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The floorof my room is littered with tabloid articles I printed about Belle. The idiots reporting on the band seem to have figured out who Belle is. Took them long enough. They just immediately assumed she was Kai’s bimbo of the week.
Not that I cared. She’s a whore and would deserve the negative attention.
But I need them to know who she really is for my plan to work.
I pick up one of the papers to my left and examine the article. Some tabloids are reporting that the band is breaking up since they’re at the end of their contract and haven’t resigned. They’re calling her this generation’s Yoko.
I snort. I would love for that dumb band to be no more, but claiming Belle has that power is laughable. Continuing to shuffle through all the articles provides no new information. She’s on tour and sometimes she’s seen with Malikai. I can’t fathom how this is print worthy.
Then my phone pings. I set an alert with Belle’s name attached so I would know of anything new immediately. I frown with confusion at what I see.
“Belle and Cal are back in the States?” I mutter to myself. I read the article and there’s a picture attached of them at a private airstrip in Boston. “What the fuck?” The article doesn’t know why they’re here or where the rest of the band is. Maybe that article about the band breaking up is accurate. Either way, it’s made this job a little easier.
That bitch filed a restraining order against me when she left. There’s no way authorities wouldn’t be alerted if I left the country. But driving from Maine to Massachusetts? I can easily do that without them knowing.
I quickly grab my keys and race to my car. I’m backing out of my parking space when my phone rings over the car’s Bluetooth.
“What?” I bark.
“Mr. Foley? This is Martha with Maine Medical. Your mother has made progress in her speech therapy and was able to ask for you just now. Will you come see her?”
Fuck! I sit in my car, halfway out of the parking spot and not sure what to do.
“She’s asking for me?” I reiterate. My mother hasn’t been able to speak for months. I’ve been using funds I skimmed from her company to pay for her care since my boss stopped the payments until I get Belle back under control.
“She was quite demanding that I call you and get you here.”
Belle is within reach, and I need to go get her. But there’salways a chance her brother will be stuck to her side like glue. It might take longer than I’d like before I can see my mother.
“I’m on my way,” I hang up before the nurse has a chance to respond.
The drive to the hospital is short, and I stride by the nurse’s station without bothering to glance their way. I’ve been here enough. They know who I am and should know better than to stop me.
“Mother?” I ask quietly, stepping into the private room her company is now unknowingly paying for.
“B-B-Brad,” she stutters. I contain my wince at her muddled words. She wouldn’t be happy to see that look on my face, even if she doesn’t have the strength to slap it off me right now.
“You asked for me?” I take the seat next to her bedside. You’d think with all the money I’m paying for this room; they would provide more comfortable chairs.
“Belle?” she asks simply.
Oh, she can say Belle’s name, but not mine? What is with everyone’s obsession with this girl? She’s as boring as a fucking brick.
“Apparently, she’s in Boston. I just got the alert on my phone before I was summoned here.”
My mother tries to glare at me, but the left side of her face is still frozen.
“I’ll get her back.”
“Y-You b-bet-ter.”
I contain my eye roll. My mother is the reason I have to deal with Belle in the first place. She made a deal with a man way more powerful than she is and now I’m somehow stuckfacing the consequences of that. I don’t even know what the fucking deal was. I can guess, though. Her company was going under and then suddenly it was super successful, and I had a girlfriend I didn’t want.
“Did you just want a status report?” I ask, trying to keep my tone from betraying my annoyance. I could be halfway to Boston by now and not listening to the stuttering the nurse is calling ‘progress.’
“C-Company f-f-f-fails. We f-fail. You f-fail.”
“I get it, Mother. If I don’t get her back, we’re both fucked.” I wouldn’t normally speak to her this way, but there isn’t much she can do about it right now.
