Chapter 05

Bella's POV

This was my last night in this house.

I sat on the edge of my bed and looked around the room. Ten years of my life lived inside these walls. Now everything I owned fit into one small suitcase.

My phone buzzed. I answered on the first ring.

"Bella, your flight is at eight tomorrow night," Evelyn said. "Do you want me to pick you up?"

"No. I'll get there myself."

"Are you sure?"

"Very sure." I looked at the door. "There's something I have to finish first."

I had just hung up when the door swung open without a knock.

Ruby walked in holding a long white gown against her body. Blue stones covered the bodice and caught the light like a thousand tiny stars. In her other hand was the wooden music box.

"Bella, look." She turned in a slow circle. "Your daughter ordered this gown for me. Beautiful, right?"

I smiled.

Her face twisted. "What are you smiling at? The man you've loved for over twenty years is marrying me tomorrow."

I said nothing.

She lifted the music box and opened it. The tiny bride and groom began to spin.

"Oh, and your son? The one you almost died giving birth to?" She laughed softly. "He made this for me with his own two hands. He hopes his father and I will love each other forever." She leaned close to my face. "Look at you, Bella. You have nothing left."

"I'm curious," I said calmly. "You went to all that trouble to send me to jail. Then you paid people to beat me in there for five years. Why?"

"To take everything you have, obviously." She smiled. "Want to see who matters more to them?"

She threw the music box on the floor.

It cracked open. The tiny bride broke off and rolled under the bed. Then Ruby grabbed the gown with both hands and ripped it straight down the middle. Blue stones scattered across the floor like rain.

She dropped to her knees and screamed.

Feet pounded up the stairs. Logan burst in first, with Danny and Sophia right behind him.

"Ruby!"

They saw the torn gown. They saw the broken box. Then they all looked at me.

Ruby lifted her wet face toward me. "Bella, even if you regret saying yes now, the wedding is still happening tomorrow."

Danny picked up the broken music box. His hands shook.

"It's okay, Mother," he said, wrapping an arm around Ruby. "I'll make you a new one. Right now. A better one." He looked at Ruby, not at me. "I'm sorry for what Mom did."

"Exactly." Sophia knelt and gathered the torn gown. "We'll just buy a more expensive dress. You're the most beautiful mother in the world, and no one is going to ruin this for you."

Logan helped Ruby to her feet. He didn't ask me one question.

"Don't worry, Ruby. I'll make it up to you with something even better." He guided her toward the door. "Come on. Let's get you some rest."

At the doorway, Ruby looked back over his arm. Her lips moved without sound.

See? Your everything is mine she wishpered to me.

"Really?" I said out loud. "Well, I'm looking forward to the wedding just as much as you are."

The door shut.

I took a sheet of paper from my drawer and picked up a pen. Ten years ago, my children watched their father sign papers that threw me away. Now it was my turn.

I, Bella Carter, cut all ties with Danny and Sophia. Alive or dead, we have nothing to do with each other.

I signed my name and folded it neatly.

**********

Early the next morning, I opened my laptop and pressed play on a file I had kept hidden for two weeks.

Ruby's voice filled the room, sharp and cold. It was a phone call with her mother, recorded by one of the guards at the prison who had grown tired of taking her money.

"It's me." A pause. "Mother, stop it. I love him. I'll never leave him. Bella can rot in there for all I care. Pay them again. I want her to suffer every single day."

I closed the laptop.

"Ruby," I whispered. "You've worn that mask long enough."

Every bruise. Every broken rib. All the special treatment I got in prison for five years was thanks to her.

I put the laptop, a flash drive, the signed paper, and a stack of bank records into a white gift box. I tied it with a red ribbon and called a courier.

"Hand deliver this to the wedding at Weston Castle," I told him. "Tonight. Give it to the groom during the ceremony."

He nodded and drove away.

Now it was her turn to be torn apart.

**********

At seven that evening, I was in my car on an empty country road when my phone rang. Sophia's name lit the screen.

I answered and said nothing. I could hear music and voices in the background.

"Where's the bridesmaid?" someone said. "Making the bride wait? Unbelievable."

"Logan." Ruby's voice was soft and hurt. "Does Bella still hate me? Why else would she be late on purpose?"

"Mom is so selfish," Sophia said. "When she gets here, I'll make her apologize to you, Mother. Dad, Danny, you guys stay with Mother. I'll call her."

Then her voice came right into my ear. "Mom! Get over here in three minutes!"

"I'm on my way," I said. "And I brought you all a special gift."

I hung up before she could answer.

I pulled the car onto the side of the road, far from any house or streetlight. In the back seat sat a store mannequin I had bought that afternoon. It wore the bridesmaid dress Ruby had chosen for me. I lifted it into the driver's seat and fixed the seatbelt across its chest.

Then I slid my wedding ring onto its plastic finger.

I poured the gas can over the seats and stepped back. My hand was steady when I struck the match.

The flames rose fast and bright.In a few minutes, there would be nothing left for anyone to recognize.

To them, Bella Carter would be dead. Burned on the way to their perfect fake wedding.

A taxi waited at the bend in the road, its lights low. I climbed in with my suitcase.

"Airport, please."

As we drove away, I watched the fire grow small in the back window.

"Goodbye, Logan," I said quietly. "Goodbye, Danny. Goodbye, Sophia."

I couldn't wait for them to open my wedding gift.