Chapter 1

Belle's POV

"No." I screamed. "I am not leaving him" 

Christian's father turned from where his son laid on the bed in the large room to look at me. There was fire in his eyes, ready to burn at the slightest annoyance.

"It's not a request young lady." He said sternly. "You are going to leave and never come back. Do you understand me?" He asked.

I shook my head uncontrollably. He couldn't do this to me. I wasn't going to allow him do this to me. I knew how much money and power he had but it wasn't right for him to destroy my relationship and life easily like this.

"Christian will be crushed when he wakes up. He will look for me and if he realizes that I'm gone, I…."

I was sobbing profusely as the sound of the rain broke through the windows.

He was lying down there. Christian, the love of my life was lying down there, connected to life support machines and his parents wanted me to just leave him there. For no just cause.

"He won't even remember you."I shifted my gaze to the weak voice that spoke. Christian's petite mother looked at me, tears in her eyes as she held her son's hands. She has not left his hands ever since she entered the room. She had prayed, cried, spoken words to him, asking him to wake up.

"You don't even know if he is ever going to wake up and there you speak of him being crushed. Remember he is lying here because of you"she said.

"What?"I asked unable to control the tears running down my eyes. "What do you mean by that?"

"He is in this condition because of your recklessness. I knew you weren't good enough for my son. He is just with you out of pity. You are not his type of woman"

I was surprised at what was coming out from her mouth. I knew she didn't like me. But saying that was just too much of her.

I felt a hand yank my shoulders pushing me close to the door of Christian's large room. I resisted the force to fall and used my hands to protect myself from the door.

Christian's father, Alexander pointed his long fingers at me.

"Go back to that little crib you call home and leave my son alone if you do not want to lose the people and little things in your life." He said.

The threat was a surprise to me but that didn't stop it from carrying enough weight. Knowing the type of family Christian had, I knew he meant every thing he said.

"Please." I begged one last time. "Don't do this to me and Christian. He will never forgive you if he finds out."

"Allow us to worry about that." Alexander said to me. "Leave."

His voice was calm and at that point, I knew nothing else would make him change his mind. I was an ordinary girl and the fact that their only son was in love with me, was something they hated with the fibre of their beings.

"Make sure you avoid Christian with everything you've got. Make sure both your paths never crosses if you want to continue to see your parents alive" 

Alexander added.

The threats were getting bigger. There was nothing else to do. I had my parents to protect from the claws of the Martins and that should be the most important thing. I took one last look at Christian, he was still lying there, very still and turning my back, I walked out of the room. I never stopped walking, until I left the big mansion. 

And into the rain.

Five years later.. 

I stood outside the housing registry, counting my breath and gathering the courage to go in and demand for an explaination to the letter I had received an hour ago.

Bernard, my best friend and boss had told me to be careful and diplomatic no matter the situation I meet inside and that was what I was going to be. 

I walked into the registry, demanding to see whoever was in charge of giving exit notices. I was directed to him and immediately I was settled in the office, I began to speak to the large man occupying the seat.

"I demand to know why I am being evicted from a house owned by my parents." I said going straight to the point.

The man whose name I discovered to be Patrick Mendosa because of the tag sitting at his desk, shifted his glasses at me.

"Good afternoon Miss or Mrs……? "He said reminding me of my manners and demanding to know my name at the same time.

I didn't care about my manners. This wasn't the time to worry about manners.

"Madrigal." I answered to his question and waited for his response which he took his time in giving.

"I'm not the person you should be seeing for this matter" he replied later.

I blinked at him.

"But I was directed to your office."I said.

"You should complain at the counter. You only come here when you are ready to pay your lease"be said.

"Lease?" I asked. "One doesn't pay a lease for something that belongs to him or her." I replied trying my best not to scream at the top of my lungs.

"Like I said ma'am. Go to the counter." He said cooly.

"To hell with you." I shouted, surprised that something that harsh could come out of me and stomped out of his office.

I located the counter he had spoken of quite easily and went straight to them.

"Hello, how can we help you?" A pretty lady asked me.

I banged the eviction letter I had received on the counter, angry to the core not only because of the letter, but also because of the time I had wasted sitting at the arrogant dude's office.

"I was served an eviction letter today." I said, trying my best to control the heat in my voice.

"Okay. And?" She asked.

"AND I'm confused seeing the fact that my parents own the HOUSE!!!" I screamed.

The lady turned her head to the other people inside the building whom I was sure was staring at me and offered them a smile. Then she turned back to me, still staying polite.

"What is the name and the location of the property miss?" She asked.

"Belle." I replied. "Belle Madrigal. Block 624, 6th street, St Louis." I said calming myself down.

She typed something in the system and raised her head to look at me seconds later.

"The property in question Miss Belle, was left to you by your parents." She declared.

I breathed twice, relaxed that the mistake was about to be solved.

"Yes"I replied.

"Well, they had used it as collateral to collect a loan three years ago. The deal was to take the property if they didn't pay up the loan." She announced to me.

"What?" I exclaimed, turning the computer directly to face me. I stared at the words on the screen, unable to believe my ears and eyes. I had stormed here demanding an apology, it shouldn't be the other way round.

What did my parents use a loan of that much amount to do? I wondered. The house had been very important to them when they were alive. They had always wanted me to have it. 

How could they have used it as a collateral?

"There should be a mistake somewhere." I said calmly as the situation began to dawn on me. 

"There's no mistake miss. Your parents took a loan of thirty thousand dollars and used the house as a collateral. You have until two months to make the payment or you evict the house." The young lady continued.

I took two steps backward feeling weak in my knees and was surprised at the strong arms that held me from behind. I didn't turn to look at whom my savior was, not until he called my name.

"Belle"

My heart skipped twice. I knew that voice. Only one person in the whole world was capable of possessing that voice. A voice that could move me to my knees whenever it wanted. A voice so calm, one that I had been running away from for the past five years. And one I wasn't sure I deserved to hear, not today, not ever.

"Belle" The voice called again and closing my eyes, I turned.