Chapter 06

Bella's POV

The rain in London was soft and gray, nothing like the fire I had left behind.

Evelyn led me into a bright dance studio with tall mirrors and a wooden floor that shone like honey. A tall man in a black sweater stood by the window. He turned when we walked in.

"Bella, this is my brother, Sebastian Fernandez," Evelyn said. "He runs a dance company here in the UK."

Sebastian came forward and took my hand in both of his.

"Bella, your dancing has been the greatest inspiration of my career," he said. "I watched every recording of you I could find. It's an honor to finally meet you."

My throat tightened. Nobody had looked at me like that in five years. Like I was worth something.

"Thank you," I whispered.

Evelyn handed me a brown envelope. "This is your new identity, just like you asked."

I opened it. A new passport. A new birth certificate. A new name printed in neat black letters.

"Good." I closed the envelope and lifted my chin. "Starting today, Bella Carter no longer exists. My name is Celine."

Sebastian smiled. "Then welcome, Celine. I look forward to working with you."

I looked at my reflection in the tall mirror. Thin. Pale. Scarred.

But free.

\*\*\*

Logan's POV

Why was my heart suddenly racing?

I stood at the front of the castle hall in a black tuxedo. White roses hung from every pillar. Soft music floated through the air. Everything was perfect, just like Ruby wanted.

So why did I feel like something terrible was coming?

"Dad, are you okay?" Sophia touched my arm. "You look pale. Are you feeling sick?"

"I'm fine." I loosened my collar.

Danny checked his phone for the tenth time and groaned. "What is Mom even doing? She's still not here. We're done waiting for her. Let's just start Dad and Mother's wedding."

I nodded at the host.

He stepped up to the microphone and smiled at the guests. "Thank you all for coming. The wedding ceremony of Logan Carter and Ruby Weston is now officially underway."

The guests clapped. Ruby stood at the end of the aisle in a new white gown, glowing and smiling at me.

"But before we begin," the host went on, "we received a very special gift. It was sent by Bella Carter." He held up a white box tied with a red ribbon. "She prepared a surprise for Logan and the children. She asks that the three of them open it together, right here."

The room went quiet. Every head turned toward us.

Bella sent a gift?

I stepped forward to take the box. Ruby rushed down the aisle and caught my arm.

"Logan, wait." Her eyes filled with tears. "Today is our wedding. I've waited so many years for this. All I ever wanted was this one dream." Her voice shook. "Can't you give me a complete wedding first, before dealing with that? Please?"

"Dad, forget the box!" Sophia said loudly. "Mom is trying to ruin everything! She can't stand seeing our family happy!"

"Exactly," Danny said. "What kind of petty, small-minded person sends something like this in the middle of a wedding? She just wants attention."

I looked at the box. Then I looked at Ruby's wet eyes. I pulled my hand back.

"Fine. We'll open it later."

Ruby let out a soft breath and smiled.

The host cleared his throat. "Well. Although our bridesmaid couldn't make it tonight, she did record a song to bless the newlyweds." He lifted a small flash drive from the side of the box. "Shall we hear it?"

The guests clapped again. Ruby's smile froze.

"No, wait—"

The host had already plugged it in. The speakers crackled.

There was no song.

"*I'm curious,*" a woman's voice said, calm and clear. "*You went to all that trouble to send me to jail. Then you paid people to beat me in there for five years. Why?*"

My blood turned cold.

A woman in the front row gasped. "That sounds like Bella's voice."

"Sent her to jail?" someone whispered. "Paid people to beat her? Was Bella framed?"

Then a second voice came through the speakers. Sweet. Smug. Laughing.

"*To take everything you have, obviously.*"

The whole hall went silent.

Every eye in the room turned to the bride.

"And that," an old man said slowly, "is Ruby's voice."

Ruby's face went white as her gown. "No! No, that's not my voice!" She grabbed my arm with both hands. "Logan, it's fake! She made it up! Someone faked it to hurt me!"

I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe.

*Paid people to beat me in there.*

The bruises on Bella's arm on the day she came home. The way she flinched when I touched her. The way she stopped crying.

"Faked?" A guest near the back laughed coldly. "How exactly does someone fake a whole conversation in your voice?"

"Dad." Danny's voice cracked. "Dad, that's not true. Right? Mother wouldn't—"

Sophia stood frozen beside him, staring at Ruby like she had never seen her before.

Then the big wooden doors at the back of the hall swung open.

A large woman walked in, wearing a cheap leather jacket and heavy boots. Her hair was cut short, and a long scar ran down one cheek. She strolled straight down the aisle like she owned the place, her boots loud on the stone floor.

She stopped in front of Ruby and grinned.

"Hey, Ruby," she said. "Long time no see."

Ruby's hands fell from my arm. Her lips trembled. All the color drained from her face.

It was Big Rhonda.

The woman from Bella's prison.