Page 38 of Break Me: Smith and Belle

“We don’t—”

“What did I do?” Her voice rose with panic.

I needed to get control of the situation before anyone else saw this. But Belle was already straightening, her body shaking, as she took a step backward. “I need to call the police.”

“No.” I spoke so firmly there was no way to misunderstand my command. “Take a shower. I need you to take the baby.”

“Smith, I shouldn’t.” She shook her head at Penny in terror. “What if—”

“Do as I say, beautiful,” I stopped her. I would take care of this, but first I had to find Nora.

It took me twenty minutes to convince Belle to take a shower. She was a hollow shell of herself, muttering a story about confronting Nora last night. I couldn’t bring myself to ask her how that confrontation had ended. I followed her to our bedroom, determined to pull the ruined sheets off our bad while she cleaned up. She paused at the bathroom door and looked at me.

“I didn’t do it,” she said softly. “I couldn’t.”

I believed that, but it was clear she didn’t.

“Everything will be okay, beautiful,” I promised her. “For now, I need you to get cleaned up and then I need you to keep this a secret.”

“But Smith —”

“Trust me,” I said firmly.

Her shoulders slumped, but she nodded. She disappeared into the bathroom and a few seconds later I heard the shower water turn on. Penny was fully awake, watching me with curious eyes as I texted Georgia to meet me upstairs as soon as possible. It was a little harder to rip the sheets off the bed with the baby in my arms, but I couldn’t stand looking at them a moment longer. I threw the down duvet onto the floor, followed by the pillows, then I yanked the sheets off with one hand. I balled them up and threw them in the corner. I would figure out what to do with it later.

I heard hurried footsteps coming up the stairs, and I went out to meet Georgia.

“What’s going on?” She asked. “Does this have something to do with whatever trouble you got yourself into last night with the nanny?”

I pressed a finger to my lips and nodded for her to follow me. Before we reached Nora’s room, I heard Georgia stop and suck in a breath.

“Is that…“ She whispered. I didn’t bother to confirm the blood spatter. Georgia knew all too well what blood looked like.

We continued into the nanny’s room and I gestured for her to take Penny. Georgia held up her hands and shook her head.

“Would you rather deal with this?” I asked in a low voice, opening the door so she could see the scene of the apparent crime.

She let out a low whistle as she took in the bloodied bed. “It wouldn’t be the first time I dealt with a crime scene. Where did you bury the body?”

“You’re not funny,” I told her.

“I wasn’t trying to be,” she said flatly.

“There is no body.” We stepped inside and I closed the door. Others would be waking up soon. “I need to make sure no one comes in here before I deal with this, but first—”

“You want to take a look around,” she guessed. She sighed and held out her hands. Despite her earlier objection, she cradled Penny naturally. I’d known Georgia long enough to understand why she didn’t like babies, but this was an extenuating circumstance.

Nora had begun to pack her bags, so most of her belongings were strewn into open suitcases on the floor. I bent down to pick up a notebook and spotted her computer peeking out from the rumpled quilts on her bed. I grabbed it, looked around for another moment, and said, “let’s take this to my study.”

I was careful to close the door to Nora’s room. I’d have to be sure that Mrs. Winters didn’t go in there today. I’d yet to tell her that Nora had been released from service, so there was no reason she should.

“We need to do something about that,” I said, pointing to the blood spatter.

“Take your spawn.” She thrust Penny into my arms. “I’ll take care of it.”

“Thanks,” I muttered.

“It’s nothing,” she said. “Good friends are always there for you, but only best friends hide the evidence. Remember that, Price.”