I nodded, “Yes.” I agreed with Sal, he was a smart guy and I’d be wise to listen to every word he said.
“Did you see how fucking big Falcone was? Holy shit, I couldn’t believe how big he was. I’m not gonna lie, Bella, you were a boss in there,” Tony laughed. “Humpty and Dumpty, I almost pissed my pants when I saw their faces.”
Everyone laughed.
Eventually, the laughter was replaced by deafening silence. I slept most of the flight home. I was pregnant and tired so it was easy to forget that I once again was inside of a death trap. Tomorrow I’d do what needed to be done.
Jax
My eyes were blurry and made focusing very difficult. My mouth was very dry, and my arms wouldn’t move the way I wanted them to.
“Isabella,” my voice was barely a cracked whisper.
“Jax.” Alessandra came into view as my eyes began to focus.
“Where’s Bella?”
“She’s on her way. She’ll be here soon.”
I blinked rapidly adjusting my position against the thick pillows. “What happened?”
“You were hurt very badly; Isabella has been taking wonderful care of you.”
“Why isn’t she here?” Had something happened to her? Was Alessandra lying to me?
“She had some business to tend to. But she’ll be here soon.”
What business could she have? The trucking company?
The room began coming into focus. I was in my own bedroom and in my own bed. My head felt like a baseball bat had smashed into it. An I.V. penetrated the flesh of my elbow pumping a clear liquid into my body.
“Where’s my phone? I’ll give her a call.” I fumbled with the tube coming from my arm cursing at it and finally pulling it out.
“No, no, no! You must leave that in Jax. That’s important.”
I took a deep breath and winced from the pain it caused in my chest.
“You lay still and I’ll call her.”
I nodded and pressed my hand to my chest. “Okay,” I agreed.
I laid there stiff and in agonizing pain. But I couldn’t show that misery in my eyes. What the hell had been going on, and where was everyone? Twenty minutes turned into thirty minutes and then eventually an hour. Alessandra hadn’t come back upstairs.
I swung my plaid-clad legs from under the blankets and pressed my feet into the soft rug beneath me. While holding my chest I wobbled through the room holding onto anything I passed getting myself to the next point. I was weak but it would pass. Eventually, I reached the door and exited into the silence of the hallway. I hated that fucking silence.
I stumbled from wall to wall until reaching the elevator. I knew better than to attempt the stairs in my pathetic condition; whatever my condition was exactly.
Once out of the elevator I walked slowly through the hallway passing my office. I wanted to touch my wife, feel her in my arms. Make sure that she was safe.
My office was only one door down. I hadn’t been inside my office since… Well, I wasn’t sure how long it had been actually. I turned the doorknob and entered. Rich silence clung to the walls, only interrupted by my own breathing. My chair felt good underneath me, and my reflection echoed back through the shiny mahogany of my desk. A drawer that was left open just a hair caught my eye.
“Bella’s journal?”
It sat just inside the drawer to my right covered in black leather. She’d been in here while I was unconscious?
I traced the leather with my fingers feeling the indentations of its years of use under my fingertips. I wanted to open it, to see what she wrote about while I was hurt, but I couldn’t, could I?
I knew I was opening it when my fingers flipped through the pages. I tried to stop myself but I couldn’t. I had to know what she’d been thinking.
***
June 4th
Today was the worst day of them all. Jax’s brother wanted me to pull the plug as so he called it. What was the plug anyway? I told him to get screwed. He didn’t like that, but I’d never do that to Jax. Gotta go; it’s five till ten and Mamma Moretti will be here soon to stare at me. Insert sarcasm.
They’d wanted her to let me die? But she didn’t listen to them. I turned the page.
June 6th
Sorry I haven’t been around much. It’s been crazy. The kinds of crazy that I can’t even write about. How does someone get this crap out of their head if they can’t write about it?
I’ve been doing more than my usual share of praying lately. There’s a chapel in the hospital, but I don’t want to leave Jax. He could wake any moment and then he’d be alone.
I continued reading page after page of what Bella went through, but in every journal entry she said the same thing. “I can’t talk about it.” I was angry wondering what the fuck she couldn’t talk about until I came to the last page.
The first good news I’ve had in a while came from the doctor today! The baby is healthy; I wonder if it’s a little boy or maybe a girl. Will he look like his father or me? I just wish I could share this with him.
The journal fell from my palm landing on the floor under my feet. Bella was pregnant.
“Alessandra?” I gradually slid the chair away. I had to see Bella now!
I slowly wandered through the penthouse searching for Alessandra when I eventually found her in the kitchen cooking.
“Oh, Jax, I got busy making your food. Are you alright?” she asked anxiously.
I leaned on the kitchen island in only a pair of pants. Sitting wasn’t as easy as it should have been, my entire body felt like shit. “Where is Bella?” I was growing impatient with this.
Her eyes moved to the left. “She’ll be home soon. You’ve been through a lot you should lay down before something horrible happens.” she said with intense worry etched around her eyes.
“Why are you being so evasive?”
She took a deep breath and rested her hands on the island. “If I tell you where she’s gone you’ll leave, and you’re not well enough to do that.
“Alessandra.” I clamped my teeth shut. “I mean this with the utmost respect. If you don’t tell me where my pregnant wife is, you’ll have more than my health to worry about.”
“How did you know?” she gasped.
“I read her journal. Tell me where she is!” I was becoming very angry with Alessandra and her misplaced loyalties.
“Jax, you’d better sit.”
I gripped the edge of the island and braced myself for what was to come.
“She’s taken her guards and left to find the men that hurt you.”
“You’re fucking kidding me?”
She nodded stating, “I’m afraid not.”
“Where’s my phone?”
Reaching inside of the pocket of her apron, she handed over my silver phone.
I dialed Bella’s phone, but it went to voicemail after only one ring. “Bella, call me now!” I yelled. I dialed her phone over and over with voicemail answering every time. I finally dialed Tony with an answer after the fourth ring.
“Boss?” he whispered.
“Where’s my wife?” My jaw clenched. I was ready to rip someone’s head off.
“Where are you?”
“I’m at my fucking house. Where’s Isabella?”
Tony reluctantly gave up their location telling me that they had just landed. I didn’t know what the fuck was going on, but she had a lot of explaining to do. They all did.
I showered and dressed in record time. I was fueled by anger alone. Everyone was in on this. The men that were supposed to protect my pregnant wife let her run around chasing fucking gangsters?
I pressed my body into the wall as I descended down the stairs. My phone buzzed in my pants showing me that I’d missed several of Bella’s phone calls. I had forgotten to turn the ringer up.
I dialed her phone. “Bella?”
“Jax, oh my God you're awake? Are you okay?”
I was silent for a moment. Did she think whatever the fuck she’d been doing was al
right? Had she completely lost her fucking mind?
“Where are you?” Isabella had gone against everything that she was ever taught, and my anger hadn’t even begun to rage.
“I’m almost there, only a few minutes away. I missed you so much Jax.”
“You missed me?” Seemed to me like she was having the time of her life running around like an idiot. “I’ll see you when you get here.” I disconnected the call without another word.
“Alessandra.” I walked toward my office wondering what I would say to her. “I’ll be in my office.” I closed the door behind me.
I picked the journal up from the floor and held it in my hands while I waited. Anger boiled to the point of rage. My pregnant wife was putting my child at risk.
A soft knock at the door let me know she was here. I needed to be careful of how I acted. One wrong move and I’d hurt her. “Come in.”
The door eased open revealing Bella’s long dark hair then her hand. “Jax?”
I sat back in my chair and laced my fingers together. When the door closed she approached from the side of my desk reaching her arms around my neck. “Hey, I can’t believe you’re up and dressed after being in a coma for a month.” She kissed my cheek.
“Sit down.”
Her posture became erect then she walked around my desk to sit in the armchair. “What’s going on, Jax?”
“Anything you want to tell me?”
“Is that my journal?”
I picked it up and tossed it across the desk. “Yep,”
“Jax, I’m confused, what have I done to upset you?”
“I woke up not knowing where my pregnant wife was. Then, I find out not only that you’re pregnant but that you’re seeking revenge on the people that attacked me?”
“Jax, calm down,” she whispered. “I can explain.”
“Explain?”
“Jax, I...”
“Where the fuck have you been?” I said interrupting her.
Her head fell. “I was meeting with Drake Falcone.”
“Are you kidding me, Isabella? You’re joking right?”
She shook her head. “I was.”
What the hell could she have been doing with Falcone? “He’s a dangerous man, Bella. You’re taking my unborn child to see a man that wouldn’t hesitate to kill you.”
“Yea, Jax, and I’d do it again.”
“What could you’ve possibly need from him?”
She drew in a deep unsettling breath. “You literally have no idea what I’ve gone through. How dare you talk to me as if I’m not your wife and haven’t been through absolute hell. How dare you, Jax!” Her eyes filled with tears. She never cried in front of me. I knew there were many times that she’d wanted to cry. I’d caused my share of her heartbreak throughout our short marriage.
I’d only seen her this vulnerable once before and that was when her father had passed away. I took in a deep breath waving her over to me. She reluctantly stood and approached. Her flawless face streaked with mascara. “I’m sorry.” I pressed my hands into her hips pulling her into my lap resting my forehead against hers.
“Jax, I thought you were going to die. I’ve never been so terrified in my life.” She sobbed into my hair as she clung to me.
I held her close letting her cry without interruption. I didn’t know what she’d been through.
“So many things have happened in the last month, so many bad things, Jax.” She raised her head.
I pressed my thumb to her cheek wiping away her tears. “What happened, baby,” She was broken. I’d never saw her broken. Bella was the strongest woman I’d ever met and it was very clear that she needed me to love and protect her right then. I brushed my fingers through her hair pulling her closer into my body. Her legs bent as she began twisting into a fetal position. She continued sobbing into my chest without interruption.
Her head rested underneath my chin. “Make it go away, Jax. Make all the horrible go away.” She clung to my white Versace shirt. “Make all of the sick and twisted shit of our world go away.”
I reached for her head pulling her to face to mine. “What happened, baby? What the fuck happened to you?” Her dark eyes were seated in fire; red, tear stained, and broken. “Did someone hurt you?” I’d kill them.
“I wanted to die.” Her body fell limp. “I haven’t had enough time with you yet. You laid in that hospital bed and wouldn’t wake up.”
Bella had never been this fragile with me. She’d never needed me the way she did at that moment. “Sometimes we just need something to live for. I have you to live for now, and I’m not going anywhere.” I pulled her wet face to mine kissing her full, warm lips tasting the salt from her tears. “You’ve given me something to live for every single day.” Bella’s body shook in my hands. I was ready to love my wife and give her everything and anything for the rest of our lives.
Jax
Bella pulled me closer, our teeth clashing, hands grabbing at my hard dick while she pressed against me with her tight ass. I wanted to hurt Bella in the best way. I wanted to shove my cock deep inside of her claiming every sweet inch of her. My tongue wrapped around hers slowly taking in her sweet taste. Perfume grabbed my senses bringing back memories of her on top taking me deep inside of her.
Bella and I hadn’t made love since I’d woken up from that shit I went through. I needed to taste her so badly.
I ripped at my sleep pants ignoring the pain it caused. I was still recovering, but I’d planned to fuck her until she forgot about everything that had happened. I’d make sure she only remembered what I felt like inside of her.
I pressed her against the bed, her naked body writhed beneath me aching to be fucked. I rubbed my hand across her tight ass smacking it every few strokes and hearing an achy moan slip from her beautiful mouth. I pressed my hands into her tight, full thighs. I needed to be inside of her finally. I wanted to fuck her hard and fast. But right now I’d go slow and deep taking my time to give her what she’d thought she’d lost. Me.
I slipped my hard cock into her hot, wet pussy, feeling my body shake from exhilaration. I continued to grip her thighs pushing into her hard and slow.
Isabella had me in every fucking way. She had me in the palm of her hand from the first moment I’d lay eyes on her in the middle of that cold dark road. That was the night that changed my life. It may have seemed that I was the one to have found her, but simply she’d found me that night. I’d been running from many things then. Until a princess named Isabella Sagatori found me.
She was also running that night, scared and alone, but she’ll never be alone again. I’d see to that personally. Fate brought us together for reasons I couldn’t deny. I’ve never wanted anything more than her. I’d take her with me to Hell if that’s where I’d end up. I’d take her to the ends of the earth cradled against my heart.
She relaxed, leaning forward into the bed, and I pushed harder inside of her and she relaxed into a moan. Moisture pooled around my dick as she begged me to fuck her harder. I reached for her long hair gripping a handful between my fingers. When I slipped back into her tight pussy, she pulsed around me coaxing me deeper. Her round ass bounced begging for more, wanting me to shove inside of her over and over. The heat radiating from her was something I’d always want to feel.
Our moans met in sync of one another’s as we came together. Our bodies fell into a tangled mess of limbs.
“I want you to know when I’m not with you, you’re all that I think about. You make life worth living again, Bella.” My hand softly stroked her arm. When she didn’t respond with even the purr of her soft lips, I rose my body leaning over her shoulder seeing she’d fallen asleep in my arms. “Sleep, baby. I’ll be here when you wakeup.” I pressed a kiss to her smooth shoulder.
When I met Isabella, I feared love. I refused to believe that I could give my heart to someone ever again. I’d rather have killed the woman that attempted steeling my heart from its chamber of despair than to have given it away. I had no chance with Bella
though; she owned every piece of me rather I wanted to admit it then or not.
The men that took Isabella and my unborn child would soon pay. I planned revenge while I recovered. I planned to teach many people a lesson for crossing me. Bella is half of my soul, and if you crossed her you also crossed me. Blood will be shed and heads will roll.
Jax Moretti is back in control.
Acknowledgments
There are so many people that I would like to thank for everything they have done in helping with the release of Bella vol.4. I would first and foremost like to say that without each one of you, readers, family, friends, and bloggers, there would not be a Sagatori family saga. I absolutely cannot do this without you. I’m touched by the love and encouragement that I receive every day from all of you. I appreciate each of you more than you will ever know, but only because I don’t know how to fully explain it.
My husband, Chad, and children have to be the most patient people I have ever met. They deal with everything that comes from having a mommy and wife attempting to make her writing dreams come true. I love you to the moon for that support, but I’d love you anyway *wink*.
To Misty Simmons- Thank you for your friendship and support
To my friend April Newman and Courtney Shockey- Thank you so much for always being there and ready to help! You have no idea how much your friendship has meant to me. Thank you for always supporting me!
My managers and friends, Christy McCurry, Misty Simmons, April Newman, Courtney Shockey, and Victoria Kay. You are the kind of girls everyone should have in their life! They work alongside Christy and myself in assuring every day-to-day detail is taken care of and are amazing in everything that they do and you are all such wonderful friends. I hope that you know how special you all are and how each of your friendships mean the absolute world to me.
Christy McCurry- I’m so excited that you’re on board as my PA!
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