of hours.
She got undressed as she ran her bath, put some essential oils in the water and hummed to herself as she got into the tub and relaxed. Bella was soaking for maybe an hour before getting out and finding something to wear. It was like she was wearing a new skin, fresh.
Her home was nice and quiet. She was alone, and it was familiar. No noise, no sounds from the outside. Just her and her thoughts, and it felt good to switch off for a while. To forget. Bella walked into her kitchen and grabbed one of the bottles of wine that she had, took a glass and headed to her computer to redistribute some of the money she’d acquired from the code she released in Paris.
She could also make a patch for it and send it off to the banks so they could patch the holes. Yeah, maybe that was a better idea. Bella had more than enough money to take care of her and Neal even years after her death so she didn’t need more. She put a good portion of it in Neal’s pencoin account and put the money she was going to pay the Michaels in Cole’s account, at least the one that she was aware of.
Bella also sent her uncle Garrett an email saying everything was alright and taken care of and she was almost at the bottom of her bottle when the perimeter alarm went off. Checking the cameras, she sighed and switched off the alarm before making her way to her tunnel door and opened it.
“I’m drunk.”
“Hi drunk. I’m Neal. And you ran off,” Neal replied playfully and pulled her into his arms. “You had me worried.”
“I’m okay, just wanted to take care of a few things… have some me-time.”
“I understand,” he kissed the top of her head. “Henry’s out front and Jason’s in the tunnels, both are keeping an eye out,” he closed the door and pulled her back towards the patio. “They want us back in their home by midnight tonight. How about we go and watch a movie?”
“If you’re going to make me watch Dirty Dancing, I’m so not in the mood.”
“Nah, I was thinking more wine and maybe a true classic.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
The next day, the Michaels left for Portland, Maine with a few of their crew to have fun with some people on Bella’s list, leaving her at the Michaels family home with Neal and Jason, the only familiar faces. It felt stupid to stay at the Michaels home because she no longer felt safe. Her home was more secure than the wide open spaces, even though they were well guarded by good friends of Nick.
They called themselves ‘The Troubles’, and like with the Michaels, a woman was in charge. Her name was Lucy and she mainly hung out in the courtyard while her men had all sides covered, and even the tunnel.
Neal kept himself entertained by trying to get away from the Troubles by sneaking past them and getting caught every single time. He found it a challenge. But with just her laptop to do damage with, Bella had started to get a little stir-crazy and spent hours in the kitchen to cook food for everyone, making sure to relieve the kitchen of its contents so that maybe Jason could take her out into the city and go to a supermarket. She made homemade ice cream. Cookies. Dinner. Lunch.
The problem with the kitchen was that it was quite the professional kitchen and the pantry and the freezer were huge and well stocked. It was strange, because there usually weren’t enough people around to empty the contents of the kitchen, it was almost as if the Michaels had stuffed the kitchen in case of emergencies. It made sense, but it was still freaky. Not even Bella was this prepared.
Two weeks later, the group returned after having taken down one of the people on Bella’s list and Bella just wanted to go home. The FBI had taken her siblings into custody and frozen the family’s assets and while she knew she wasn’t safe, yet, she was getting cabin fever. It took her a while to get that at the Vineyard as there were many things to do, but being in a confined space and not surrounded by her own things, the loss of privacy… it didn’t do wonders on her mental health or her relationship with Neal.
Neal was a total gem though, he tried to keep her entertained, taught her some new tricks, lifted her spirits but she just wanted out. There were simply too many hours in a day where she was conscious. Aside from cooking and maybe spend two hours of watching a movie with Neal, she also took care of a few names on the list with her laptop. Hack, falsify records and alert the authorities. Boring stuff. Easy stuff. Her mind not engaged.
Playing poker against a con artist, and some of the Troubles was as if playing a game nobody ever could win as everyone was cheating. The first few times it was fun, but it started to become a competition and repetitive.
But she wanted to enjoy her own home.
She was well aware that she was acting like a spoiled rich kid right now. An ungrateful brat who didn’t appreciate it that there were people helping her with her problems. She was very grateful, even though the people helping her weren’t planned. Bella would have done it all on her own. But, she would have alienated Neal because she could get obsessive, she wouldn’t have the nice people around her who liked her for who she was.
She was still fed up. This needed to end.
“We’re really appreciative with your help but, with you guys back, is it okay for Bella and myself to go back to our own home? After all, we’re connected by a tunnel and I’m sure Bella would give you the access codes to the doors for easy access,” Neal said while they were enjoying the meal he and Bella whipped up in celebration of the Michaels returning.
Bella’s heart swelled as she looked at Neal, beaming with pride. He did know her as well as he could and she didn’t have to say anything, she’d been nervous about that.
“As much fun you guys are, we really want to have a little bit of freedom back,” he added as he took a sip of his wine. “If you’re worried about our safety or don’t trust us not to leave our home, we have a guest room and Nathan and Lucy can stay in.”
Myriam smiled at that. “Why them?”
“Don’t trust Duke, Dwight is unable to make himself invisible because he’s too big and Jordan is a cheater.”
“What!” Jordan exclaimed loudly. “I do not cheat!”
“Yeah, you do,” the rest of them nodded.
“And Nathan’s most deadly enemy is words while Lucy and Bella have seemed to make some connection and seeing as that’s very rare for Bella. Yeah. Nathan and Lucy will do just fine,” Neal said with a straight face, causing Bella to let out a snort.
“Yeah, go,” Myriam nodded. “But don’t use the front door, we’ll have someone in the building opposite of yours, and if there’s anything wrong, use the tunnel to get here. To be honest, I was surprised to still find you here.”
“You told us to stay put,” Neal pointed out. “But we kinda had enough of that,” he said with a nod. “And we both want in on the next job.”
“You got it,” Myriam smiled. “Go, have fun, take Lucy and Nathan.”
~o.O.o~
After showing Nathan and Lucy their part of the house, Bella started making a groceries list for one of them to get for them if they wanted to be fed. She then put Neal in her desk chair and nestled in his lap as she waited for her computer to boot.
“What are we doing?” Neal asked playfully as he put his arms around her and nuzzled her neck. “We just got home and one of the first things you do is go here.”
“Bigger screens to see what they’re doing with the Cullens,” Bella sighed happily. “And I want to see if you’re willing to forge a painting for us,” she smiled at him. “There’s this painting of Lorenzo Medici that’s absolutely stunning and it would be perfect above our fireplace.”
“Me?”
“You’re better at that stuff, I would get the details almost right… it’s gorgeous, Neal, I think you’ll find it a challenge too.”
He let out a snort. “I think I know what painting you’re talking about,” he opened the browser after her computer had booted and did an image search for it. “It’s one of the most striking paintings there is, Lorenzo’s features are well documented and his blue eyes seem to be looking at you.”
She nodded as he found the image.
“He’s gorgeous,” Neal smiled. “But I can do better than that, I promise. I know exactly what we need above that fireplace.”
“Really? You want to make an original Neal Caffrey?”
Neal hummed for an answer. “Although when I’m done with it, you may want to hang it in a more private place…”
“Neal,” Bella laughed.
“You better do what you wanted to do right now because you and I have a date with our bed that’s long over due.”
Bella bit her lip as she looked at him through her eye lashes. Yes, their current needs were more important than checking up on her relatives who were supposedly in prison. “Yeah,” she put her arms around his neck and softly kissed him. “You’re right, our own bed does sound really nice… so does our bath…”
~o.O.o~
There was no hope that morning when she woke when the sun came up through the half closed curtains. Neal was softly snoring away still, and she forced herself to stay in bed for longer as she was so comfortable, but eventually relented and made her way into the bathroom to get herself cleaned up and dressed before making breakfast and coffee for her love and their temporary house mates.
Bella started off making banana bread with oatmeal so that could go in the oven before she started on the waffles. She made a bit of waffle batter with pumpkin and cinnamon to make a few waffles with, and once they were in the waffle iron the smells were just fantastic in the kitchen. Add the coffee to that and she was in heaven.
She hopped on the kitchen counter and grabbed her mug of coffee before settling there to look out the window. There were cars passing by, pedestrians and cyclists. The occasional drunk tourist stumbling back to their hotel. Bella really loved her home, and hoped that she’d never had to leave New Orleans permanently – make New Orleans her home.
She liked the quiet times like these, it made her forget everything else that was going on, it made her feel as if she was back at the vineyard of Uncle Garrett. Peaceful. Ready to take on the rest of the day. Bella knew that he was in hiding right now, Liam had put him away securely, and she couldn’t call him out of fear that his connection wasn’t safe. Liam had assured her that Garrett was fine, though, so that was one worry off of her chest.
They’d been holed up in Bella’s house for a few days now, basically trading the Michaels’ house for hers, and she was itching to take a stroll through the Quarter. Maybe get a few canvasses or replace her baton that she left in the car in Paris. While they had plenty of items in the house to protect themselves, she always liked to carry her expendable baton everywhere, just in case, and she’d felt naked.
So that was the plan for today. Head into New Orleans. Maybe ditch her escort. While Lucy and Nathan were great at protecting people, they didn’t have a lot of experience with the art of disappearing in the streets. At least Lucy didn’t.
After breakfast, Bella grabbed her bag and waited for Lucy to be ready. She had said she wanted to have a girls day out with Lucy, and she would, in the beginning, have that. Retail therapy. Bella bought some nice artisan soaps at the boutique and then had lunch with Lucy on the waterfront. Excusing herself to use the restroom, Bella headed inside and left through the side door out of Lucy’s sight and made sure to stay clear of cameras before hopping on one of the carts and went on her way.
She was happy when she acquired her baton and then went on a shopping spree in a comic store, finding figurines and comic posters to adorn her computer room even further. Bella then went to an antique bookstore and picked up a few books on art for Neal and some classic movies on VHS before going back to the Quarter and had a coffee at the waterfront, enjoying the weather and just watching the water. It was nice and peaceful.
“Izzy Sheppard?”
Bella looked up to see an older woman standing in front of her. She had red hair, dressed immaculately and she had this air of authority around her. But she wasn’t law enforcement. It was entirely possible though, that she was part of the Volturi or one of their associates. Bella set down her cup of coffee on the table as her free hand slid into her bag to take hold of her baton. If needed, she’d hit this woman so hard she’d stars until the next century. “Who wants to know?”
The woman handed Bella her business card. “Sara Ellis, Insurance Investigator with Sterling Bosch. Can I sit with you for a moment?”
Bella looked at the card and slowly nodded as she thought of where she heard the name Sara before. And it was then that she knew. “Uh, sure? How did you find me?”
“Finding things is what I do, Miss Sheppard, finding people isn’t that hard,” Sara smiled as she sat down. “You came back into the country last month accompanied by this man,” she said as she pulled up a photo of Neal on her phone and showed it to her. “I watched the CCTV, I know you know him.”
“Yeah, that’s Neal,” Bella nodded.
“I’m trying to find him. Do you have any idea where he is? Where he might be? Any means of contacting him?”
“Why is an Insurance Investigator looking for my friend? What did he do?”
“Oh, I’m not looking for him in any official capacity,” Sara replied.
“But you introduced yourself to me as an Insurance Investigator with Sterling Bosch,” Bella said confused. “Isn’t that you introducing yourself in an official capacity?”
Sara’s mouth almost fell open. “Force of habit.”
“Right.”
“Look, he’s my friend. I’m worried about him, that’s all. He’s just so damn hard to get a hold of.”
Bella reached for her coffee with a small smile on her face. “Ex-boyfriend?”
Sara sighed and nodded. “It’s complicated. We ended things amicably but you know… friends with benefits and all… I mean… wouldn’t you? He’s a great guy!”
Bella shrugged. “Maybe there’s a reason he didn’t stay in touch with you. He leads a busy life, after all.”
“Does he?”
“Yeah,” Bella nodded as she took a sip of her coffee. “Neal told me he’s into antiques. Mostly paintings.”
“He just can’t let it go, can he?” Sara muttered under her breath, shaking her head. “Anyway, can you tell him to call me?” she asked as she pointed at the card. “No matter where he is, I’m willing to travel.”
“For what? A quick fuck?” Bella rolled her eyes at the woman as she finished her coffee and put money down on the table. “Doesn’t sound like the Neal I know.”
“Because he’s likely not the Neal you know,” Sara replied quickly. “He’s a con artist. Suspected of many crimes but nothing really stuck. He did time in jail a while back for bond forgery. You can’t trust him.”
“And yet you want to see him again,” Bella said thoughtfully, anger bubbling underneath her skin. “What are you? Some bad boy groupie? Is that your kink? Do bad boys turn you on?” When Sara remained quiet, Bella continued. “I know Neal as a compassionate, smart and thoughtful guy. His mind is sharp and he’s extremely funny. Whenever he’s around, I feel safe with him. I don’t care that he’s a con artist, I’m a big girl and can take care of myself. You, however, should be careful with this obsession of yours. You don’t know who you put in harm’s way with it.”
Sara looked at her for a moment, realizing something. “You know who he truly is.”
“Of course I know who he is, he trusts me enough to tell me the truth about himself. It’s my job to protect his secret, and if you cared anything about him, you’d back the fuck off because you know damn well what he did and why he did it. If you are his friend, as you claim to be, you respect that.”
“I can’t.”
Bella got to her feet as she looked at Sara. “Then I pity you.”
“Imagine being in my shoes for a moment.”
“I have.”
“Then you know it’s hard.”
She sighed and tiredly pinched the bridge of her nose. “Miss Ellis, you really need to let him go. From what I understand is that you two weren’t together when he did what he did and you have no reason to behave the way you’re doing now. You’ll only hurt yourself in the process. Hell, get some help, because this obsession isn’t healthy. Like… at all.” Bella made sure that her hand was still in her bag, firmly holding on to her baton. “Enjoy New Orleans, have a good day,” she said as she walked away.
While Bella was extremely annoyed and angry with her boyfriend’s ex, she had to keep her head. She needed to make sure that she wasn’t being followed by Sara as she made her way back home, and from what Neal had told her about Sara; Sara was quite good at chasing people.
But Bella was better.
Bella understood obsession. Obsession with numbers or code wasn’t bad, but people obsessing over other people? That could turn ugly. Fast. And it wasn’t just Neal’s life on the line. Someone with Sara’s resources could fuck shit up for her. She could dig deeper, look passed the surface. Figure out who Bella was, who the Cullens were. The Volturi. No, Sara Ellis was a threat.
She eventually made it back home through the tunnel and she was greeted by the furious faces of Nathan, Lucy, Myriam and Nick. “I’m fine.”
“You still have a giant fucking target on your back and you ditched Lucy?” Myriam said furiously. “For what?”
“Me time,” Bella said as she dropped the bag of goodies on the couch and crossed her arms over each other. “And I came back safely. And I won’t do it again, I promise.”
“You keep saying that. You’re a flight risk,” Myriam said curtly. “Maybe I should just handcuff you to your bed.”
“Won’t work,” Neal said amused as he walked into the room and saw the look on Bella’s face. “You’re pissed off.”
“I am.”
“But not with them.”
“Nope,” Bella shook her head. “While I am safe, I did identify a new threat to you, Neal. To us. To all of us, actually, because if this bitch starts to dig even further, we’ll all be in danger of the remaining Volturi and associates of the Cullens. Not to mention old enemies and shit like that.”
“Another one?”
“Oh yeah, and it’s not even related to me, either. It’s one of Neal’s friends. She has a penchant for bad boys and tried to warn me about him,” she said with a playful smile on her face and then looked at him as she took the business card out of her bag and walked over to Neal to hand it to him. “She wants you to call her.”
“Ohh, ex-girlfriend?” Lucy piped up, intrigued.
“An ex who’s an Insurance Investigator and uses company resources to hunt down her ex-boyfriend she’s obsessed with and wants to get back with,” Bella replied with a nod. “She found me because she watched the CCTV of our arrival at the airport and figured I was a friend of his.”
“What?”
“Facial recognition and all that, I suppose,” Bella kept her eyes on Neal, searching his face for answers but he looked half ashamed, half scared. “Imagine what she could do with her resources.”
“I am,” Neal said as he ran his hand over his face, knowing full well the mess that Sara could get them in, or even herself. “We can’t con her, she’ll see a con coming from miles away. She’s determined enough to keep digging even without her resources at Sterling Bosch so getting her boss to fire her because of this isn’t an option either. This is a disaster.”
“Well, glad you’re home safe,” Nick said as he pushed himself off the chair he was sitting on and took Myriam’s hand. “We’ll leave you to it. Don’t ditch your escort again.”
“We’re working on an elaborate plan to take down five of your list at the same time and might need your help later,” Myriam smiled widely. “So don’t leave.”
“Not going anywhere,” Bella shook her head and not before long, she and Neal were alone. “Sara’s a bitch. She’s an obsessed… junkie, jonesing for you.”
“She wasn’t like that, at all,” Neal defended himself. “I swear.”
“She’s dangerous.”
“I realize that. I’ll call her. This isn’t like her, at all.”
“And what if she doesn’t give up?”
Frustrated, he ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “I don’t know. Maybe ask Mozzie to deal with her, hypnotize her or something.”
Bella scoffed. “Yeah right.”
“Let me call her and if things don’t work out, we’ll see what else we can do.”
Neal called Sara, and Bella left him alone with her computer to do so, but she doubted that him talking to Sara would actually work. She headed into the kitchen where she found Lucy and Nathan just hanging out and started on dinner. And dessert. Today was a good day for dessert. Some sweet, boozy dessert.
“You need to stop escaping, girl,” Lucy shook her head. “Making us look bad.”
“I’m not going out again. You can have my keys, change locks or whatever, I’m not leaving this house, not even with one of you,” she said as she took her phone to start a playlist and used bluetooth to route it so that Taylor Swift was blaring through the speakers in the kitchen and then started to ignore Lucy and Nathan who were sat at the kitchen island.
This shit was on her.
Cooking would definitely help.
She could erase Sara Ellis, just as easily as she did with the remnants of Neal’s old life. Shitface could do that, despite Bella having recently retired Shitface, Shitface could make a comeback. Sara Ellis would feel the wrath of Bella Cullen for being a potential threat to her and the one she loved. Bella really hoped that Neal could talk Sara out of things this time, he was going to have to up his game this time but she was sort of confident. Neal was a smooth talker. He and Sara had a history and Bella was confident that he could use that.
Bella kept cooking and eventually Lucy and Nathan left, but Neal appeared in the same spot, just looking at what she was doing. The kitchen island slowly filling with goodies and it wasn’t until Bella started yet another project was that she was stopped by Neal pulling her into his arms. “You don’t need to feed an orphanage, beautiful,” he whispered in her ear. “You’ve got nothing to worry about, Sara’s backing off.”
She sighed happily in his arms. “Really?”
“Yes,” he smiled as he planted a kiss on her neck. “She’s going to destroy all the information she’s gathered on you, on me, and she’s going to move on. For her own safety,” he kissed her neck again. “And I’m also going to find someone who can keep an eye on her from a distance, to make sure that she backs off and stays that way.”
“And if not?”
“I’d rather don’t want to think about that, but for now, we have one less thing to worry about.”
Bella hated living like this. The whole not being able to go anywhere because your family wanted you dead thing was terribly annoying and inconvenient. However, she powered through and made the best of things. It involved a lot of baking when she wasn’t on her computer or doing something with Neal. She took solace in the fact that she was in her own home.
Cole, however, had challenged her to set up a thorough phishing expedition for one of the companies of one of the names on the list that she’d given the family to go after. The best way hacking into a company was always the customer service. She carefully crafted an email with a document and an attachment that they’d have to activate through macros in Powershell.
Bella had set up a Linux server where all the information would come to and where she and Cole had access to. Her trojan had been tested and none of the malware softwares she’d tested it with had picked it up. This is what she loved doing, carefully crafted, well-behaving, seemingly innocent trojan horses and find all the good stuff.
It was also a way to see how far she would be able to infiltrate the system, hopefully to the top and their IT department so she could get additional information about the company’s security system and make something for Cole that would allow him to guide the rest of the crew safely through the building.
Bella knew that he was only trying to keep her busy and occupied. This was easy shit that he could easily have done himself, but she appreciated the gesture.
She also tested the company’s firewall to see if she could breach on her own, but she definitely needed that trojan to do the work for her. Now, if only someone would be as stupid to open the email she’d sent.
Mingus: 5h1tf4c3, I know you’ve retired this handle but you’re here?
5h1tf4c3: Yes.
Mingus: Can you ask your puppy to call his friend in the suit?
5h1tf4c3: Yeah, sure, why?
Mingus: You’ll hear it soon enough. You’ll hear me soon enough.
5h1tf4c3: I’m not liking this.
Mingus: Yeah, me neither. Get your man to call. My friend is respecting your no-phone rule.
Bella let out a grunt as she started up her phone software. “Neal!” She called out to him. “Can you come here for a sec?” She didn’t have to wait long for him to come into the room and she peeked through the steel bars of the balustrade, her eyes on him as he came into the little loft where her computers were. Neal was only wearing sweatpants and his well-sculpted torso was covered in tiny splatters of paint. “Whatcha making?”
“That painting you want,” Neal softly kissed her before grabbing the spare chair and sat down next to her. “What do you need me for? You okay?”
“I don’t know,” she sighed as she took his hand. “Mingus asked me to have you call Peter. He didn’t want to tell me why, but yeah.”
“You’re concerned.”
She nodded. “What if he’s going to tell us that the Cullens have made bail? Or escaped? Or you know… Worse things.”
“Well, we won’t know until we call,” he smiled at her. He understood her apprehension. Bella had mellowed out in the last few days after they had dealt with Sara, and while she was still anxious and frustrated, she’d been settling down, getting comfortable. Neal didn’t like being in one place, either, but he made himself busy with art, if he weren’t doing fun things with Bella.
Neal would rather be outside and enjoy New Orleans, with Bella, but until she was safe, it was going to have to wait. The whole situation with Sara possibly stirred up more shit, more danger, to everyone. It was just a matter of waiting for the other shoe to drop. “Maybe all of this is over,” he mused.
Bella rolled her eyes at him before double checking the firewalls and proxies before hitting the keyboard to dial Peter’s number.
“Burke.”
“Hey Peter, it’s me.”
“Hold on,” Peter’s voice sounded before movement could be heard. “Hey, we’re both here, it’s safe to talk.”
“Yeah,” Auggie’s voice sounded. “It’s always fun to use toys to blanket the area.”
“What’s up?”
“Is Izzy with you, Neal?”
“Yeah, I’m here.”
“Okay, good. There’s no easy way to say this so I’m just going to,” Peter sighed, his voice sounding tired all of a sudden. “A couple of days ago the NYPD did a welfare check on an apartment on behalf of a company as they hadn’t heard from their star employee for a few weeks after returning from a job she had in New Orleans.”
“Sara?”
“Yeah, she was re-offered the job in London but she never showed up there nor got on the flight, so they checked her home. They uh… found her, Neal. I’m so sorry, but she’s dead.”
The look on Neal’s face was heartbreaking. Bella gently squeezed his hand for reassurance. “I never meant for her… Oh my god, what happened, Peter?”
“No need to go into details, Neal. It’s bad enough as it is. Auggie picked it up and we took the case out of NYPD’s hands,” Burke responded. “We also know who killed her. It was quite easy.”
“Yeah, too easy,” Auggie added. “The fingerprints were too clean and the hair samples were almost degraded. Old. As if they came from a brush someone left behind. Not to mention, in my opinion if this person would have killed Miss Ellis, they would have found a better way, a smoother way instead of this messy.”
“We know who it’s not and by knowing that, we can sort of make an estimated guess.”
“You two have been hanging around each other far too long,” Bella said as she kept her eyes on Neal, who was still processing. “It’s a simple answer. Who did it?”
“If we had left this in NYPD’s hands, Izzy Sheppard aka Bella Cullen even though we all know she hasn’t left New Orleans.”
“What?!”
“Sorry, but your Izzy persona is compromised, you need a new name. Your name was all over the place, looks like Sara was trying to destroy everything she still had to destroy to protect you and the Volturi will have that name now. You didn’t buy your house under that name, did you?”
“No, suit, I did not,” Bella shot at Peter. “But I have been using my credit card to buy shit in town so I guess they’ll know soon enough that I’m here. And depending on what kind of evidence Sara has, they might already be here.”
“This has gone on long enough,” Auggie said impatiently. “You’re getting FBI babysitters outside your home. What’s your address?”
“Fuck off, Mingus,” Bella scowled. “Unless you want more people killed.”
“Well, it would be easier, you know, red shirts,” Auggie quipped. “Look, we’ve been taking care of the Cullens and some of the Volturi across the entire world, and they’re thinning out, but… this death wish of yours…”
“It’s not a fucking death wish anymore, Mingus, Sara died. How many more should die because of me? Keep those suits far away from me and keep doing what you do, we’ll do our thing and we’ll stay safe.”
“Neal?”
“Uh, yeah,” Neal snapped back to reality and ran a hand through his hair, but Bella knew that he was still trying to process what happened to Sara. Collateral damage. “She’s right, Peter, It’s not ideal, but there’s no hiding from these guys. Even with FBI protection. We know the risks, if you do want to spend extra manpower on protecting people, make sure you and Moz are safe. And Elizabeth and the baby.”
“Will you be okay?”
“Yes, Peter. Thank you for telling us,” he took hold of the mouse and disconnected the call and let out a deep breath. “I could really use a hug right now.”
Bella crawled into his lap and put her arms around him. “I am so sorry, Neal.”
“No, I am. If it weren’t for me… and her…”
“Hey, it’s okay,” she ran one of her hands through his hair, not moving from her spot. “We all have baggage and mine is particularly nasty. I’m sorry.”
“I’ll be fine,” Neal assured her. “Just hold me for a bit longer.”
“I’ll hold you for as long as you want,” she smiled. “I’m quite comfortable in your lap.”
~o.O.o~
Bella realized that the company that the Michaels were going after next was one of the businesses connected to the Blacks. The CEO was Sam Uley and Bella had met him a few times, he was short-tempered but highly motivated, climbed the ladder quite quickly and of course, being friends with the Blacks was always a good thing.
The company was La Push Medical, manufacturing pharmaceuticals and specializing in developing new drugs to help patients recover from trauma and also developing new medical tech to help soldiers in the field as well. She wasn’t sure how, but it wasn’t her area of expertise. Some of the files she found made it all look like a fairytale as if it wasn’t going to work, but the government seemed to be on board.
It simply looked too good to be true. But, from what she could tell, all documents were legal.
Cole was across from her on his laptop as they were sitting in her courtyard. He needed a few hours away from his family, she gladly provided the space. It wasn’t as if it was just her and Neal in her home now. Lucy and Nathan were still around, too. “Now the fun part starts,” Cole grinned as he cracked his fingers.
Bella hummed. “You’re going to create false documents?”
“Of course. Plant them on the server, and you know, call it in,” he said carelessly. “This is one of the easiest jobs we’ve planned out. However, we also need to be able to get into the building to plant hard copies and other fun and embarrassing evidence, so could you check their security?”
“Are you kidding?” she grinned. “I love sifting through terabytes of data!” She happily took a sip of her drink and started the search. “So what else are you guys working on?”
“Well,” Cole started. “Nick and Myriam are out with Henry in Portland. John and Ann are scoping out another place and maybe cause some trouble and you and I are working on this,” he added. “Was wondering if you’d allow Neal to do something too, with Ronon and Myka.”
“Myka Morgan?”
“You know her?”
“No, but Neal knows her,” Bella replied with a shrug. “She was on our list for assembling a crew.” It’d do Neal good to work on something again. Outside. With his other skills. She knew that he was missing it and he’d be safe with Jason. And he needed another distraction to help him deal with Sara’s death. Plus, a change of scenery would do him some good. “He doesn’t need my permission,” she let out a snort, shaking her head. “I think you should go and ask him.”
“Ask me what?” Neal asked as he walked in and laughed at the sight before him. Bella and Cole had utilized every inch of the table with their laptops, USB drives, notepads and their drinks. The soda bottle was living dangerously on the edge of the table and so was the now empty plate that had held Bella’s cookies.
“What?” Bella asked sheepishly. “What’s so funny?”
“You two are such nerds, can’t leave you alone for a moment, can we?” He put the plate on another chair and found an empty spot on the table. “You having fun?”
“Yes,” Bella nodded. “Cole wants to ask you something.”
“Oh?” Neal sat down next to Bella and looked at their friend. He liked it that Bella had someone to be this geeky with. Doing their computer stuff together, someone who understood what she was doing, because his own knowledge of computers was basic. Pedestrian. And while Bella had likened coding to art, he hardly saw the beauty in all the letters and numbers on the screen.
“Seeing as things have happened recently… we want to hit several people at the same time and I was wondering if you’d like to join Ronon and Myka Morgan in Texas on a little job.”
Neal’s face broke out in one of his famous sparkling smiles. His eyes sparkling. “Will it be safe though?”
“It’s her they’re after, not you. Besides, you’ll be perfectly safe with Ronon if you’re scared,” Cole dared him with a playful smile on his face.
“Go on, it’ll be fun,” Bella smiled at him encouragingly. “A change of scenery. Bring back some artisan hot sauce.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah,” she nodded. “Lucy and Nathan are here, and so is Cole, I won’t be alone. Like I said, it’ll be fun. Get out, have fun, do what you love most.”
“I love doing you the most,” he winked at her.
“Neal,” she laughed.
“Alright,” he softly kissed her. “I’m in. When do I get to leave, Cole?”
“Myka’s coming over tonight to gather some stuff and then she and Ronon leave in the morning after breakfast,” Cole replied as he was typing away on his laptop, only briefly looking up to see Neal’s surprised look on his face. “What? We work fast. We started planning the moment after… they got to your friend. We wanted to hit a few people at the same time.”
“Sounds like a plan, I’m in.”
~o.O.o~
Myka was a force of nature, alright, and like Neal had said, she was drop-dead gorgeous. Flirting her ass off with Bella. Jason assured Bella many times that Neal would be safe while they were in Texas and right after breakfast, they left.
It was just her, Cole, Lucy and Nathan left at the Michaels’ house, and their servants, of course but they remained at a distance, doing their jobs.
“Any luck on the security?”
“Of course,” she smiled at Cole. “However, I’m not touching it.”
“Why not?”
She let out a breath and showed Cole what she had found on the servers. “It’s on its own network, which isn’t surprising. What is, is that it’s the prototype of the system that another company is working on right now. If I’d infiltrate that, it’d start adjusting to my exploits to take over to dismantle the cameras or have things not work and alert the human security about it. They wouldn’t be able to trace me, or you, but the system learns and blocks. It sees the building as one big computer and any intrusion as a real virus. So even if a human would break in, it’d do it’s best to keep them out or locking them up.”
“Well shit.”
“I know you don’t want me along on this, so I can code you something to help you out.”
“Who says I don’t?” Cole smiled at her. “I’d like you to be on the job but I know that you can’t. You need to stay here where it’s safe. But if you can access the security system from here, you can be on this job, just remotely, we’ll do all the legwork.”
“Oh, yeah,” Bella smiled widely at him. “I’d like that.”
“Do you think we’re good to go?”
“You’re leaving too?”
“Yeah, the company is in Mobile, it’s not that far away. Only two hours. I’ll be back for dinner, because I have you backing me up.”
“But…”
“Nathan’s staying behind. I’m taking Lucy. You’ll be fine. You’ll be safe. There are more measures in place than we let on,” he winked at her. “Don’t worry, I trust you in getting me in and out safe.”
“I uh… need two more hours to make sure everything is correct. Set things up and—”
“Alright, I’ll still be home in time for dinner,” Cole winked at her and handed her a waffle. “Go home, make us look good.”
“Two hours,” Bella took a bite off of her waffle and got to her feet as she looked at the empty chair where Neal had been sitting on. Safe Neal. Loving Neal. Her Neal. Perfectly sculpted Neal. Ugh, she needed to cut down on the calories. She placed the waffle back on the plate and smiled at him. “Thanks for breakfast, drive safely, okay?”
Her home felt strange without Neal in it, and it was stupid because it had only been less than an hour. She grabbed herself something to drink from the fridge and disappeared into her den, making sure that Cole wouldn’t have a harder time than he would have in Mobile. Neal was going to be gone for a couple of days, and that sucked.
But, a few days away from each other would be a good thing, too. Ever since Paris they’d only been apart for a couple of hours a few times. She wasn’t clingy. He wasn’t clingy. This was going to be healthy for them. But it wouldn’t stop her from worrying.
Neal knew what he was doing.
Neal was in safe hands with others.
Neal was going to be fine.
And so was Cole. Seeing as she was going to be responsible for his safety, she needed to be sure that all of her stuff was up to snuff. And it was, she just wanted to make sure before she’d send over everything to Cole.
She was going to plant the files onto the server and cloud once Cole was in the building, and then guide him to the file room, hoping that the building’s blueprints would be the same still. Because outdated blueprints would be the absolute worst.
Bella hadn’t felt this nervous for a very long time. Keeping herself safe during a job was one thing. Another one had been keeping her family safe during her job. But now someone she hadn’t worked with before? Yeah, this was terrible. This was a terrible idea.
If she fucked up, she’d have Cole’s brother breathing down her neck and likely everybody else too, she’d fuck up and Cole would get arrested or worse.
This was a bad, bad, bad idea.
She let out a deep breath and rolled her shoulders and neck before going over her code again. She had two hours. More, if Cole got stuck in traffic. Oh, that would be on her too, wouldn’t it?
Bella hacked Cole’s phone and watched where he was going before tracking him on the road, and the traffic around him. Her mind was all over the place. Focused, sometimes a little unfocused but mainly hyper aware.
“Darling, I haven’t even left New Orleans and you’re already spying on me?” Bella could hear Cole’s voice coming through her computer. “Hacking my phone? Such a lousy one way street.”
She huffed as she turned on the text to speech on his phone and texted him.
“I’m flattered, but I know my way to Mobile,” Cole replied. “No need to track me and track the traffic around me. Everything’s going to be alright and I’ll arrive safely in Mobile for our job.”
She didn’t respond to that and continued to look over the code.
“I trust you. Don’t be nervous, okay? It’s an in and out job despite the tricky security system. Take a breath, take a long relaxing bath and I’ll call you when I’m in Mobile and at the company. And damnit, stop tracking me, mom!”
“Yeah, mom!” Nathan echoed in the car.
~o.O.o~
She was Bella fucking Cullen. She was 5h1tf4ce. She had this.
“We’re here,” Cole said after Bella picked up the phone. “We have you both on our earpieces, now, what did you arrange for us?”
“You’re Cole Reese and Nathan Shaw, representatives of a foundation that aids the less fortunate and want to see if you can get a sponsorship from La Push Medical,” Bella replied as she put her phone on speaker. “I sent both of you an email with more information. That’s your in. Somewhere during the conversation you’ll have with Daphne Vanderlaan Cole will excuse himself and will head to the file room.”
“What about the security?”
“If all goes well, security should be a breeze,” Bella replied as she typed on her keyboard. “I don’t actually have access to the cameras without alerting the security system, I could try to spoof one of the computers that do have normal access to it but it’s going to be tricky.”
“That’s okay, we’re big boys.”
“I’ll be here when you need me.”
“Yes, mom,” Cole and Nathan echoed, laughing. “We’re keeping an open line so you can listen in.”
“Thank you boys,” Bella kept listening in and stayed with Cole after he excused himself from the meeting to direct him towards the file room.
“Hey uh, mom?”
“What is it with the mom thing all of a sudden?”
“You’re keeping an eye on us, take care of us… you’re mom,” Cole grinned. “Anyway, there’s a slight problem. Need a code for the door and the visitor swipe card doesn’t work.”
“Right, I can help you with that, but the security system will think something’s wrong and might trigger because it’s possible that the keypad has a biometric sensor. Without eyes on it…”
“I’m aware of the risk, but we need to leave the physical copies in there to make the case against them airtight. Confidence, mom. Don’t second guess yourself.”
Cole had sent her a picture of the keypad but it was still unclear if it was biometric.“Okidoki,” Bella let out a breath and looked through the files to get the code for the door. “Uhh, try 070297.”
“I’m in,” Cole’s voice sounded and Bella winced when she saw the security system react to the code.
“Yeah, so, the system knows something’s up. I think it was a —” There was static for a second followed by nothing. “Cole? Cole are you there?” Bella was going to give it two minutes before having to make the decision to either do something very stupid – hack the security system instead of tickling it, or alert the security guys by having Nathan pulling out of the meeting in search for Cole. Two minutes. Onehundredandtwenty seconds.
Breathe in, breathe out.
She kept looking at the timer on her phone, but it kept slowing down, the seconds were ticking away far too slow for her liking.
Breathe out.
Breathe in.
Breathe in.
Breathe in.
No, wait, out.
Breathe out.
With only 30 seconds to go, she let out a breath of relief when she heard the connection getting picked back up. “So I take it that there was no communication possible inside that room?”
“You scared the shit out of me.”
“I’m fine. It’s all put away where it’s supposed to be, their filing system was quite easy. I’m going to get Nathan and get out of here.”
Bella listened in on the conversation that followed and let out a sigh of relief when she heard Cole and Nathan exit the building safely and walking towards the car. “Come back home safely, I’ll have food ready when you’re here.”
“What kind of food, ma?”
Bella rolled her eyes and disconnected the call before grabbing her drink and headed to the kitchen to start cooking. “They made it out, Luce,” Bella told her bodyguard who was sitting at the kitchen island, reading a book. “They’ll be home in two hours.”
“Great,” Lucy said as she put her book down and rounded the counter with a smile on her face. “So, what are we cooking?”
“I dunno,” Bella sighed as she leaned against the counter. “I’m thinking lasagna, with a tomato and cucumber salad as a side, but then again, my lasagna is always so luscious, so decadent… maybe we’ll have to go with rice and steamed broccoli and steamed salmon or something.”
“Why?”
“It’s healthy.”
“Fuck that, lasagna is better,” Lucy huffed. “Especially yours. Hell, you don’t even have to cook for us, we can order in or one of us can cook.”
“But I want to. Cooking is my coping mechanism and I enjoy it.”
“Alright, mom.”
“Enough with the mom already! That joke is getting very old right now!”
“Alright, alright,” Lucy laughed, shaking her head. “I’ll shut up and let you do your thing.”
Neal called her a few hours later, telling her about their temporary digs in Texas, and what the plan was. She told him about her day and that was it. Nathan and Cole went to the Michaels’ house, and Bella was alone with Lucy in her own house. A few days and nights without Neal would be fine.
