~ Bella ~Dylan Shelby smiled at me familiarly. "Remember me, Bella?"I blinked in surprise. "Am I supposed to?" I asked, instinctively leaning closer to look at him. I squinted at his face.From the moment he walked into the room, he'd struck me as someone familiar but I'd assumed be simply had one of those faces.He was a good looking man, that was for sure. But wouldn't I know if I'd met such a good looking man before?Something niggled at my memory. Dylan... Dylan Shelby.... Dylan! "Oh my god! You're Dylan! Dylan Myers."He smiled and nodded. "That's right, little Bell. About time you remembered me.""Oh my gosh! You've grown do much!" Now I remembered why he looked so familiar and yet so unfamiliar at the same time.The memory of the face was over a decade younger. Dylan Myers had attended the same school as I did.He was in high school when I was in middle school. I'd had the biggest crush on him back then. I'd followed him around like a love sick puppy back then and somehow, h
~ Nikolai ~Bella, Bella!She didn't know how close I was to ripping Dylan's head off his shoulder.Or I suppose I should say 'Little Bell' Instead. I scoffed.Her face was as bright as a tomato, eyes shining like little stars.If I didn't know better, I'd think this guy was the one who put the stars in the sky.I'd never seen her look at me like that. Hell, she'd never looked at Parker that way either.It was so child-like. Like a child seeing cotton candy for the first time.It was infuriating...and she'd never looked so pretty.I frowned at Dylan and leaned forward, purposely cutting off their stupid little staring game.One more second and Karl would pop out snarling and we'd have a bloody murder on our hands.Murdering someone in the middle of a police station probably wouldn't be the best."That's not the important question here," I pointed out.Thanks to Bella being so wonder-struck, she wasn't even asking the real questions here.The man was sitting here in jail. It wasn't bec
~ Bella ~After making that scary as hell declaration, Nikolai stormed off, leaving me in the parking lot.I knew he wanted me to believe that he would kill Dylan or anyone who showed the remotest interest in me, but I couldn't bring myself to do it."What was that about?" I heard behind me suddenly.I spun around. "Oh, Dylan! Sorry, I didn't hear you come up.""What was that about?" he repeated, frowning. "He's not threatening you or anything, is he?" he demanded.Before I could even answer, Dylan was suddenly off his feet.Literally! He was dangling with his feet off the ground while Boulin held him up by the scruff of his neck."Oh my gosh, Boilin!" I screamed. "Put him down right this minute!" He gave me a side eyed look."I know him! He's the client I came here to see!" Hearing that, he finally let Dylan down and stamped away to stand a few steps away from us.Dylan watched with walk away with a shocked look on his face."What the hell is that," he muttered. "It's not a thing.
~ Bella ~"You look like shit. What's wrong?" Nikolai asked the moment I trudged in.He didn't need to tell me. I knew I looked horrid. I saw myself in the mirror this morning.My eyes were red, puffy and swollen from crying a bit and tossing and turning the entire night.I looked like a zombie in a poster for an apocalyptic movie.Maggie followed me with her eye, a concerned look on her face.Boulin, as usual, was staring straight ahead expressionlessly.I wasn't in the mood to answer any questions. I breezed past Nikolai, Maggie and Boulin.Nikolai followed me... of course. No such thing as some time to yourself when he was around."Why are you here so early anyway?" I grumbled."Because I simply couldn't wait to get Dylan's case started," he said drily."Nice sarcasm," I muttered and flopped down into my chair."What's up with you really?" he asked again, sitting across from me. "You look like you didn't sleep a wink last night.""I didn't," I conceded."Why? Was it because of the
~ Bella ~She looked at me with eyes shiny with tears. "I just know!" She said emphatically.She turned to look at the baby in her husband's arms. "That's not my baby," she said.That kind of certainty was surreal. It also raised the fear that if it turned out that the baby was in fact theirs, they would either be riddled with guilt for the rest of their lives or the wouldn't be able to love her anymore.The more reason to get a move on with the DNA Test so the truth could be revealed on time. Before any permanent damages we're done.What I didn't tell them is that it was next to impossible for the hospital to have made such a 'mistake'.I'd spent a bit of time reading up on it this morning and hospitals have a very specific system.Once the child is born, they slap a tag with the parents name on its wrist immediately before leaving the room.That way the chances of there being any mistake was slim to none.Either someone completely forgot to do that and the hospital was trying to co
~ Bella ~Nikolai carried me into the room despite all my arguments to the contrary. He carried me all the way to the bed and carefully laid me on it.The moment he set me down, I sprung into a sitting position and cross my arms. "Where am I?" I asked stubbornly.He pushed me back down. I sprung up again. "I asked you a question!" I demanded.He threw his hands up. "Alright! I'll tell you! Just lay down, will you?"This time when he pushed me into a lying position, I stayed down but kept my hands crossed over my chest and kept frowning."This," he waved his arm around the room, "is a hotel. You looked so exhausted. You could have very well fallen dead at any moment. I figured you can use some rest.""So you just upped and brought me to a hotel!?" I exclaimed. "In the middle of the day!? I should be at work right now.""No, you should be resting right now. It's the only way you can work efficiently anyway. You can't be productive feeling like that," he argued."But still! B-bringing
~ Bella ~With a giant yelp, I tumbled backwards and landed heavily in Nikolai's lap.I smacked him upside of the head. His only response was a light laugh."Like what you see?" He asked.I blushed furiously. I struggled to get out of his lap but he locked his arms around me. Try as I might, I couldn't break his grip."Let me up, Nikolai!" I exclaimed, struggling against him."I see that you've regained your strength. That's good," he teased.I gave up. I couldn't even budge him. I folded my arms and huffed in annoyance. "I can't believe you fell asleep too," I said sourly. "What a guard you are. If someone was trying to attack me, you'd be--""Awake and holding their heads in my hand before they could get past the door," he said. His voice was cold with assurance and a touch of male pride.I smirked. "Really? I got pretty close to you without you realizing," I pointed out.He smirked right back. "And I knew the very moment you woke up. I know how you crawled your way one inch at a t
~ Bella ~Nikolai was out the door and dashing across the parking lot before I knew what was happening. I turned to my door and pushed it open. I jumped out and ran forward.Nikolai was no where in sight. How did he disappear so fast? I picked up my speed, running in the direction I saw him take off in."Nikolai? Nikolai?" I shouted over and over again as I searched for him.But there was no sign of him. I got to the end of the parking lot when suddenly someone jumped in front of me.I screamed and jumped back. They reached out and grabbed me by the shoulders."What the fuck do you think you're doing?" A familiar voice spat.I sagged in relief and opened my eyes to see Nikolai standing in front of me. "Oh, it's you," I muttered."Why did you do that?" He asked, his voice bristling with annoyance."What?" I asked defensively, bristling at his tone."Why did you come after me?" He clarified hotly.I shrugged. "I don't know," I muttered. "You just took off like that. I didn't know why o