Apart from the gentle hum of the air conditioner, the flat was quiet. Perched on the couch's edge, Arabella's fingers anxiously ran down the rim of a magazine she had been pretending to read for the last half hour.
The city outside was alive with activity: automobiles honked, people yelled, and a siren howled in the distance. But within was only quiet; Arabella felt it pushing down on her, crushing her.
She was not by herself. Grant was also there; his presence in the room was undoubtedly felt. Though she couldn't hear his every movement, she could sense him. He was always so damn careful with her now, like everything he did had to be deliberate. Like every word he spoke was meant to restore her faith in him.
He wasn't succeeding in this though.
Arabella no longer believed in him. Not after all that had transpired, the feigned death, the secrets he had hidden. She was done. But there he was, sitting opposite her, doing all he could to close the distance he had spent so long creating between them.
"I'm only attempting to save you." Grant's voice shattered the stillness.
Sitting with his elbows on his knees and hands clutched tightly, he appeared weary, bone-deep tired, but his eyes still showed intense, unrelenting determination. The same intensity that once comforted her. Now, it made her feel stuck.
"Save me?" Arabella said again, her lips curling in a bitter laugh. "Grant, you're suffocating me." Rising suddenly, the magazine fell softly from her lap to the floor. She stepped to the window and gazed out at the city below.
Grant stood as well, approaching her, his steps quiet on the soft carpet. "Arabella, please," he pleaded, his voice suddenly imploring and softer. "I know I have erred. I'm doing this out of love for you and Liam."
She turned to look at him then, her eyes tight and frosty. "Love me?" She laughed derisively. "So why did you abandon me for all those years? Why weren't you honest with me?"
"I could not. You don't get it. The cartel, the individuals after me, they wouldn't have ceased with me. They would have pursued you as well. Liam, too." His jaw tightened with proximity. "Arabella, I did it to save you."
She shook her head and retreated from him. "You don't understand, do you?" she spat, her voice rising in volume. "Lying to me doesn't help you to protect me. You don't protect me by making me think you were dead! Grant, I've been living in the shadow of your lies. I can't keep doing this."
He extended his hand; she recoiled and retreated once more. His fingers fell, and he remained there, the naked need in his gaze all too obvious.
Grant continued, his voice a blend of determination and doubt following a long pause, "I'm hiring additional security." He gazed at her with that well-known intensity, but now it seemed more like a prison than a comfort. "They'll be here tomorrow to ensure you and Liam's safety."
Arabella's heart raced as she looked at him. "My safety? Do you truly believe that's what I require now?" Fighting the feelings that were about to consume her, she swallowed hard. "Grant, I need space. You control everything; hence, I need you to stop. Stop using money and power to try to solve every problem."
Grant's expression grew more serious, but he remained silent. He stood there staring at her as though his world had just collapsed. Arabella felt the intense and piercing bitterness return. She didn't need his defense.
But the more she fought, the more she understood: she could not flee from him.
He had already weaved himself into her life too completely; now, she had to face the repercussions.
Sitting in the rear of the elegant black sedan, Hudson saw the city lights flashing by in a flurry as the sky darkened. He was scheduled for a meeting. A meeting that might determine Arabella's destiny as well as his own. The idea made him smile. Whether she knew it or not, she was now his pawn.
Opposite him, the tabloid reporter sat with her fingers frantically tapping on her phone. She seemed to be the sort of person who could bend any narrative to fit her requirements and control any tale.: the ideal match for Hudson's goals.
"Here it is," Hudson remarked, giving her a hefty manila envelope. Watching her eyes shine with avarice made his lips twist into a smile. Inside was the proof she required. A well-planned deception that would upend Arabella's existence.
Her eyes raced over the material while the journalist's fingers flicked through the file. "This will do. It will sell like wildfire." Her teeth sparkled beneath the low illumination as she smiled. "You know this will ruin her, don't you?"
Hudson shrugged casually. "I'm less concerned. I want to obtain what is rightfully mine." Thinking about the Winslow legacy, his eyes narrowed. He would accept everything. He would leave Grant with nothing and crush him under his heel. What about Arabella? She was only a stepping stone.
With a contented sigh, the reporter set the file down. "This will be made public first thing tomorrow. Arabella will be unaware of what struck her."
Hudson need not speak. His strategy was already underway. He had all he required to shatter Arabella, to reveal her before the globe. And with her gone, he would take charge of everything.
Arabella was completing dinner at home when she noticed the phone illuminating on the kitchen counter. Reaching for it, her fingers shook to unlock the screen. The number was unlisted.
She thought twice before responding. "Hello?"
The voice on the other line was too quiet, almost serene. "Arabella, I have something for you. It's a tiny reminder. Your history. Your hidden truths."
Listening made Arabella's stomach turn. The voice went on. "A scanned copy of your three-year-old sonogram. You wouldn't want the world to know about your tiny secret, would you?"
The phone clicked off suddenly, causing Arabella to gasp. Looking at the ultrasound emailed to her phone, her hands trembled. The stone in her chest made the chilly reality of the danger sink. Her child. Her history. Her life, everything was about to be revealed.
Her heart pounding, she flipped the phone over. Seconds later, Hudson's text read:
"Play kind, or the world discovers what you truly are."
Arabella felt her blood run chilly. The walls were closing in, and there was no hiding place left. Not from Hudson. Not from anyone.
A few faint lights threw lengthy shadows over the concrete floors, making the parking garage dark. Arabella's automobile came to a stop; It had been a quiet, anxious drive. Her mind kept returning to the lies surrounding her, Hudson's message, and the dangers.
She was just about to leave when she heard a noise from behind her, the scrape of tyres on the pavement. Two males in dark jackets stepped in front of her automobile, obstructing her path before she could respond.
She stood still. Cold and crippling, fear pierced her. Reaching for the car doorknob, she found it wrenched open before she could respond. A calloused hand seized her arm and yanked her from the vehicle.
"Get in," one of the men hissed, tightening his hold agonizingly.
Trying to escape, Arabella's heart raced in her chest. "What do you want?"
They remained silent and pushed her towards a black van in the corner of the garage instead. Arabella's thoughts raced. This was not only a mugging. This was worse.
An automobile slammed to a stop close by, and its lights cut into the night just then. A known voice rang out all across the garage.
"Leave her alone!"