Belle’s mother blinked. “What happened to you? We always got along great.”
She snorted while I drew her to my side. “Come on, Ana, we should go.” It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy the way she was treating her mom, but there was something about Anabelle that made me think I hated the loss of her innocence.
The girl I’d picked up in school had looked differently, her eyes less dull, her smile a little brighter.
And as much as I loved how close Anabelle and I were, even if it was pretend, I missed the girl from that day.
“I never saw the lying side of you. The manipulative one. The massive bitch you clearly are. And you know what? I’d love to discuss all that with you in great length, but I think Corey might be waiting for us.” She took my hand, not waiting for her mother to reply, and pulled me along the hallway.
“Anabelle…”
She turned to me. “No, Kip. Whatever it is you want to say, I don’t wanna hear it. We have three more weeks before the masquerade and until then we’ll rub it into her face as much as we can. Always, and all the time, but you and I?” She waited until I was closer. “We’re just business associates. What we do has nothing to do with feelings, and everything with your revenge and my money.” She managed well to compartmentalize now that we were having a common goal, and I missed the girl who’d been upset with me for not having found her earlier.
“You won’t be able to start a new life with fifty k.”
She smirked. “No, but it’s a nice thing to have in case something goes awfully wrong.”
I blinked. “Awfully wrong? What do you mean?”
“I mean Corey loves me, but that doesn’t mean he’ll pay for my school. Or anything else. And therefore… I need a plan. And a good one at that. Fifty is a great start. We have three weeks left. Let’s see how far my mother will go to protect the millions Corey has at his disposal… And therefore at hers.”
“Anabelle, you aren’t like that…”
She arched a brow, then plastered on a wide smile and together we joined her step-father in the dining room again.
Chapter Five
Kip
I could get used to the pool life, especially when it meant I could watch Anabelle in a tiny bikini. She was busy on her cell, typing away while jotting down notes on a notebook. I was curious as to what she doing, but whenever I asked about anything concerning her, she shut me out.
“Is that homework?”
She pushed up her sunglasses. “What are you doing, Kip?”
“We can be friends at least, can’t we? Hell, even when I was your kidnapper you and I were close. But now…”
She sat up, distracting me with too much pale skin. Indoor pools had always the perfect temperature, and yet I wished this one would be a little hotter so she’d be feeling the need to cool off more often.
“Eyes up here!”
My gaze snapped to her face, but in contrary to what I’d have expected, she wasn’t smiling about me appreciating her, but almost angry.
“God, Belle…” I walked closer to where she’d now taken a spot on the side of the pool. I didn’t care what goal we were following, I wanted her to be nicer to me. I wanted us to have a good basis for when I would try to be serious about us, about this.
I didn’t even care if we’d leave the town of Silvercrest. Most of the US would offer a perfect spot for me.
“Talk to me. And tell me everything you think. Don’t hold back.”
She snorted. “We’re not friends, Kip, and we will not be under any capacity. For years I was thinking about you and how much I wished I could see you. I wanted to see if what we started to build during those few days could have been anything more. You were reading to me, playing with me, feeding me, taking care of me. You were a hero in my eyes. And now you’re here, and all I can think about is what you did with her. And not only once, but repeatedly.”
“You’ve been kissing me. You know that, right?”
“I do, and I know she thinks you also fuck me, but that’s not gonna happen. I don’t care if you were in prison, or what you did on the streets, but I will not allow what was inside my mother to come inside me, too.”
I wanted to protest, wanted to argue, but figured telling her my tongue technically was in her mother, too, wouldn’t be the right argument. Besides, I’d not done that because I enjoyed it.
“Would it make it better if I told you—”
“No.”
I gritted my teeth. “Okay, listen… You and I can be civil, right? You can confide in me. I don’t care if you and I will never be anything more than friends. I will take care of you, okay? Just like I did back then.”
Belle lowered her eyes. “I don’t know if I can. I’m not the girl from back then, I’m not even the girl from two weeks ago. I’ve been living around the worst of the worst people for such a long time. But until you returned and showed me what my mother did, pointed it out to me… All of it, not just the kidnapping, I cannot help but think that while I had never believed she could be rotten to the core I was wrong. About her. About myself. I wasn’t untouched by injustice. God, I am not as innocent as I thought.”
I took her hand. “Yes, you are. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Don’t
