“Belle Fleming happened tonight,” she started, before continuing on to tell him the entire tale of love, lust and revenge that Belle had claimed as the truth.
“Do you believe that?” Eric asked when she finished.
“She showed me the ring. It’s exactly the same…” Mia said, wiping at a stray tear that had fallen from her eye. “I just… whether it’s true or not, I don’t think I can do this anymore. I can’t keep getting my heart broken.”
It had been hours since Cayd had seen Eric and left his details for Mia, and still he hadn’t heard from her. He’d taken to pacing the floor of his hotel room, biting his nails, raking his fingers through his hair – anything to work through the time that seemed to stretch out endlessly in front of him.
Periodically, he’d check his phone and make a call to Mia. But each time, he got her voice mail service and no reply.
“This is ridiculous,” he said to himself eventually.
Snatching up his keys, he stalked out of the hotel and got into his car, tightly gripping the steering wheel the entire drive. Something told him that the exact thing he had been worried about had already happened. Belinda Fleming had sunk her claws into Mia and seeded some sort of horrible doubt in her mind. It was the only thing that could explain why she wasn’t answering or texting him.
Belinda Fleming - the name that sent shivers of dread down Cayd’s spine. Everything he had told Mia the night before she had left was true. He never lied to her. He loved her too much to do that. Belinda, however, or Belle that she preferred to be called, was more than happy to spin a web of lies and deceit to manipulate those around her into doing what she wanted. And he feared she was doing exactly the same thing with the twins.
They say there is nothing like a woman scorned, and Belle was a prime example. When Cayd had realised what he had drunkenly done, he had told her that it was a mistake and could never happen again.
Belle had responded by flying into a manic rage. She attacked Cayd scratching and hitting him before finally calming down enough to express her rage verbally. In that she swore that she would make him pay for what he had done.
Unbeknownst to Cayd, Belle had fallen in love with him, well before she’d married his father, and had been trying to get his attention for years. When that failed, she went after his grieving father. Somehow in her mind she felt it was a means to an end — that end being Cayd.
When Cayd called their coupling a drunken mistake, it broke her heart. Before he left, she did everything she could to try making him stay. She even faked a pregnancy, which ended up backfiring on her because Howard was the one who believed it and promptly divorced her, knowing that the child couldn’t possibly be his.
Once again, Belle was a failure in her parent’s eyes. And being a slightly unstable person, she blamed it all on Cayd and held onto her resentment toward him for not loving her until she could see a way to make him as miserable as she had been all these years.
When she found out that Mia was one of the babies she adopted out as a teen, she couldn’t believe her luck. Then, seeing somewhat of a kindred spirit in Natalie, she set about with her mind games, playing the twins against each other until finally, through her manipulation of Natalie, she could plant that final seed that would ensure Mia never returned to Cayd.
Oh yes, Belinda Fleming was a cunning woman, well practiced in the art of subterfuge. As she consoled Natalie over the fight she had with Mia, she was calculating a way to make sure her planted seed flourished into a fast growing vine that strangled the life out of everything in it’s path. It was time to go and be a mother. Her daughter’s were in crisis and they needed her.
As she drove with Natalie toward the flat, she had to bite her lip to keep from smiling. Everything was beginning to work out perfectly…
Half an hour later, Cayd slowed his rental car to a stop outside the flat and glanced at the time on the console. It was only minutes before midnight but to him, the time was irrelevant – he needed to see Mia.
Knocking on the door, he waited, shifting on his feet in agitation as the seconds before the door open seemed to stretch out like hours.
“She doesn’t want to see you right now,” Eric said, as he cracked the door. “It’s not a good time.”
“No. I won’t accept that. Mia!” he called out, trying to peer inside over Eric’s broad shoulders.
“Don’t,” Eric warned, shifting so his bulk blocked more of the doorway.
“I need to see her, Eric. This is important. Please, let me talk to her,” he entreated.
“I can’t do that. I’m sorry.”
“Mia!” Cayd called again.
“Here.” Eric handed him an envelope. “She wants you to have this.”
Stepping back, Cayd slipped his finger under the lip of the envelope and looked inside, closing his eyes in disbelief as the engagement ring he’d given Mia caught the light and sparkled.
“She couldn’t do this herself?” he asked through gritted teeth.
“I’m sorry, mate. This is just the way it is for now,” Eric said, as he began to shut the door. As he shifted his weight, Cayd caught sight of Belinda standing not far behind him.
“Belinda. Why am I not surprised that you’re behind this,” Cayd spat over Eric’s shoulder.
“You did this to yourself, Cayd,” she said, her eyes sparkling with delight as Eric shut the door, cutting him off from his love.
“FUCK!” Cayd roared, pegging the forty thousand dollar ring into the blackness before slamming his fist into a nearby tree. “Fuck,” he said again, pressing his forehead against the cool bark, before forcing himself back into his car and heading back to his hotel with a plan to empty the entire mini bar down his throat in a bid to drown out the anger and hurt that was pulsing through his mind.
“I’m so sorry this happened to you, Mia,” Belle consoled, as she sat beside her crying daughter. Natalie was on her other side, trying to be as sympathetic as she could, although returning home to find Mia sitting and crying with Eric was making her as uneasy as was his frustrated pacing. He obviously still cared about Mia – a lot.
Eric wasn’t a man of many words, so while the women talked and Mia cried, he mulled over the events of the evening and wondered why the hell it had to come to this. He was annoyed that Natalie had somehow been in contact with her birth mother and hadn’t told him or Mia about it. For all he knew, Belinda Fleming had dismissed them and they’d moved on with their lives. He had no idea there was still something going on, and he didn’t like the way they had ambushed Mia and cut him out of the conversation. It all seemed way too convoluted, and he wondered if he was cut out because he’d point out the problems with this woman’s story.
Something about Belle made him uncomfortable. He didn’t feel as though she was trustworthy and from where he was standing, it seemed that she was manipulating Mia.
When Mia had returned from dinner, crying and telling him about the deception that Belle and Natalie thought Cayd had playing on Mia, he didn’t quite believe it. The whole story made him angry, that much he knew. He just didn’t know whom he was angry at. And when Mia removed her ring and said that she ‘couldn’t do it anymore’, Eric had tried to convince her that she needed to speak to Cayd before she made any huge decisions – this may all be some big misunderstanding. He had seen Cayd and Mia together, and as much as he hated to admit it – they were perfect for each other and Cayd was a good guy. He couldn’t imagine that Cayd would be the kind of person that would purposefully make a girl fall in love with him, just to visit some ridiculous kind of vengeance upon her mother.
It didn’t make sense.
He’d just about had Mia convinced that she needed to go and see him and sort it out, when Natalie had arrived with Belle and then the whole situation just got way out of his control. They took Mia’s simmering emotions and they heaped on so much information that even Eric wasn’t sure what to believe anymore. All he knew was that someone needed to be there to watch out for Mia, and do wh
at she wanted instead of what they wanted.
He didn’t want to give Cayd that ring back. He didn’t want to be a part of the destruction of a relationship. But Mia had insisted, saying that she couldn’t live like this anymore. She’d had enough.
As he continued to pace, Eric watched as three women huddled together, talking quietly. Mia was nodding and blowing her nose as the other two rubbed her back consolingly. He would never understand how women can go from yelling at each other and saying hurtful things one minute, to being a solid sisterhood the next. He personally, couldn’t understand what was unfolding in front of him.
That’s why, when Natalie and Belle tried to convince Mia to stay somewhere else so Cayd couldn’t find her, he felt it was time to interject.
“She’s not leaving. She’s staying right here with me,” he stated, folding his arms across his chest as he laid down the law.
“Well, Eric… it is Eric, right?” Belle put in. “It isn’t really your choice to make. Mia needs to do what’s best for her.”
“Being alone in some hotel room isn’t right for her. I’m sorry, but I’ve known Mia for a hell of a lot longer than the five minutes you’ve known her. She’s staying with me.”
“I’ll stay too then,” Natalie added.
“No. You can go too. Mia needs some time to process this without anyone telling her what to think.”
Belle’s expression hardened. “Is that what you think we’re doing?”
“I don’t know what to think myself right now. But I can promise you, I’ll be getting to the bottom of this. Something about your story doesn’t add up to me, lady,” Eric said as he walked over to the door and held it open.
“Are you angry with me?” asked Natalie quietly as she moved to stand beside him, nervously wringing her hands. It seemed that the very thing she was worried about happening was unfolding right before her eyes.
Eric inclined his head to the side, indicating that she should follow him outside so they could talk alone for a moment without Belle staring daggers at him.
“Listen, Nat. I don’t know what I am at the moment. I just know that I want whatever the hell is going on right now, to stop.”
Tears filled Natalie’s eyes as she nodded and forced herself to keep her emotions in check. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“What are you sorry for – ambushing your sister, or sneaking around with some woman you barely know? I don’t understand how all this happened. Why were you hiding it from me?”
“I wasn’t… I just… Belle didn’t think you’d understand.”
“What wouldn’t I understand?”
Natalie opened her mouth to answer but drew a blank.
Gently placing his hands on her shoulders, he looked into her eyes. “You don’t have an answer, do you, Nat? Don’t you see - this doesn’t add up? And you and I – we don’t work without honesty. It ruined us last time and it will ruin us again. Think about that before you keep something from me next time.”
“So… you’re not breaking up with me?” she asked, as she’d felt sure that when he asked her to leave her was ending things with her.
“Of course I’m not breaking up with you. I love you too damn much to let something like this come between us. This is just a bump in the road, and it’s probably the first of many. But I’m here, and I’m here for you. Just don’t lie to me. And don’t keep things from me – got it?”
Natalie barely heard anything past those special three words. “You love me?” she asked, her tears changing to those of happiness instead of fear.
Eric pulled her toward him and wrapped her in his arms. “Of course I bloody love you. Do you think I’d be here if I didn’t?”
“I’ll drive you home, Natalie,” Belle said from beside them. They’d both totally forgotten that she was nearby.
“She can take my truck.”
“Your truck is still at the restaurant. I’m sorry. I’ll get it now and bring it back tomorrow.”
“All right, call me when you get home so I know you’re safe,” Eric said, kissing her softly before shifting his gaze toward Belle and eyeing her warily. He was going to have to be very careful of that woman. As he looked into her eyes, there was something about her he just didn’t like, and from the expression on her face, she knew he didn’t like her and with women like Belle, that was never a good thing.
“She’ll be fine,” Belle said. “I’ll make sure she’s safe.”
Watching as the two women left, Eric wondered just what Belle’s game was. He needed to talk to Natalie and find out everything that had been said. He didn’t want her getting sucked any further into this woman’s world when they didn’t really know the slightest thing about her.
On the surface, she seemed sincere. But all that meant was that she was a good actress. Eric’s gut told him that she was bad news, and if there was one thing the last year it had taught him, it was to listen to his gut – it was generally right.
Chapter 22
THE NEXT morning, when Mia woke up, her eyes hurt and felt swollen from crying so much. She was so confused and felt as though she wanted to give up everything and start fresh. Her life was a mess. And after spending her life feeling as though she could handle anything that was thrown at her, being told that her fiancé had not only had a past relationship with her mother, but had also gotten her pregnant and vowed to seek revenge on her was more than she could comprehend.
It wasn’t that she believed everything that Belle and Natalie had told her. It was just that she had come to a point where her mind couldn’t handle another mental blow. It seemed that the more information she had, the more she realised that there was so much she didn’t know about Cayd.
As much as she loved him, she didn’t want to go back to him just to have his past come and slap her face again. She couldn’t handle finding things out about him from other sources before he’d volunteer anything about his past.
It seemed to her that the best thing she could do was start her life anew. Eventually, she’d get over Cayd and she’d find a man who was willing to trust her with his past and his future. And she’d never have to feel as though she was being kept in the dark again. Although, even as she had that thought, she knew she’d never get over Cayd…
Her head ached with confusion.
None of it seemed real… but then what part of the last twelve months did seem real? While she’d tossed and turned and flitted in and out of sleep, she wished that she could somehow go back in time and stop her parents from getting in the car that night. She wished she could stop Natalie from finding out about their adoption and stop herself from meeting Cayd…
While the last year had brought her so much love and made her feel a deep connection with a man she considered to be her soul mate, it had also brought her more heartache than any other year had before it. And now it seemed very possible that the only thing that was good in her life was also a lie, and she didn’t want to do it anymore. She didn’t want to be Mia anymore. She didn’t like what her world had become.
Eric shifted beneath her. “Are you awake?” he asked in a whisper, as his hand moved to gently touch the back of her head.
She nodded her head against the firm surface of his chest, feeling the cool damp where her tears had soaked through his shirt.
“Did you get any sleep?”
“Not really.”
Eric hugged her a little tighter, feeling pained that he didn’t know what to do or say to comfort her. Holding her and being there for her so she wasn’t alone, was all he could think to do.
After Natalie and Belle had left, they had talked and talked and Mia had cried more tears than he’d ever seen come out of a person before. Eventually, exhaustion got the better of them and knowing how upset she was, he held her while she slept in an attempt to comfort her.
“What. The. Fuck?” Natalie yelled, suddenly appearing in the doorway.
Eric looked up. “Ah shit. Nat!” he called after her as she threw his car keys at him and ran out of
the flat.
Mia felt awful and sat up quickly, telling Natalie that nothing happened as Eric sprinted barefoot after her.
“Natalie!” he yelled, wincing as his foot hit the ground outside and a gumnut stuck him in the heel of his foot.
“Don’t even, Eric. I fucking knew this would happen. I knew it!” she screamed.
“Calm the fuck down and look at me,” he demanded, catching up to her and taking a hold of her arm to turn her around.
She tried to keep her eyes away from him, but he held on to her and repeated, “Look at me.”
Slowly, she moved her eyes over his handsome face, taking in his sleep-mussed hair and his handsome face and tired blue eyes. As her eyes travelled down, something else became very clear.
“I’m still wearing the same clothes you saw me in last night. Nothing happened between me and Mia. She was upset and I held her – that’s all. She’s like family to me. Nat, I wasn’t going to just leave her crying all night on the couch.”
Closing her eyes, Natalie let out her breath. “I’m sorry, I just… I saw you together and I thought…”
“You thought I’d cheated on you with her,” he finished for her.
“Can you blame me? Isn’t that how we started?”
Eric reached up and cupped her face in his hands. “Did I, or did I not tell you that I love you last night?”
“You did,” she conceded.
“Isn’t that enough for you?”
“It is. I’m sorry. I trust you, I do… I’m just so confused, right now.”
Eric drew her into his arms and kissed her softly on the forehead. “Babe, we’re all confused right now. Me more than most. Why don’t you come inside? We’ll have some breakfast and then you can tell us all about how your birth mother came to be with you last night. I want to know everything, Nat. I need to know everything.”
The sound of a fist beating against his door pierced through Cayd’s alcohol induced slumber. Groaning, he opened only one eye then wrapped the pillow around his head to muffle the sound from whoever was there.
Our Lives Entwined Page 14