Chapter 4

Bella’s POV

I woke up slowly with warmth surrounding me. My body felt heavy and satisfied in a way I had not experienced in months. Naked skin pressed against mine. A strong arm draped across my waist holding me close. For one hazy moment I smiled and almost whispered his name. "Josh." The word died on my tongue as reality crashed over me. This was not Josh. The broad chest and the scent of woody cologne belonged to Maximo Volkov. Josh's uncle. I froze in place, my heart suddenly hammering against my ribs.

I was in his bed. In his house. Memories from the night before, flooded back in vivid detail. The bar. The tequila. Pouring out my pain to him. The desperate kiss in the car. His hands on my body. The way I had begged him to fuck me. Heat rushed to my face but it was not from pleasure. Panic gripped me tight.

What had I done? I had slept with my husband's uncle. I had told him everything about Josh's betrayal of the drugs the way I had been used like a lab rat. Now Maximo knew all my shame. What would he think of me? A cheap woman who jumped from one man to another in a single night. A former stripper who spread her legs after too much alcohol.

My hands began to shake. I tried to slip out from under his arm without waking him but every small movement made me aware of the soreness between my thighs and the stickiness on my skin.

I sat up slowly clutching the sheet to my chest. My eyes scanned the luxurious bedroom. Dark wood furniture, heavy curtains and the faint scent of his cologne everywhere. This was not my home. This was not my life.

Tears pricked at my eyes as fear twisted in my stomach. Maximo would wake up soon. He would look at me with disgust or worse with pity. I had spilled every ugly detail about the brothel, my father and Josh's experiments. Now I felt exposed raw and terrified of his judgment. My breathing grew shallow. I wondered if I could dress and leave before he opened his eyes. Run away from yet another mistake.

My phone buzzed on the nightstand. I snatched it quickly not wanting the sound to wake him. The number was unknown. I answered with a hesitant voice. "Hello?" Silence stretched on the other end. I frowned and almost ended the call when a familiar raspy voice finally spoke.

"Bella. It's your father."

Shock hit me like a physical blow. My father. The man who had sold me to the brothel just to settle his gambling debts. He had not called me once in all the years since. Not when Josh took me away. Not during my marriage. Nothing. And now here he was on the phone as if no time had passed. I gripped the device tighter, my knuckles turning white.

"How did you get this number?" I demanded. My voice cracked with rising anger.

"The madam at the brothel. She gave it to me when I asked."

Rage boiled up inside me. I stood from the bed wrapping the sheet around my naked body and paced toward the window. "You sold me. You sold your own daughter. I waited for years for you to call. To say you were sorry. To bring me back home. But you never did. Not one single call. And now you just appear like this?"

The words poured out of me in a torrent. I reminded him of every lonely night in that place. The shame, the fear, the way customers looked at me. I told him how I had built fragile hope when Josh rescued me only for that hope to be destroyed too. My hands shook so badly I could barely hold the phone. Tears streamed down my cheeks. All the pain I had carried for years came rushing out in angry waves.

Maximo stirred behind me. He sat up in bed, his hair tousled and his eyes blinking open with concern. "Bella?" he said gently.

I kept ranting, unable to stop. My father waited through my outburst then delivered his news in a flat tone. "Your grandma is dead. So come home. Her will has your name on it."

The world stopped. Grandma. The only person who had ever shown me real love before everything fell apart. She was gone. I stood completely still, my mind struggling to process the words. Shock numbed the anger leaving only a hollow ache in my chest. Without another word I ended the call and let the phone drop onto a chair. Silence filled the room.

Maximo rose from the bed and approached me carefully. His voice was soft. "Bella talk to me. What is going on?"

I raised my hand to stop him. "I need time. Please. I need a moment to take this in." My legs felt weak. I sat down on the edge of the bed staring at the floor. Grandma had been my secret hope for years. Now even that was taken away.

Before I could gather my thoughts Maximo's phone rang on the nightstand. He glanced at the screen then looked at me. "It is Josh."

My stomach twisted. "Pick it up," I told him. I needed to know what my husband was saying now that I had disappeared.

Maximo answered on speaker so I could hear. Josh's voice came through, sounding proud and casual as if he were discussing the weather. "Uncle Maximo. I thought you should know. Bella ran away with another man. She left me. I am marrying Calista, my first love, next month. The wedding will be big. You should come."

Each word landed like a fresh wound. I sat there heartbroken all over again. The lie was so effortless. Josh had turned me into the villain. The unfaithful wife who abandoned him. He erased everything he had done to me, the drugs, the manipulation and painted himself as the victim. Tears burned in my eyes once more. The man I had loved for months had discarded me completely. He was moving on as if I had never existed. As if my body had not been his testing ground for months.

Maximo ended the call after a short reply. He turned to me with steady eyes full of something I could not yet name. I wrapped my arms around myself still naked under the sheet and tried to hold together the broken pieces of my heart. The morning had brought too many blows. My father's voice. Grandma's death. Josh's cruel lie. I did not know how much more I could take.