~ Nikolai ~I stood behind Bella, quietly listening as she delivered the information we'd gotten to our clients.She told them what we'd learnt from Emily and Tony that they'd been offered money by the Campbells to sue them."What!?" Isabella exclaimed. "Why would they do that?" "Competition, I imagine," Bella said.All sports are highly competitive. It was no surprise that people would do anything they could to get ahead.Bella paused. "I'm sorry. Were you close with them?" She asked, ever the empathetic queen."No," Isabella answered in a quiet voice. "But we've run in the same competitions over time. We're acquaintances, at least.""I understand," Bella said. "I'm sorry. Anyway, like I was saying, I doubt that they would be willing to get involved in the matter at all anymore seeing how it now involves a murder.""I imagine not," Isaiah agreed."They'll try to wash their hands of the whole matter. They won't want to offer the family any money so the family members have no reason
~ Bella ~"Bella, you have a package," Maggie said, walking into my office."A package?" I asked wonderingly. "I didn't order anything."She held a brown envelope in her hand. "Well, it has your name on it and I found it on the floor in front of the door.""Okay, thank you," I said, taking it from her. She nodded and headed back out to her office.The envelope was sealed shut. I grabbed a pair of scissors and used it to open up the envelope. I turned it over and the content fell out onto the picture.Frowning, I picked them up. There were four pictures in all. I turned them over and gasped.They were pictures of Nikolai and Ahmad coming out of Tony's apartment. The first one had Nikolai alone while the other three had Ahmad in the back.Why would someone send these to me? Was it the same person who sent our pictures to the media? According to what we'd heard, they'd also received the pictures in their mail.Why send the same picture to me again? Maybe there was a note or something?
~ Bella ~Nikolai was smiling at me in the weirdest way. "What? Why are you smiling?" I asked uneasily. For one, he'd given in too easily to my demand to have just one bodyguard and now he was smiling too? That couldn't be good for me."What? Can't a man smile anymore?" He asked, smirking."Nope! Nope! A man can smile. But you're not a man. You smiling is scary cause it means you have something up your sleeves. So I'll ask again. Why are you smiling?" I demanded.He shrugged. "No reason. Come downstairs for a second. I want to introduce you to someone," he said.I eyed him suspiciously but he just blinked innocently at me. I sighed and followed him. "I have a feeling I'm not going to like this," I muttered."You never know. Don't conclude too fast," he shot back.I rolled my eyes. We got downstairs and walked through the parking lot to his car. Ahmad and Boulin snapped to attention when we arrived. "Alpha Nikolai," Ahmad said. Boulin, as usual, didn't say a word.I frowned, bendi
~ Bella ~Suddenly seeing Boulin standing in front of my door shocked me. I'd completely forgotten that Nikolai said he'd be my body guard from now."Oh, sorry, Boulin. I forgot you were here. I didn't mean to scream," I said and waited to see if he would respond. After a few seconds, he nodded. Phew! It was the most response I'd ever gotten out of him. "I'm in a hurry right now. I'm going out for lunch. So...I don't know how this works but if you're going with me then we have to leave right now."I hurried downstairs and he followed me. When I got to my car, I looked around. Nikolai's car was gone. Ahmad would have driven him away.That meant that all that was left was my car. My small, compact, feminine car. I looked Boulin over."What are we going to do now?" I asked. "I'm not sure you can fit inside my car."He reached out and grabbed the car door handle, giving me a meaningful look."Hum...okay, if you say so," I muttered and went over to the driver's side. I opened the lock
~ Bella ~I ignored Parker's shocked look and kept on eating."Guess what?" He said."What?" I asked, finally looking up.He leaned close to me and whispered. "That was incredibly hot!"I laughed. I'd been concerned about nothing again, as usual. Sweet Parker!"Yeah?" I said. "Maybe next time I'll say a little something for you then."He smiled. "Can't wait!" He said.We went back to eating. A few minutes passed in silence then I remembered that I'd brought along some files to show to him."Oh right! I wanted to show you something," I said. I pulled out the files from my bag and slid them over to him.He carefully moved his plate aside. "What are these?" He asked even as he reached for them."I'm thinking of taking on a new case. These are three options I have short tlisted. I wanted to know your opinion," I said."Oh, okay," he said. He picked up the files one by one and began to read through them. While he did, I kept eating.I looked over to the side and saw that Boulin still hadn'
~ Bella ~"How would I do that?" I asked. Nikolai just told me to tell him what I had to say face to face but he wasn't even here.How could I do that over the phone?Just then, my door opened and Nikolai stepped in.My heart soared at the sight of me. I shoved down the feeling as quick as it sprung."How did you get here?" I exclaimed. intoHe smiled. "After I finished up with my business, I decided to come see you. I know you must have been missing me."I rolled my eyes. "Or maybe it's you who was missing me?" I quipped.He held my eyes. "Yes," he said plainly.I swallowed. This mas going to be the death of me. No doubt about it."So what did you want to tell me?" he asked, sitting and crossing his legs."I had to go out to lunch today and naturally, Boulin had to follow me because you instructed him to.""Okay...?" he drawled."He had to follow me! In my tiny ass car! Do you know how uncomfortable that was for him? He was squished up like a pretzel!"He began to laugh. I eyed him
~ Bella ~"Wanna go on a drive?" He asked, jiggling the keys in front of my face.I sighed. "Is no a viable answer?" I asked even though I already knew the answer to that."Nope," he said cheerily and opened the door to the driver's seat. "My lady," he said, ushering me into the car.I signed and jumped in, snatching the key from his hand. He headed around the car to the other side to get in.When he was about halfway around the car, a sinister thought jumped into my mind. A smirk broke out on my face.I hit the panel by my door and the locks clicked close. Nikolai made it around to the passenger side. He looked up and first saw the look on my face. "No, no!' he mouthed first, his voice muffled through the mirror.He shook his head warningly and reached for the car door. I made sure he had time to grab hold of the handle before gunning the engine.The car roared to life. I pressed down on the accelerator and the car took off under me. I drove aimlessly for a good fifteen minutes
"Well, I have to go now but I'll be seeing you," Nikolai said. With a smile and a jaunty wave, he was gone, leaving me to deal with the aftermath of our little tryst.Maggie was still standing in the doorway, looking at me. I turned to her slowly, sheepishly."Guess what?" I asked. Her eyebrow shot up in question.I raised the key in my hand in front of her face and jiggled it.She frowned. "What is that?" "Nikolai bought me a car," I said.Maggie gasped. She leapt forward and snatched the key from my hand. She gushed as she examined the key closely, turning it over in her palm over and over again.What she walked in on--or out on--was completely forgotten in that moment."He bought you a car!?" She exclaimed.I nodded. "It's in the parking lot," I supplied, starting to feel giddy again as I caught on to Maggie's excitement."Take me to see it right this minute!" She demanded.I giggled. "Yes, ma'am. Right this way." I stepped aside, bowed and pointed in the direction of the stai