Page 20 of Ma Belle Marguerite (Hidden Secrets #1)

“No, she just left. How far out are you?” I’m already walking to the elevator. This better be important to interrupt my time with Bella.

“I’ll be there in two minutes,” D replies and hangs up.

By the time the elevator reaches the main floor, I see D pulling up out front and Bella arguing with my driver. Smiling, despite the inconvenience of our time being cut short, I walk over to where she’s currently flailing her arms all over in clear exasperation.

“Bella, he will take you wherever you need to go. Consider him your personal driver.” I place my hand on her lower back, guiding her to the back of the blacked-out SUV.

She jumps slightly as I startle her but quickly rolls her eyes at me before reluctantly getting in. “Don’t get used to this asshole,” she says, and closes the door, leaving me standing here with a smile on my face like an idiot.

I watch the SUV pull away until they turn a corner and head towards her house, hopefully for her to start packing. I hear D pull the truck up beside me. “Get in, boss, we need to get going.”

“Let's go. I have a feeling she’s going to fight me about moving to the house tonight. She wouldn’t listen to what I had to say. She sees me as bossing her around when I’m just concerned for her safety and well-being,” I grumble. This woman is infuriating, but I wouldn’t want her any other way.

Laughing, he says unhelpfully, “You need to look at things from her point of view, boss.”

What the fuck? “Who’s side are you on, D?” I ask, “It better be mine.”

He gives a slight shake of his head and ignores me, turns up the music, and drives to Josh’s apartment. I’m not angry at him, but I don’t like it when we’re not on the same page or he questions my plans. This needs to happen; there is no other way my plan will work without her moving in with me.

As we pull up to Josh’s building, D turns down the music and looks at me.

“I’m always on your side, boss, but you know I will be honest with you when I think you’re wrong about something.

That is part of my job, after all. You need to think about how she viewed things all the years she was gone.

Even if she was wrong, it was all she knew.

You can’t hold that against her, just like she can’t hold what you saw as the truth against you.

” He turns off the truck and waits for my next move.

It’s my turn to ignore him as I get out of the truck and head into Josh’s, not waiting to see if he’s following me. I don’t have time for this bullshit.

“What did you find out, Josh?” I ask as I walk through his door.

“Hey, boss man, I’m doing good. Thanks for asking.” God, he’s such a smart ass. “I found information on the car following you and D when you were heading to the bunker.” He looks at me. “I haven’t found anything more on that Amara chick yet, or who was with her.”

“Well, what did you find? I don’t have all day. I need to get back to Bella.” I can hear the annoyance in my own voice. I know it isn’t his fault, but fuck, I just want to make sure she is at my house and safe, not be dealing with all this other bullshit.

Josh raises his eyebrows as he looks at me, “Whoa, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Anyway, look at this and see what I found for you.”

I move closer so I can see what is on his computer screen. I can’t believe my fucking eyes. The car following us to the bunker when I got out of the hospital was registered under a fake name, but he traced the purchase back to my brother, Cole. That mother fucker! What the fuck is he up to?

Moving to sit on the couch, I can’t think of why he would have been following us like that, especially when he already knew where the bunker was.

What am I missing? I know he has always resented the fact our father wants me to take over instead of him.

But is that really a reason to be following me?

“I was looking at the hospital's security camera footage, and I noticed the car started following you then. Whoever was driving probably followed you to Bella’s and then towards the bunker.” Josh drops that bomb on me with a concerned look on his face.

Josh knows how I feel about Bella. He was there for me when she first left and saw all the emotions and mess I went through.

He is the one that kept me from jumping off the bluff when I got her letter saying she didn’t want me to follow her.

I drove to the bluff and sat at the edge with her letter.

If she didn’t want me, what point was there to live?

Josh had been tracking my phone because he was worried about me. He showed up and grabbed me just as I was about to jump. He could have ended up going over the edge with me, but he risked his life to save mine.

He called D, and they brought me out to the place that is now my bunker and helped me the best they knew how.

It was a long few days of drinking and fighting my emotions, but they made me realize I had reasons to stay alive.

If I died, then I would never have the chance to get Bella back.

After that, there were no secrets between us anymore.

I shake my head to clear the thoughts from my mind and to focus back on the problem at hand.

I don’t understand why Cole would need to follow me or have me followed.

Whoever it was, though, would have seen me with Bella, which puts her at risk.

I can’t trust anyone, it seems. It’s just one more reason why she needs to move to my house with the kids.

“I want two teams on Bella whenever she isn’t with me and two more following each of the twins. I don’t know why he was following me, but I don’t have a good feeling about it,” I tell Josh. I cannot take any chances with them.

“On it. I’ll install cameras around her place, too, so we can see if anyone tries to sneak in.” He’s already typing away on his computer. “If they do move in with you, that would give someone the perfect opportunity to go snoop around.”

“Good. You found nothing else on Amara, you said?” I clarify.

“I don’t understand why she would do that to me.

I mean, sure, I turned her down more than a few times, but since when does that translate to trying to kill someone?

There must be something we’re missing. I don’t like this.

” I always thought she was a bit crazy, but to try and kill me because I didn’t want her is next level insane.

“No, I haven’t found anything else on her yet. I’m still looking, though. As soon as I find anything, I will call you.” Josh doesn’t stop typing while he talks. I know that if there is anything to find, he will be the one to find it.

I guess that’s all I’ll be getting out of him for now.

He has that face he makes when he’s deep in concentration.

He almost looks like a zombie, typing away, his eyes focused yet not at the same time.

My stomach grumbles, and I realize that I skipped breakfast and it’s now time for lunch.

Getting up and going to the kitchen, I look to see if he has anything edible in his refrigerator.

Josh orders a lot from the local leading restaurant.

Nothing beats their food. Josh’s Grandma owns the place and still is the one cooking most days.

It’s my favorite place to go when I need a quiet place to think.

Moving the milk and a random plate of food, I see that I’m in luck; there is some tourtiere— basically a ground beef pie with some spices — that still looks good.

It’s one of my favorite meals that his Grandma makes.

I like to add ketchup on it, mostly to drive Josh crazy.

He says that it ruins the taste; I say it adds to the flavor.

I warm up a container in his microwave and yell, “Tell Grandma thanks for the food!” I rush out the door before he realizes that I raided his refrigerator, with D hot on my heels holding a container too.