CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 4

SIX YEARS LATER

Bella stepped off the plane, her heels clicking softly against the airport floor. She adjusted her dark sunglasses, and waving her hair backwards, obscuring her features just enough to blend into the busy crowd.

Six years had passed since bella had left, broken,betrayed and shattered.But she was not the same Bella who had walked away with nothing.

Gone was the broken girl who’d left the city—Bella had returned as someone different, someone stronger, someone who’d learned to rely on herself.

she is now a successful, self-made woman with her own modeling agency, a reputation for excellence, and respect.

Beside her is her son tugged at her hand, his eyes wide with excitement. He has been looking forward to this trip, a mix of curiosity and wonder filling his young face as he turn his neck around time to time looking at the busy terminal.

“Can I look around, Mom?” he asked, pulling gently away.

“Alright,” she said with a small smile, “but stay close.”

Before she could blink, he was dashing through a small cluster of passengers, and her heart skipped as she moved to follow him. Just as she spotted him a few feet ahead, she froze, her breath catching.

Bella’s heart skipped a beat as she watched him collide head-on with a tall man, the sight stopping her cold. The man steadied himself and looked down at the boy, his brow furrowing as he offered a gentle smile.

There, standing directly in her son’s path, was Lucas.

He was a bit older, sharper—still unmistakably him, but with an intensity in his eyes she hadn’t seen before. Bella felt a rush of emotions threaten her composure: fear, anger, and a flicker of something that she immediately stamped down.

She forced herself to remain still,while trying to think of what to say to him.  She wasn’t ready to see him or talk to him not even now.

Lucas knelt down, steadying her son with a familiar gentleness that made her heart clench. “Careful there, buddy,” he said, smiling at the boy. His gaze softened but then sharpened as he took in the boy’s features—the dark eyes, the familiar dimples. A look of confusion crossed his face as he studied the child. The resemblance was there, plain as day—the same dark hair, the sharp angles of the jaw, a reflection of Lucas himself staring back at him.

Her son grinned up at him. “Sorry, mister.”

Lucas’s eyes darkened, his face shifting as a storm of recognition passed over him. He looked around, scanning the crowd with sudden urgency. For a brief, agonizing moment, his gaze locked on Bella.

“Bella?” His voice was low, as though he could hardly believe his own eyes.

Before Bella could respond, Derek appeared, his hand resting casually on her son’s shoulder. “There you are,” he said with an easy smile, his eyes meeting Lucas’s with a hint of challenge.

Lucas straightened, eyes narrowing as he looked from the boy to Derek and back to Bella, disbelief and raw emotion battling on his face. He hadn’t just looked for Bella after she’d left; he had spent years trying to find her, questioning everything he had done wrong to her during their marriage.

“Where have you been?”Lucas managed to choked out,his voice rough with something between relief and disbelief.

Derek moved closer to Bella, protective yet unbothered, slipping an arm around her in a way that spoke volumes. “Sorry,” he said calmly, “but we’re in a bit of a rush.”

Lucas’s expression hardened as he took in the scene, his eyes lingering on the boy who bore a striking resemblance to himself. Suspicion tugged at him, but Derek’s presence threw him off balance.

He met Bella’s gaze, an unspoken question in his eyes, as though pleading for the truth he couldn’t quite bring himself to ask.

Bella’s hand tightened around her son’s, and with one last look, she turned away. She kept her steps measured, knowing that if she looked back, she might falter. Lucas would find her again, she knew that much. And she wasn’t sure if she was ready for the storm he would bring.

***********

The airport’s bustling crowds gave Bella and Derek the cover they needed as they moved briskly away from Lucas. Bella’s heart pounded, her mind racing to process the unexpected encounter.

She gripped her son’s hand, urging him gently to keep up, feeling Lucas’s eyes burning into her back even as she tried to disappear into the crowd.

“Mom,” her son whispered, glancing back over his shoulder, “who was that man?”

“He’s still who he was,” Derek assured her, his calm presence grounding her. “But you’ve changed. You’re not the woman he left behind.” His voice held a strength she’d leaned on many times in the past six years, and it reminded her of why she’d come back. She wasn’t here to hide—she was here to reclaim the life she had rebuilt from the ashes of her old one.

After a year she left Lucas and her marriage, she received an unexpected call. One of her late father’s friends had reached out, revealing that he’d owed her father a debt and wanted to make things right.

The funds he transferred changed everything, opening a door to the stability Bella desperately needed. Then, along with her relentless determination, Derek had appeared.

He’d become a steady ally, guiding her in business, supporting her dreams, and providing her son with a sense of security and warmth. Their bond had deepened, though Bella hadn’t committed to anything beyond friendship, grateful for Derek’s help but cautious about moving too fast.

They moved toward the exit, but her thoughts kept pulling back to Lucas, to the storm of emotions in his eyes. She had known this day would come, but nothing had prepared her for the electric shock of seeing him again, or for the hollow ache that came with knowing he hadn’t recognized her and meeting her son whom she will go any length to keep away from him.

For six years, he had haunted her nightmares and fueled her drive, his memory a specter that had both tormented and propelled her forward.

Once outside, Bella took a steadying breath as they slid into Derek’s car. She held her son close, feeling a fierce protective instinct surge up. She would have to be careful. Lucas was bound to find her soon enough, and when he did, questions would follow—questions she wasn’t ready to answer.

As Derek started the car, he glanced at her through the rearview mirror. “You know he’s going to try to find you.”

She closed her eyes, the reality of her return settling in. “I know,” she murmured. “And when he does… I’ll be ready.”