CHAPTER TWO

Bella’s POV

I wake up in a dark room, the warm glow of the sun peeking in from behind the thick curtains. I sit up as memories from the night before attack me and push the sheets away to inspect my body. There’s a bandage around my leg, covering a wound on my right shin, and a few bandaids here and there. There’s also a wet towel on the night stand beside me, resting in an empty bowl.

The door opens and a man walks in. I panic and pull the sheets over myself to cover my exposed legs since I am now only wearing underwear and an oversized T-shirt.

“You’re awake,” he states. He walks over to the other side of the room, pulling the curtains back to illuminate the room.

“How do you feel?” He asks. I stare at him suspiciously. Mostly because he’s a stranger but also because he looks familiar. 

“Not good,” I reply honestly. He nods. “I was going to take you to the hospital but I didn’t want to draw any attention to myself,” he says. I frown, not knowing what he means. And soon I recognise him.

“Table six,” I blurt straight from my memory. He stares back blankly. “You’re the guy from the restaurant,” I add.

“Right,” he nods. “I’m glad you remember me, Bella. Makes this less awkward.”

I let out a sigh. Judging by the luxurious room and the branded pillowcases, I’m in a hotel room. With him. 

“You just nursed me all by yourself?” I ask. “Yes. You weren’t severely injured so I was able to take care of it with a first aid kit.”

He doesn’t seem like the kind of man that has the time to help strangers. Especially when they’re unconscious on the side of the street.

“Why?” I can’t help it but ask. He doesn’t respond. Instead, he pours me a glass of orange juice from the small table by the window and brings it to me.

“Drink this. Let me know when you’re ready to go home.”

“Home?”

I take the glass from him. “Yes. Is that a foreign concept to you?” He asks in that vaguely sarcastic tone of his that makes me shift uncomfortably in the bed.

“I have nowhere to go,” I confess. He remains silent for a while, and when he opens his mouth to say something before the sound of the doorbell interrupts him.

He opens the door and receives a gift bag. “Thank you,” he says before closing the door.

“You really don’t have anywhere to go?” He says, eyeing me suspiciously. I nod, showing him a small, sad smile. “No.”

He leaves the bag on the night stand. “Put these on and meet me in the lobby.”

I scramble out of the bed and look through the bag as soon as he’s out the door. New clothes. 

I scoff at myself, and at the odds that this is really happening. But I’m too exhausted to overthink right now.

I slip on the new clothes and meet him in the lobby as instructed.

“Hungry,” he asks as I approach him. He’s been standing there in a fancy suit, waiting patiently.

I shake my head. “Not really. I’m a little nervous,” I admit.

“I’m taking you to brunch,” he insists. 

I follow him out the entrance and into his car and he drives off.

We arrive at the brunch place he mentioned. I had no idea a place like this existed in the city. It is well hidden, but packed wit people when we walk in.

“Right this way, sir,” a waiter says as soon as he says us. He takes us to a table at the far end of the large space, with a card that says ‘reserved’ sitting on it. 

The waiter pulls a chair back for me and I sit, with him sitting right at the other side of the round table.

“The usual sir?” The waiter asks. 

“Yes. Same for her,” he replies. 

I’m still nervous by the time the food arrives, but the smell of fresh, delicious, mouth-watering food makes my stomach churn and grumble loud enough for him to notice.

He doesn’t say anything. Instead, we both eat in silence as I watch care and people pass by through the large window.

His phone buzzes an alarming number of times while we eat, but he ignores whatever calls or messages he’s getting until we’re out of the building.

“Where are we going?” I ask when he drives off again.

“I’m spending the night at my cabin outside town. I’ll give you a place to stay for now until you decide what you’re going to do about your situation,” he replies.

“Okay,” I say, even though I haven’t the slightest clue what I’m going to do about said *situation*.

The rest of the drive is silent. I fall asleep in the car and my body jerks awake instinctively as soon as the car stops.

“We’re here.”

He called it a cabin but it’s bigger than half the houses in the city.

It’s beautiful, inside and out. I look around in amazement as we step in.

“Make yourself comfortable,” he says. But it might be difficult since everything looks so perfect and neat that I feel like I shouldn’t even be in here.

“Follow me. I’ll show you where you can sleep.”

I follow him up the stairs, hearing them squeak as his shoes thud over them. There are three doors, two bedrooms and a bathroom. He shows me to the one by the left. 

“You can take a nap, a shower, whatever. There’s food in the kitchen if you’d like to fix yourself something to eat. Just try not to bother me while I work,” he says. I wouldn’t dream of it. “Okay.”

He disappears down the stairs and once I’m sure he’s gone, I take a peak in his bedroom.

Standing right behind the door frame, I poke my head in. There’s a small furry rug beside the bed and some slippers, and the colours are are monotonous as the rest of the cabin. It smells like freshly plucked cherries and spice. It smells like him.

I back away and close the door before walking into the other room. It looks exactly like his, but with a vanity desk and mirror, and a bigger closet. Now that I think about it, it seems a woman has been in here or… comes here. 

I shrug, sitting by the desk. My reflection startles me.

I look like a sick dog but with more hair and more visible bruises. I sigh, rubbing my face in embarrassment. He’s been looking at me, and I have been looking like this, too spent to consider how awful I must appear.

As if I hadn’t embarrassed myself enough at the restaurant yesterday.

He must think I’m a mess. 

I shake my head. Who cares what he thinks? He’s just trying to help. It’s not like he would ever be interested in me. Unfortunately.

I walk to the bathroom and clean myself as best as I can without touching my injuries, but the water still stings all the exposed bruises. 

I wrap a towel around myself and return to the bedroom, looking through the vanity desk for anything that would make me look a little better. Thankfully, it is stocked up with los of essentials, just like the bathroom.

I am so relaxed by the time I put my clothes back on that I fall asleep on the bed again.

It’s nearly evening when I wake up. There’s no sound of cars swishing by or noisy neighbours. There’s no smell of alcohol, and my body isn’t in fight or flight mode. I can’t remember the last time I felt so calm.

I take a moment to enjoy the silent peace, before heading downstairs.

I find him shuffling around the kitchen trying to prepare a meal. Everything already smells so good.

"Can I borrow your phone?" I ask. 

Wiping his hands off on a kitchen towel, he walks past me and into the living room, pulling open a drawer and handing me a phone.

"Use this for as long as you need," he says. He return to preparing dinner as soon as I take it.

I power on the device, clicking on the call button and dialing the only number I know.

She picks up after two rings. "Bella?"

"I lost my phone."

"Where the hell are you?" she snaps. "I've been waiting for you at the hospital."

"Hospital?"

She's silent for a while. "You don't know?" she asks slowly, cautiously.

My heart drops and suddenly I'm so cold that my hands are shaking. Something terrible must have happened.

"Mark was poisoned. He's in the hospital as we speak. His mother is here too and she has asked me to call you like fifteen times now. The doctor says it's not looking good," she explains.

I stand frozen in a stranger's living room, unable to speak or move as I try to recollect my memories from last night. But it's all a blurry mess of uncertainty, and I'm so confused that it deeply upsets me.

"What?"

Norah sighs. "You weren't with him then." She pauses. "Wait, who called the ambulance then?"

"Norah I don't know what's going on or how he ended up in the hospital but we had a huge fight last night after he drugged me. I managed to escape but I was out cold before I could get far enough away from him," I tell her.

"Where are you now? I'm coming to get you," she says.

"I was rescued."

"By who?"

"Some guy. I don't think I can be there right now but I'll come as soon as I can. You should just go home," I say.

She's silent again for a while. I hear her take a deep breath.

"Bella..."

"Norah, I'll be fine--"

"No, it's not that. I just... Does this have anything to do with you?"

It takes me a while for me to understand what she's asking. 

"Are you asking me if I... poisoned him?"

She hesitates. "Bella, I wouldn't care if you stabbed him to death," she whispers. "That son of a bitch deserves it. I just need to know so that I can cover it up for you. If you need to leave the country I-"

"Norah," I sigh. "I didn't do it." I wish I did. I wish I could've been the one to make him suffer.

"Oh."

I hear footsteps approaching. 

"I'll be in touch," I say before hanging up and crossing my hands behind me as if I've done something bad.

"It's Oliver."

He stares down at me with his hands tucked in his pockets.

"You called me some guy," he continues, sensing my confusion. "My name is Oliver."

"Oh."

"Look I don't know what you've got going on for you and I really don't care. I'll only help you if you don't get me involved," he says, with so much finality that it scares me a little. He's not kidding.

I nod.

"Dinner's ready."

***

4am.

The cabin door rattles with three loud bangs, followed by another three, and then another.

It makes me wonder who the hell would come here this early in the morning and why they’re being so demanding.

I rush downstairs to find Oliver behind the door and when he opens it, two large men stand glaring at him.

“The doorbell is just as effective, you know,” he says sarcastically.

“We’re looking for a lady named Bella,” one of them says ignoring his tone, while the other peaks into the house over Oliver’s shoulder. My heart skips as his eyes land on me.

Oliver steps aside, allowing them in. He doesn’t seem to care why these scary people are here before dawn asking for me.

“If you plan on taking her, do it quickly. I’d really like to get back to bed.”

My jaw drops in shock as I stand frozen at the bottom of the stairs.

They walk in, one of them surveys the area while the other walks up to me.

“Miss Ward, please come with us,” he says.

“Did my father send you?”

“Yes. He asked us to bring you home as soon as possible.” he turns to Oliver. “Apologies, Mr. Knigth. We didn’t mean to disturb you.”

Oliver glares, but doesn’t say a word.

“After all these years, he only send his men after me now?” I say folding my arms. “I won’t go.”

“Miss, please don’t make this any more difficult than it already is. We can’t leave without you.”

I glance at Oliver again, hoping for some kind of intervention. He stares blankly, as if waiting for me to leave.

Great.

Realizing that I have no defense, and no chances of escaping them, I sigh in defeat. I should leave with what's left of my dignity.

"Fine."