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“Oh, so your boyfriend doesn’t know who I am?” he says, devilishly staring at me. “Your girlfriend here and I had a fling about eleven years ago. She found out she was pregnant, and instead of telling me about it, she gave her away like she was nothing.”
Even standing in the dim light, they look so much alike. Back then, I didn’t know if I could look at her everyday and not see his face. Not be reminded of what he did to me. Bella deserves better than to see resentment on my face everytime I look at her.
“I wanted to keep her and I would have, but when she came out looking like you - she was the spitting image of you - of what you did to me that night - I couldn’t do it.”
Theo takes his eyes off Thomas and lands on me. “You’re Bella’s mother?”
I nod.
When Theo turns back around, I see an indent in his pants.
“Let’s all walk away from this alive, okay. How about you put the knife down and let Bella go? You don’t want to hurt your daughter, do you?”
“She isn’t going anywhere but with me. And that’s after I carve Felicity over there into pieces. It might be best for you to get the fuck out of my way.”
I step beside him. Someone needs to distract him long enough for Theo to get his gun. “You took everything from me. My sanity. My ability to be intimate with another person. You sick fuck!”
“I used to lay in my bunk thinking of you. Wondering if you remembered to lock your windows and set the alarm, but too bad you forgot to do it tonight. You made it so easy. When I found out that Bella here only lived a block away from you. Well, this became a two-for-one special.”
Theo draws his gun. “Put down the knife, Thomas. I’m an excellent shot.”
He brings Bella closer. “You wouldn’t risk hitting your little girl, would you?”
He fires and it hits Thomas right between the eyes. I rush over to Bella before he falls to the ground. “Are you okay?”
This is not how I wanted Theo or Bella to find out. How am I ever going to make them understand?
20
THEO
The concealed weapon is supposed to be for protection, but I never intended on having to use it. Especially not in our small town. When his body drops to the ground, the realness of killing someone sets in. I only let it eat at me for a moment. The man was going to hurt Felicity. He had Bella in his grasp with a knife. It was self-defense.
I rush over to take his pulse, even though I know he’s dead. All that time at the shooting range is finally paying off from when I was thinking about joining the police department.
“Are you okay?” I ask, grasping Bella’s hands and pulling her in for a hug. “Your parents are worried sick.”
Her little arms wrap around me. Sobbing into my torso. Poor thing must be scared senseless. Like she hasn’t had to deal with enough bullshit in her life. Just add more.
Felicity just stands there, tears strolling down her face. “I’m not the evil person he made me out to be. Bella was never supposed to know about me. This isn’t something a child should ever know.”
I sit Bella down on the couch, and pull Felicity to the side. “Listen, right now we need to focus on her. We can figure everything else out later.”
I pull out my phone and dial 911. Within ten minutes, two squad cars are in the house, and up our asses about the crime scene. After giving our statements, Bella’s foster parents walk through the door and grip her tightly. I can’t imagine the agony they have been going through. Not knowing where she was or if she was safe. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.
“I’m so sorry, honey.” Her foster mother says as her arms cling around Bella. “You’re never going out of my sight again, you hear me.”
Now that she is safe and sound with her foster parents, it’s time to talk to Felicity. She never once mentioned having a child. And from what Thomas said, it sounds like an awful story. Is it horrible that I need to know why? The foster care system is screwed and after what I heard tonight, I know she must have had a good reason not to keep Bella. Ultimately, it was her choice.
“Hey,” she says, coming up to me as I leave the house. “Can we talk?”
I stop and nod.
“Listen, long story short. Thomas is the man that broke in. He is the one that hurt my father and me. Nobody knew that I was pregnant except for my father and grandfather. It was never my intention for Bella to find out who I was.”
So, she has been living in Grapevine with Bella this whole time and never once reached out to her? Thought that she would be questioning where her mother was? What did she do to make her mother leave her? I can only imagine.
“Not to seem like an asshole but how could you live in the same town as her and not want to be in her life?”
