Page 33 of Unleash Hades (Ungoverned Spaces #5)

Calissandra

“ H oly Hades.” My heart fluttered in my chest.

He had won. My Hugo had won the match.

“I will say, he seems quite invigorated from the last fight.” Bellamy smirked like the devil, his finger twirling idly in the air.

A small, blossoming hope existed inside me… that if he could win this, then he could win other things too. Even against Richard. It was a damning hope. Pandora’s Hope in the bottom of all the world’s pestilence.

Rose had pumped her fist in the air, smiling like a predator. She was thrilled by the turn of events.

The She-Bear watched too, from the audience.

“She’ll be the last to fight tonight,” Bellamy said, inclining his head towards the strongly-built woman. “She’s been attracting a lot of attention, and she’s the big finale.”

He wrinkled his nose as if he was thinking of some mischief. Then he slapped his thigh and got up.

“Let’s go talk to her.” I was going to ask him why when he grabbed my hand, pulling me to a stand.

I planted my feet, and pried my hand from his grasp. He looked at me, his brows knitted in confusion. A thousand expressions crossed his eyes. Then he leaned forward, and in an uncharacteristically quiet voice, he whispered, “If you want to tie Richard to any of this, she’s your key.”

Stunned, I froze in place.

He shook his head, as if getting back into character, and fluffed his ascot. Then in that loud, boisterous, high-pitched sing-songy voice he said, “Suit yourself!”

He walked down the aisle with the swagger of a man who thoroughly believed he had a right to move through this world without being questioned - orange suit and all!

“Aldon! Yoohoo!” He said, with a frantic, limp-wristed wave, his fingers jazz-fingering as he jumped up and down. “Aldon! It’s me! Coucou!”

Aldon, who he had previously pointed out, was sitting with a woman with the delicate bones and figure of a supermodel. She looked at Bellamy with a smirk, her eyes roaming his outrageous clothes, as Aldon covered his mouth, badly hiding a smile, even as his shoulders shook with laughter.

Having gotten his attention, Bellamy bounced down the aisle until he came to the She-Bear. I followed him. Not because I thought he was right about the possibility of ending the torture that was Richard… but I was curious.

“ Zdorovat'sya ,” Bellamy said, taking me by surprise as I came up beside him.

The She-Bear was sitting with her entourage. The girl with the covered face was at her right. She looked at Bellamy with the same expression that everyone else did. Part shock, then judgment, and that hostile mockery that we kept to our deep inner thoughts.

“ Ty govorish' po-russki, pa-druga? ” I stared at the side of Bellamy’s face in disbelief.

From the side of his mouth, he loudly said, “I’ve just said hello, and asked her if she speaks Russian.”

“I do not,” the She-Bear came to her feet, jutting out her chin. “I am Ukrainian.” She thumped a fist on her chest. “And English will do fine.”

“Oh, how wonderful!” Bellamy flapped his arms in joy.

“I was just curious if you’ve had any run-ins with a certain fellow, English, about this high,” He indicated the height with his palm facing the ground, clocking Richard at around the height of his eye line.

“Brown hair, brown eyes, really forgettable features. Probably smells like Chanel Number 5, though God knows why he thinks he can pull that off.”

He acted like Richard put that perfume on as a choice, and not as a byproduct of dousing his mistress in the scent to fulfill his French girl kink.

“Goes by the name Richard?” Bellamy inspected his shiny blue nails.

“If he dresses like you, no.” The She-Bear’s eyes drifted down Bellamy’s outfit, and I found I could smile again.

My face was unfamiliar with the expression. My cheeks were getting sore.

I looked around because I knew that he was supposed to be here. Richard. He was supposed to attend this fight, and I wondered if he’d bring his mistress. Then again, he’d know I’d be here, so maybe he’d show an ounce of decorum and come alone.

“Oh, no, no, no!” Bellamy said, “The man has the personality of a taxidermied snake. He dresses like every other boring executive. Probably Prada double breasted, and if he’s feeling brave a pin stripe.”

The same acidic disdain that people threw at Bellamy he threw back at his critique of Richard now.

“English, you say,” the She-Bear’s eyes narrowed. “And what do you want from me?”

“Oh, just information, dear lady.” Bellamy bowed with a twirling hand at his stomach, and his left arm pulling back behind him.

Like he was some kind of regency gentleman and she was a debutante.

“Whatever you wish to share would be a great treasure for myself, and my colleague. We’re journalists, you see. We’re on the side of the angels.”

She snorted, rolling her eyes.

Not everyone thought that journalists were good people.

He took a seat - not the one the She-Bear had vacated, but one that placed a space between her and the girl in the dress.

Bellamy looked down at the seat she had left. A quiet invitation for her to sit and relax.

“Why would I tell you anything?” the She-Bear pursed her lips.

I didn’t miss how she shifted her shoulders to put the girl behind her out of Bellamy’s view.

“I don’t know…” Bellamy inspected his nails. “Maybe to…”

“The man we’re asking about is my husband,” I interrupted, and the two looked at me, their eyes blank.

But it was in that blankness that I knew they were surprised. They were choosing to school their features.

“I have twins,” I said, hoping to appeal to some womanly instinct that she might have.

There was a scar on her lower belly that I recognized.

A C-Section scar. Adelia had the same one.

“They’re my life. I want to keep them safe.

” There was a sudden softness in her eyes that thawed my heart. “They’re everything I have and…”

The She-Bear reached into her pocket. She looked away from me for a moment, her eyes full of… something. But then her men - the Mafiosos in their suits - suddenly took interest in what she was doing and got up from their little circle to hover around us.

“Who are you?” one of them said in a thick, Italian-New York accent.

“I’m…” I stammered.

Fear was my reaction. Fear, because I knew that he was here. That they were Richard’s eyes and ears. I didn’t know how. I knew it the way you might instinctively understand which way was north, or if it would rain. It was something you felt in your bones.

“I’m just talking to our champion,” Bellamy said, holding up a ticket in his hand.

“I’ve got some big money riding on her today, and I’m just here to lend my support, as it were.

” He lifted his fist and weakly, almost comically, let out a roundhouse punch, then presented a betting slip.

“Just trying to psych her up, so to speak. You know?”

One of the men looked at the ticket, nodding in satisfaction.

I hadn’t seen him place that bet and had no idea who he was betting against. But the Mafioso was satisfied by the cover story.

“Clear out,” one of the men said, rudely nudging Bellamy with a pointed finger. “She has to get ready for the fight.”

“Oh, of course!” Bellamy said.

“You’re friends with the Legionnaire?” the She-Bear asked, completely ignoring what else was going on. “You know him, yes?”

“I do,” I said with my whole chest.

“Okay,” she said, looking away with a false disinterest. I knew it was false because her fingers kept flexing into a fist and out again. She was up to something, but I couldn't ask what it was.

We were in danger. We were surrounded by it.

The She-Bear quietly took her hand from her pocket, then held the girl’s wrist in hers, giving it a squeeze.

What the fuck was going on?

But her prison keepers were done with me and Bellamy, and they pushed him out of the seat so they could occupy it.

“Scram!” one of them said, with a horrid look in his eyes.

Bellamy stood, then with a theatric flip of his non-existent long hair he said, “How rude!”

He walked up, his face huffy in annoyance as we went back to our old seats, a little further back from the action.

I appreciated the seats he had chosen for us. We could see the octagon, but were in a place unobstructed by other audience members. We had a view of everything around us, and Bellamy’s eyes were constantly scanning…

I had thought he was looking at outfits, but a small kernel of doubt was building in the back of my mind. A strange, and sinister thought that I knew to be impossible… but…

“Darling,” Richard’s voice sent unpleasant goosebumps up my arm. It showered across my chest, and I dreaded every moment of it. “How wonderful to see you.”

I wondered what he did with his mistresses in times like this.

He was certainly bringing her along, whoever she was.

He always had a ‘pet’ that he kept wherever he stayed.

That’s what Adelia had called herself. The maid who was dragged around as he traveled, staying in his hotel room as he went about his business.

I felt sorry for whoever it was, and hoped that whatever he paid them was worth it… even though I knew that wasn’t true.

It was just another lie that I comforted myself with.

“Yoohoo! Richard!” Bellamy loudly called, waving frantically, even though the only distance between the two of them was taken up by my shoulders. “It’s me! Lucien!”

“Yes,” Richard said through gritted teeth. “I can see.”

Richard eyed Bellamy from head to toe, and I held back a smile. The sheer disapproval and malice in his eyes were downright comical, as his intended target simply did not give a fuck about what he thought.