Page 30 of Ma Belle Marguerite (Hidden Secrets #1)

Alexander

B ella is worn out after the long day she had. Her little tease distracted me for a moment, but I could almost thank whoever ransacked her place. It gave me an even better reason to have her here with me, but I will find out who it was and they will pay for what they did to her.

I find a nightgown in the bags of things she purchased today and slip it over her body before I tuck her into bed. What she pulled out earlier isn’t exactly appropriate if the kids come in before she wakes up and gets dressed.

She needs her rest, and if I climb in with her, I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep my hands to myself. I don’t want to risk falling asleep with her and getting caught, either.

Instead, I busy myself putting her bags into the closet along with everything D brought up and left outside her door earlier.

She may want to kill me when she sees all the things I had purchased for her after she left the stores.

She deserves this and so much more than I could ever give her. So she’ll just have to deal with it.

Once everything is tucked away, I do a quick clean up in the bathroom so she doesn’t worry about it in the morning. Closing the door between our rooms quietly, I head to the desk in my bedroom. Picking up my phone, I find that I have missed calls from both Josh and D along with many text messages.

D: Boss, we have something you’re going to want to see right away.

Josh: Boss man, I know you’re with your lady, but this is important. Answer your damn phone.

D: We know who broke into Bella’s place. Call asap.

Josh: Are you okay? I see your phone is pinging at home. Don’t make me come check on you.

D: I’m on Josh’s side with this one boss; we’re on our way over.

Sighing, I press call on Josh’s name. As my phone rings in my hand, there’s a knock at my door. “Come in.” There’s only two people that could be.

“There you are, boss man! We were getting worried when you weren’t answering. You always answer us, especially when we say it’s important.” Josh rambles on and on. “Wait, did we interrupt hanky panky time? Shit sorry, but you need to see this.”

Putting my phone down on my desk before I break it, I look at Josh and say, “Don’t ever talk about Bella in that way.

She deserves more respect than that. She is a queen and will be treated as such.

Understood?” I can feel my nails digging into my palms as I try not to punch Josh like I want to.

She is mine and I will protect her at all costs from everyone, even myself.

Stepping back and hanging his head, he replies, “Yes boss, I’m so sorry. It won’t happen again.”

Looking at D I ask, “What was so important that you came here at this time of night?”

Having the grace to at least look ashamed, D says, “I didn’t want him to come burst in here alone and he would have left without me if I said no. You know how he gets. I should have tried harder. Josh does have some vital information for you though.”

Sitting back in my chair, I nod for Josh to talk. He comes around my desk as he pulls his laptop from his bag. This better be worth barging in here and pissing me off.

Placing the computer in front of me, he types away until a picture of Amara pops up on the screen.

There’s a bunch of writing on the side that I don’t understand.

As if he senses that, Josh finally speaks.

“I have been looking into the girl that ran you off the road like you asked.

Amara is Isabella's half sister, according to this DNA test I found in the hospital's database.”

What in the actual fuck? Sisters?

I am about to ask him how this is even possible when I hear a soft gasp come from the direction of Bella’s room. I look over to see Bella standing in the doorway with wide eyes staring back at me.

“ Ma Belle , what are you doing up? You should be sleeping.” I say to her as I get up and stalk towards her.

Looking down she says, “I heard voices and came to see if it was one of my kids in here. I’m sorry I interrupted.” She moves to back away from me as I approach, but I quickly grab her arm and pull her to my body—gently, so I don’t hurt her.

“You never need to apologize, baby. I’m sorry we woke you.” I say softly in her ear. I give her a quick kiss on the lips. “You can go back to sleep, we’ll move to my office downstairs to give you some quiet.”

As I go to back away, she holds me close with her arms wrapped around my waist, and I can feel the curves of her body pressing against me in all the right places. As if my dick has a mind of its own, I am now growing hard. It is not the time for that.

“Please stay here, I would like to know what Amara has to do with me and what he said about her running you off the road.” She sounds tired but determined. “I don’t have a sister so I would like to see what he has found.”

She makes a good point that I can’t find reason to argue with.

“Fine, but you will go back to bed as soon as we’re done.

” I guide her over to my desk as she rolls her eyes, and I pull her down into my lap.

“Continue, Josh.” I say, while I hold Bella close to me and try to ignore my hard on pressing into her delectable ass.

Looking from Bella to me, Josh sighs and changes screens on his laptop.

“So, to catch you up, we found out that Amara has been following Rex around and was the one driving the truck that ran him off of the road.” He presses play on a video that shows Amara getting into the truck and following me through town.

“We are still trying to figure out who was in the truck with her and shot at Rex.”

I feel Bella take a deep breath and hold it in as she watches the video. “It’s okay Ma Belle , I’m fine.” I feel her exhale at my words.

“I know, Rex, but this is still crazy to see. Knowing someone intentionally ran you off the road while shooting at you is insane. Not to mention, hearing that she’s been stalking you and may be my half sister.

It’s a lot to process.” Sighing, she continues, “Plus, I just got you back; I don’t want to think about losing you already. ”

“You won’t lose me baby, don’t worry.” I kiss her shoulder lightly and feel her shiver.

It makes me feel powerful knowing I have the ability to do that to her.

If I add in the fact that she just said she doesn’t want to lose me, there’s hope that not all is lost, even though she has been trying, and failing, to keep her distance until tonight.

“What was it you were showing me earlier about Amara possibly being related to Bella?” I ask Josh.

“Right,” he says as he goes back to the report from the hospital he was showing me before.

“So I decided to dive into her medical history to see if there would be anything relevant there. There were a few times when she was younger she was brought into the hospital for broken bones. It said suspected abuse, but nothing ever seemed to be done about that.” He scrolls through some pages that show us the reports he’s talking about.

I wish I could feel bad but after what she’s done I can’t bring myself to feel any sympathy at the moment. She almost killed me after all.

I feel Bella’s body deflate against me. I wish I knew what she was thinking right now. I gently rub my thumb on her thigh to try and remind her that she isn’t alone. She has me now, and I am not going anywhere no matter what Josh is showing us right now.

“On this last report, which is what I was showing you, Rex, it says she got a blood transfusion from Bella’s father.

Looking into that, it seems that he is also Amara’s father.

” He closes the report and opens another before I can see the reason she needed a transfusion in the first place.

“I took the liberty and decided to check Amara’s blood against Isabella’s since they both had their information in the hospital's database, and it came back saying that they are indeed half siblings.”

Bella and I both lean closer to see what is on the screen. I can’t believe what I’m seeing. Amara is in fact her sister, and she is only about five months older than Bella, according to her birthdate on the report.

“My father never said he had another child. Why did he hide this from me?” She sinks back into me as she seems to be thinking out loud, her voice almost robotic. “Did my mother know? This has to be wrong.”

“It’s okay Ma Belle , we will figure this out together.” I hug her as close to me as I can comfortably get her. “Josh, is there anything else?” I ask, without even looking at him. He is not my priority right now.

“That is all I found for now. I still have searches running at home on this and the other thing.” I can hear that he is hesitant to bring anything up in front of Bella, not knowing what he is allowed to discuss in front of her at this point.

I can only assume he’s talking about my missing guns and whoever had been following us.

“Let me know if anything comes up. Thank you. You guys can stay here tonight if you want, but I need to get Bella to bed.” I dismiss them as I get up with her in my arms bridal style and walk towards the door to her part of the bedroom. Bella sinks into my arms with a sad sigh.

“Goodnight boss and boss lady,” D says. I almost forgot he was here. He is always so quiet and observant. I’ll need to remind him to watch what he says in front of the kids.

Grunting my version of an answer I kick the door closed behind me and walk to Bella’s bed. As I put her down, she clings to me. “Please stay with me?” She asks meekly.

“I will stay until you fall asleep. We don’t want the kids finding us in bed together.” I lay beside her and she curls up to my side. “Although I wouldn’t mind, I know that you’re not ready for that yet.”

I feel her nod as she quietly starts sobbing on my chest. “Okay, I’m sorry.”