The Scandalous Billionaires Collection (68 page)

"Do you see those guys and that woman?
They're following me."

"I see three people taking a walk. How about
you stop wasting police time and do the same?"

Harrison's security detail kept their
distance but they were beginning to look antsy. One of them had
taken out a cell phone, obviously with the intention of calling his
boss.

Bella darted her hand inside the car and
shoved it to the horn. The furious police officer grabbed her arm,
twisted it sharply causing her to cry out. Demovic's people were
there in an instant.

"What's the problem officer?" The thin,
angular lady asked.

"Problem is that your friend here just
assaulted an officer and will be taken downtown for booking. That's
what the problem is."

The officer in the passenger seat was already
out of the car and behind Bella.

"Spread out."

Bella did as she was told. It was only the
second time in her life to do it, but it felt terrifyingly
familiar.

"Mr. Demovic, you need to get here right
away." One of the guards was saying.

Bella looked down at her belly again as the
cuffs were put on her.

I'm so sorry baby.
She said to her
unborn child.
I'm so, so sorry.

********************

An hour later Bella was released on bail and
into the custody of Harrison Demovic. He brought her back to his
apartment in silent rage. When she had eaten a light meal he showed
her where she would be sleeping with a minimum of conversation.

Clearly she was pushing even his patience to
the limit. How could she blame him? What had she been thinking? Run
away again? Keep hiding, keep holding onto secrets instead of
telling the truth? The more she struggled the worse it got, but how
many young guys wanted to hear they were a father after a casual
one night stand? He could put all kinds of pressure on her if he
wanted to before she had thought things fully through and one thing
she knew for sure was that she would never abandon this baby. Her
own mother had abandoned her and she would die before she did the
same thing to her own child.

She needed to have a plan in case Harrison
didn't agree and so far she wasn't doing very well at all. Once
again she was in his custody and this time he had the full force of
the law on his side. When she lay down to sleep the intensity of
the day swept her away to restless dreams and then to profound
unconsciousness. The night passed quickly and when she woke up the
next day she didn't want to open her eyes.

When she finally found the courage to do so
she wished she hadn't.

Harrison was waiting for her, sitting in
front of her bed, holding the morning papers in his hands. He was
as gorgeous as ever, but he didn’t look happy at all.

"Look at this." He said, holding up a copy of
the glossy Fame TV magazine. On the front cover was an old picture
of himself leaving a Manhattan night club with a blurred inset shot
of Bella taken from a distance. She was standing at the head of the
line of bridesmaids at his older brothers' double wedding and was
circled in red leaving no doubt as to who the girl in question
was.

'Billionaire Baby?' Was the headline.

"What is this Bella?" His expression was cold
but she could hear the hurt, the confusion, the indignation in his
voice. "What's going on?"

She began shaking her head, tears already
forming in her eyes.

"Don’t deny it." He put down the magazine and
held up the crumpled pregnancy test box which Stacy had left on the
washbasin in the bathroom.

"Harrison…" There were no words.

"Just tell me if it's true or not."

She nodded her head and waited for his
response. Stacy had betrayed her, told Steve and then they must
have sold the information to some gossip column hack.

"You've disappointed me Bella." He said. "Now
listen to me and pay very close attention. You'll have the baby of
course."

Bella felt a surge of relief. Thank God for
that at least.

Harrison stood up and turned his back to her.
"But it will be mine. This child deserves better than… better than
this." He walked to the door. "Breakfast will be served in ten
minutes. Be ready." He left the door open behind him.

The relief she had felt turned to anxiety. He
had no right, legal or otherwise, to make such a demand, no matter
how rich he was. Her baby deserved better than
that
as
well.

She found her phone and called Stacy's number
but it was Steve who answered.

"Yeah?"

"What have you done Steve? He hates me now,
you've ruined everything."

"You deserve it for double crossing me,
bitch. Now go to hell."

"Wait." She needed to speak to Stacy. "Steve,
please, is Stacey there?" Of course Steve would betray her but
Stacy? How could she have done something like this? She had to find
out. "Please let me speak to her."

"Fuck you." Steve went to hang up but there
was the sound of scuffling, some foul language and then Stacy came
to the phone.

"Honey, sweetie, I'm so sorry. I had to do
it, but you'll see. It'll all work out for the best."

"Stacy… " Bella tried hard not to hate her
old friend. "Please just explain to me why… how you could have done
this to me."

"I didn’t want to honey, believe me, but you
gotta figure, Demovic knows now. I had to make sure he knew, but
you said you weren't gonna tell him. Now he knows you got his kid
and for sure he's gonna look after you. As for Steve? He's happy.
He was mad with you for what you did last night, tricking him an
all, but now he's even with you, he made some money and the gossip
people will trust us as soon as Demovic confirms the rumor, which
he eventually will have to. Unless you call them beforehand
and--"

"No way. They can wait. No more. Stacy… God
damn it. I don’t know how much more I can protect you. Not like
this." She meant how much more she even wanted to protect her.

"It's okay honey. You did good. Just keep it
up. More things like this. Steve already got good money for the
watch and the cufflinks. Keep it up. More stuff. I gotta go honey,
he's gettin' mad again. I'll call you baby, stay strong for me and
for the baby."

The call ended and Bella let the handset fall
to the floor. She wrapped her arms around her stomach and huddled
up in the bed to cry. Breakfast would have to wait.

********************

It was weeks before the sorrowful young
mother spoke to anyone properly again. She was given a place to
live in the grounds of the vast Demovic family home. She had a
nurse on call all the time and she was ferried to the maternity
clinic for checkups like a fugitive. Suzy came to visit her
regularly but they couldn’t talk like they used to; too many things
had happened and she still wasn't explaining any of them to her old
friends. She couldn't.

She was given a generous allowance of ten
thousand dollars per month most of which she sent straight to Steve
and Stacy so at least that problem was off her mind. For now.

The hardest thing about it all was how cold
Harrison had become. He was obviously crazy about the child and all
his time and energy and love was being channeled towards this new
little being, but there was nothing left for her; the touch that
had once set her on fire from head to toe was gone and she felt the
lack of it intensely.

Of all the trials and tribulations she had
undergone in the last two months this crushing loneliness was the
worst. The only company she had was the little baby inside her and
she feared what would happen when the child was eventually born.
Surely they couldn't take it from her? They couldn't be that
heartless and even if they were rich that didn’t meant they could
do whatever they wanted.

She had considered running away but it made
no sense to do so. At least Harrison had had her legal case against
the police dismissed so she wouldn’t be evading the law, but what
about Stacy? What about retribution from Steve? Add to this that
she was watched twenty-four hours a day and never allowed to go
anywhere alone and how exactly would she even manage to get away?
If she did escape then where would she go anyway and how would she
survive? To top it all she was getting more pregnant by the day and
why would anyone take their child away from ten thousand dollars a
month and a stable home environment to go on the road living like a
fugitive?

She was sitting in her living room reading a
baby book and waiting for Suzy to arrive. Not that she really
wanted to see her friend, but she rarely was given a choice in
anything these days.

There was a heavy knock on the door.

"Come on in." She said.

The door opened and she was surprised to see
both Harrison and Suzy enter together. This was going to be hard.
The two people who made her feel the most guilty and ashamed here
at the same time. She picked up her book and stared at the page but
really she couldn't concentrate on the words at all. She just
wanted to hide.

"Put the book down Bella." Harrison said.

Everything he said to her lately made her
want to rebel. If he said sit she wanted to stand. If he said stand
she wanted to jump. But there was no point. What would any of it
get her?

She closed the book but held onto it.

"There's no need to be such an ass Harrison."
Suzy said and then sat down next to her friend, putting her arm
around her. "This is the mother of your child."

"Yes Harrison." Bella said accusingly. "The
paternity test made us all quite sure of that."

"Bella, come on," Suzy said, acting as
arbitrator between her two friends, "of course Harrison had to have
a test done, but no-one ever doubted you."

She understood that perfectly, but it still
hurt her to think about it.

"Of course." Harrison said. His voice sounded
softer than she had heard it in weeks, not since he had learned
about his impending fatherhood in the gossip magazines. She looked
up hopefully, seeking a glimmer of affection, but saw nothing in
his dark eyes.

"What are you here for?" Bella said. "I mean,
the two of you together. What's going on?"

Suzy looked at Harrison as though seeking
permission to go ahead. He nodded to her and she began.

"It's like this Bella, we know you've been…
under a lot of stress since… since the wedding." Suzy was
struggling to choose her words carefully but stress didn’t even
begin to describe what Bella had been experiencing.

"You don’t need to make excuses for me." She
said. "I've put you all through hell and I know it, but I have my
reasons and as I've said before, I can't reveal them to you. Not
yet. Maybe not ever."

"And you won't have to." Harrison
interrupted. "Because we know exactly what's been going on."

Bella stared at him in disbelief and then
looked at Suzy.

"What's he talking about?" Then she looked
back to Harrison. "What do you think is going on?"

"Everything Bella, we know everything and you
don’t have to worry any more, we're going to take care of it. It's
all over as of now."

He put his hand out and rested it on hers.
She wanted to believe him that the nightmare was over, but instead
she pulled her hand away again. Things could never be that
easy.

"You don't know what you think you know." She
said. "There's nothing you can do. Maybe you think you can, but
it's more complicated than you realize."

If Harrison was hurt by the withdrawal of her
hand he didn’t show it.

"We've been watching Steve since the day he
came into my office and told me he knew where you'd run away
to."

Bella began to tremble; she had the giddy
feeling that her personal journey into hell was either coming to a
close or that it was about to get even worse.

"We know what he is and we know he's been
taking all of the money from your account. He's a con artist. He's
been one his whole life. Him and that woman you think is your
friend."

Bella balked at the mention of Stacy. She was
the one that all of this was about; she was the one who needed
protection.

"You don’t know anything about her Harrison,
you don't know what she did for me--" she halted in mid sentence
and looked at Suzy. She had never talked about her criminal past
with her best friend.

"It's okay Bella. I know about your past. A
little anyway, only what was absolutely necessary to know in order
to get on board with this."

"You don’t understand. None of you do. She
saved my life on the inside and then--"

"And then on the outside you abandoned her."
Harrison said. His words weren't accusing, just matter of fact. "Of
course you did." He continued. "You wanted to get away from your
old life. You did the right thing because Stacy is no good. She
might have been good to you in prison, but on the outside, in the
real world, she's not a friend to anyone, not even to herself.
Believe me that woman has already had her second chance and her
third and fourth a long time ago."

"It's not true. Steve has you fooled. Somehow
he's made it look like that."

"She resents you." Suzy said. "Stacy hates
you because you cut off all contact with her and then when she saw
you in the news, close to the Demovic family, she saw her chance to
get revenge and make some money at the same time. She and Steve
came up with this plan together."

"You don’t understand, he's beating her,
torturing her."

"They fight all the time Suzy. He's got cuts
and bruises too. They've been using you to get to Harrison. You
don’t owe them anything." Suzy watched her friend struggle with
this new reality, willing her to accept it even as she recoiled
from the truth.

"I don't believe it. How do you even know
this? How can you be so sure?"