chapter 6

Bella sat on the edge of her bed, her mind racing.

She didn’t stay long enough to reflect. She pushed herself up almost immediately, pacing a few steps before stopping again. Her fingers drummed against her thigh, restless, as she tried to think of something, anything that could help her.

She pulled out her phone, the screen lighting up in her hand. For a moment, she considered calling Stephanie again. The thought lingered… then faded.

Stephanie had already done enough. Dragging her back into this mess didn’t feel right.

Bella exhaled quietly and set the phone back down.

The urgency didn’t leave. If anything, it intensified, running through her body like a current. She moved again, throughout the room. Her steps were quick, uneven, like she couldn’t settle anywhere.

There was no one she could fully trust.

Angela had already gone behind her back, telling her father what happened at the lounge. Stephanie had warned her about her. And Bella wasn’t about to risk pulling anyone else into the fallout.

She was at a turning point. Not loud or explosive, just heavy, settling into her chest in a way she couldn’t ignore. Staying here wasn’t an option anymore. She had to do something.

On impulse, she yanked open her closet and started pulling clothes out, shoving them into a bag. A few shirts and a pair of jeans. Her hands moved fast, almost desperate.

Then she stopped.

Reality caught up just as quickly as the impulse had come.

She wouldn’t last out there, not like this, not without money, a plan, or somewhere safe to go.

The bag slipped from her hands and dropped onto the floor.

Her phone buzzed softly on the bed.

Bella turned, staring at it for a second before picking it up.

A message from Angela.

"Hey, your dad was asking about you earlier. Just thought I should check in."

Bella’s expression tightened, disgust flickering across her face. “The audacity,” she muttered under her breath.

She didn’t bother replying. Just dropped the phone back onto the bed like it had annoyed her personally.

For a moment, she just stood there, the weight of everything pressing in again.

She needed to find a way out. One way or another.

****

One week later.

Lorenzo stood by the floor-to-ceiling window of his office, the city stretched out beneath him like something distant and indifferent. The glass in his hand remained untouched, ice slowly melting into itself.

Behind him, one of his men spoke.

“We checked the house staff again. Everyone who was on shift that night.”

“And?” Lorenzo asked, voice flat.

“They confirmed she left early. Alone with no interaction with anyone on the way out.”

Lorenzo’s expression didn’t change. “Cameras?”

“We checked them to. She kept her head down most of the way. We got partial angles, but nothing clear enough to run.”

“ what about the lounge?” He asked impatiently

The man shifted slightly. “We’re still going through it. Most of the entries that night were under private reservations. A lot of them don’t use real names.”

Lorenzo exhaled lightly, dragging a hand across his jaw. “Of course they wouldn’t.”

He set the glass down on the desk.

“So she’s not in the system. No financial trail. No clear face. No name.” He paused. “That's Convenient.”

The man didn’t respond.

Lorenzo stopped near the desk, fingers resting briefly against its surface.

“That doesn’t happen often,” he said after a moment. “Most people slip up somewhere. A name, a number… or at least something.”

Silence held for a beat.

The man stayed quiet.

Lorenzo pushed off the desk and walked past him slowly.

“Check the area around the building again,” he said. “Not just the entrance. But the Streets, nearby cameras... or anything you didn’t catch the first time.”

“We already...”

“Check it again.”

The interruption wasn’t loud, but it ended the sentence cleanly.

A brief pause.

“Understood.”

Lorenzo didn’t stop moving.

“Don’t limit it to the club. If she didn’t leave anything, then you’re wasting time looking for her there. In fact, check anything from a five-mile radius.”

“Yes, sir.”

The man turned to leave, but Lorenzo spoke again.

“If anything turns up, even if it looks irrelevant, you bring it to me first. I don’t want my father hearing about this.”

“Of course.”

The door closed behind him.

The room settled into silence again.

Lorenzo stood still for a moment longer, then exhaled quietly.

He didn’t like loose ends.

And right now… that was exactly what Bella was.

Except the thought lingered longer than it should have.

For someone he hadn’t even bothered to learn the name of… she was taking up more space in his mind than she had any right to.

Later that night, Bella sat on the edge of her bed, a strange wave of dizziness settling over her.

She leaned forward, pressing her palms

into her thighs, trying to steady herself.

Then it hit harder.

She pushed herself up quickly, pretending she was okay, but her balance wavered. Her hand shot out, grabbing the edge of the dresser. Her grip tightened as she steadied herself, brows pulling together.

“What…” she muttered under her breath.

It passed just as quickly as it came.

She stayed there for a second longer, breathing carefully, before slowly letting go. She tested her weight again. This time, she managed a step forward. Then another.

She exhaled quietly, brushing it off.

Maybe it was stress or lack of sleep. She hadn’t really been eating properly either.

Bella moved toward the door, intending to step out, even if it was just for a minute. The air in the room still felt too heavy.

But halfway there, she stopped.

A sudden wave of nausea rose sharply enough to make her pause, so sudden it made her feel like vomiting. Her hand pressed lightly against her stomach as her expression tightened.

“…seriously?” she muttered.

It wasn’t intense, but it was enough.

Enough to make her turn away from the door.

Bella walked back slowly, more carefully this time, and sat down again on the edge of the bed. Her fingers lifted to her temple for a brief moment before dropping again.

For the first time that night, her thoughts weren’t on her father, or Evelyn, or the arrangement waiting for her in a month.

Just this unfamiliar shift she couldn’t explain.

She exhaled slowly and stayed still, letting the silence settle around her.