Chapter 4

The days slid past, quiet as still water.

Then, one afternoon, the flower shop door swung open.

The one person I never wanted to see again stood in the doorway.

Georgia.

She wore Chanel's newest suit, her makeup flawless, and standing there in my apron I looked like something from another world.

She looked around the shop, and her gaze finally settled on me.

There was a hint of curiosity in it, and that familiar air of looking down from a great height.

"Bella? What are you doing here?"

She looked like she'd stumbled on some strange new toy.

"Well, well. The great Mrs. Henson, reduced to clerking at a flower shop?"

I didn't answer, just kept my head down and sorted the stems.

She clicked over on her heels and rapped on the counter.

"Hey. I'm talking to you."

"Victor dumped you? Figures. What man would want a dull woman like you."

I stopped what I was doing, lifted my head, and looked at her coldly.

"Are you finished?"

"When you're finished, get out."

She clearly hadn't expected that. She froze for a second, then flushed with fury.

"Who do you think you are, talking to me like that!"

She raised her hand to slap me.

I caught her wrist and flung it back hard.

"Miss Pruitt, this is a flower shop, not somewhere you throw a tantrum."

"Leave now, or I'm calling the police."

She stumbled from the force of it, nearly turning an ankle on her heels.

"You—"

Her face went white with rage.

"Bella, don't get smug."

"You think leaving Vic means you'll land somewhere better?"

"Let me tell you, you're finished. For good."

Her words were a poisoned barb.

I forced down the churning inside me.

"How my life turns out is none of your concern."

"You should worry a little more about yourself."

"After all, a contract traded for a child. Who knows how long it'll keep you shining."

I brought it up on purpose.

Georgia's face went bone-white in an instant.

"You— what nonsense are you spouting!"

"That night I was just there with my father for a business meeting. I didn't know anything!"

Her reaction only confirmed what I'd guessed.

I let out a cold laugh.

"Whether you knew or not doesn't matter."

"What matters is that Victor chose you and gave up his own child."

"The two of you really are made for each other."

Georgia had no comeback. She jabbed a finger at me, beside herself.

"You wait. I won't let this go!"

She threw out the threat and turned and fled, all her poise gone.

Only after she left did I notice my hands were shaking.

Joan came up from the back and patted my shoulder.

"Bella, are you all right?"

I shook my head.

"I'm fine."

It was only that the wound inside me, barely scabbed over, had been torn wide open again.

Raw and bleeding.

So I wasn't as strong as I'd imagined after all.

I thought Georgia showing up was just a passing episode.

I never imagined the trouble was only beginning.

The next day, someone splashed red paint across the shop door.

The glass was smashed too.

Joan looked at the wreck of the storefront and sighed and sighed.

"Who would do this? What kind of person has no conscience!"

I knew perfectly well it was Georgia.

I took out my phone to call the police.

Joan stopped me.

"Let it go, Bella. We're a small operation. We can't afford to cross people like them."

"Calling the police won't help. There's no proof."

"Let's just clean it up ourselves."

I looked at the helplessness on Joan's face, and guilt twisted in me.

I was the one who'd dragged her into this.

"Joan, I'm sorry."

"This started because of me. I'll pay for the damage to the shop."

Joan waved a hand.

"Silly girl, what are you talking about."

"It's not your fault."

It took the two of us a whole day to get the shop clean.

But the next day, the trouble came again.

People from the health department showed up for an inspection and said our hygiene didn't meet standards, that we'd have to close for corrections.

Right on their heels came the fire department, saying our fire safety equipment had problems.

One wave after another.

I knew this was all Georgia pulling strings behind the scenes.

She wanted to back me into a corner.

Joan was so worried her hair seemed to turn grayer.

"Bella, this shop... I'm afraid we can't keep it running."

"Maybe you should go lie low somewhere else for a while."

I looked at her, and something in my chest ached and stung.

"Joan, I can't leave."

"If I go, that's exactly what she wants."

I couldn't keep dragging Joan down with me.

I had to find a way to fix it.

I took out my phone and scrolled to a number I'd long since blocked.

I hesitated for a long time, then dialed it anyway.

It rang and rang before the line connected.

"Hello?"

It was Victor's voice, edged with weariness and impatience.

"It's me. Bella."

The other end went silent.

After a long moment, he spoke, his voice a little hoarse.

"You... you're finally willing to contact me."

"What do you need?"

I got straight to the point.

"Make Georgia back off."

"She's turned the flower shop where I work into a wreck."

There was another silence on his end.

Then I heard him let out a soft laugh.

"Bella, aren't you confused about something?"

"We're already divorced."

"Your job's not going well, so what gives you the right to come to me?"

"Whatever Georgia does has nothing to do with me."

I gripped the phone tighter.

"Victor, don't play dumb."

"If it weren't for you, would she be coming after me?"

"Are you telling me you don't know a thing about it?"

He scoffed.

"And what if I do know?"

"Bella, weren't you so full of pride back then?"

"What, now that you've hit a little trouble, you come crawling back to beg me?"

"Then beg me."

"Beg me, and I'll help you."

There was open humiliation in his voice, no attempt to hide it.

I was shaking all over with rage.

"Victor, you bastard!"

I slammed the phone down.

The tears fell before I could stop them.

How could I have been so naive?

To actually go and beg him.

To beg the man who killed our child with his own hands.

I really was pathetic.