Bella: The Ending: A Sagatori Family Saga

by Kimberly Soto

  “Where are Tony and Dominic?”

  “I guess downstairs.” I shook the thought out of my head.

  “Tony’s been blowing up my phone.”

  I sniffled, confused.

  Afraid I’d made them worry, I pulled my phone back to see several missed calls and text. They had called. Tony and Dominic had done more than their share of worrying about me over the last year, and I felt horrible that I’d added to that.

  “Bella, I love you so much, but if you let that bitch do this to you, I’m gonna beat your little ass.” I laughed through a cry at her comment. “Since when do you allow anyone to treat you that way?”

  “This is different, she says this is his decision.” I sniffled again.

  “I call bullshit. This isn’t what he wants, and you know it. Also, you’re married which makes anything she says about your marriage irrelevant.”

  “But she said…”

  “Exactly, she said it, not Jax, and as for Chase… Bella, you’re beautiful, funny, and loyal. Of course, he fell in love with you. And men always want what they can’t have, you know that, but that’ll sort itself out. He cares about you, but he’ll see that it can never happen. Everything will be okay, I promise.”

  I pulled another tissue from my bag. “Okay,” and blew my nose.

  “I wish I were there. I’d beat the shit outta her. What kind of doctor does something like this? Who the hell does she think she is? She should lose her license for what she’s doing!” Emily ranted.

  I smiled feeling grateful I had this beautiful girl on my side. I inhaled a deep breath, gathered my courage and tissues, and then stood from the floor.

  “Thank you.”

  “Babe, I got you. But what are you gonna do?”

  I didn’t know. “Go back up there… strangle her with my Louis.” I shrugged. “Kidding, of course.”

  “Of course.”

  I wasn’t.

  “You should be careful though, you are like eleven months pregnant.”

  I dropped my eyes to my belly and rubbed it. “Eight, and yeah, I will be.”

  “Call me as soon as you’re out of there so I don’t worry, okay?”

  “I promise.” I sucked in my bottom lip feeling determined as I slipped the phone inside my bag and pulled the elevator stop button. I wasn’t ready to go back up there and face her, but Emily was right—this was my family, and I refused to let anyone take that away.

  I pressed the penthouse button and stood against the cold metal as I waited for it to ascend. My pulse quickened the closer I got, which made me even more nervous than I had already been. Would I be strong enough? Would he choose me? She said so many hurtful things, I wasn’t sure I could get past any of it. I just didn’t feel that I had it in me anymore.

  Ignoring my phone as it rang, I looked down, avoiding another glance at my reflection in the shiny silver door as I stepped over the threshold.

  It was quiet.

  Normal.

  The entry doors were closed.

  Normal.

  Tony and Dominic not waiting for me.

  Not normal.

  I assumed they’d be up here by now, having taken the other elevator, but I guessed they were still waiting for me to call. I shook the thought away and took that as an opportunity that this was my chance; I could say and do as I pleased without having them on my back.

  I inwardly smiled, sucking in a needed breath of courage.

  I half expected to see that bitch waiting for me as the door slowly opened, but she wasn’t, and I couldn’t deny the relief it caused.

  The penthouse was just as I remembered it. I hadn’t been there for a while, but nothing had changed. There was a new hole in the wall, however.

  “What do you want, Bella?” She surprised me again, standing twenty feet away, arms crossed against her chest.

  I suddenly didn’t feel so good as nausea crept, but I sucked it up and moved forward so that I could do what I came to do. “This is my home.” I couldn’t stand the meekness of my voice and desperately drew more courage.

  She snickered as I stepped closer “It was your home.”

  “Regardless, I came to let you know that you’re fired.”

  Unaffected by my words. “Really,” she drawled. “Sorry sweetie, but you can’t fire me.” She laughed.

  I wouldn’t break.

  Her lips flattened as she dropped her arms to her sides, fists clenched as she approached. Her facial features hid behind her dark hair until she was a mere five feet away. “You can’t fire me, sweetheart. Besides, I already told you, Jax wants me to stay. He is the boss, isn’t he?” She smiled.

  Why did crazy always find me, us? “Where is he?” I tilted my head to the right. “Let him tell me.”

  “Honestly, I don’t know what more I have to say before you’ll see that you’re husband wants me.” Her crimson red lips drew together as she leaned in. “You are the cause of all of this. You. I’ve already told you, he doesn’t want to see you again.”

  I wanted to die as her wicked words pierced through me. I also wanted to strangle her, but I kept my cool. “I don’t believe you. I’ll wait for him,” I said, frustrated that my voice didn’t reveal the conviction I’d wanted it to.

  “Or, I’ll have you thrown out.”

  A small laugh tumbled from my lips. “Who’s gonna throw me out?”

  “His guards, security. Take your pick.”

  “Send them. But do you really think they’ll listen to you? I’m curious about my husband’s whereabouts. If he wants you so badly then why isn’t he here defending what it is you’re telling me?”

  Her eyes darted toward the staircase. “You are pathetic, aren’t you? Coming here hanging on to dry hope. It’s sad really, makes me feel pity for you. Almost.”

  The pain in my chest was sharp. I felt like turning and walking away just to get relief from it, but I couldn’t. I’d never leave him willingly; if Jax didn’t want to be with me any longer then I’d go, but I’d have to hear it from him first. My phone rang as I moved forward, wanting to know why she kept staring at those damn stairs. “Where is he?” She didn’t respond, “Are you worried?”

  She snorted. “Why would I be worried?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know Doctor, you tell me.” I slipped my trembling hand inside my bag. ‘I know my husband and I know that if what you said was true he’d have said it to my face.”

  With widened, surprised eyes she stiffened and moved toward the black chaise lounge. “I want you to leave.”

  “Who the hell do you think you are?” I laughed “This is my house!” I let this bitch get under my skin earlier, but there was no way I’d allow her to continue. I had no intentions of backing down.

  Her eyes narrowed as she drew in a heavy breath and looked as if she didn’t know what to say.

  “Okay, I’ll go get him,” she drawled.

  “Don’t bother, I want you out!”

  “At least let me get my bag,” She walked to the stairs stopping at the first. Her heated eyes threw daggers, promising dangerous and deadly rewards. I threw a spiteful nod before she disappeared.

  I pulled my ringing phone from my bag and answered it without giving the caller’s name attention. “Hello,”

  “Bella?”

  My heart banged against my chest hearing Jax’s voice for the first time in so long. I muffled a cry. “I’m here, Jax. I want to hear what you have to say. I don’t believe it’s true,”

  “Bella? Are you okay?”

  “No, I am not okay. I want you to come downstairs and tell me to my face that you don’t want me. I want to hear it from you.”

  “What? What are you talking about.”

  “Oh really?” I hissed. “Well, your doctor seems to think…”

  “Where are you?” he interrupted.

  I laughed. “I’m downstairs, Jax, waiting for you to tell me you don’t want to be with me anymore.” Silence filled the phone. “Of the penthouse. In New York,” I finally said
sardonically when he didn’t respond.

  “I’m not at the penthouse,” he said with a breathy voice. “Baby, I need you to get out of there.”

  I laughed. “Is this what it’s come to? You can’t even give me the courtesy of a face to face to tell me you don’t want to be with me? This is breaking my heart.”

  “I don’t even know what you’re talking about. Where’s Tony?”

  I shrugged, looking back toward the door. “I don’t know,”

  “Get out of there, baby…”

  The echo of the doctor walking down the stairs caught my attention. “No,” I pressed the red button, hanging up on him, and gripped my phone until my knuckles turned white. She approached leaving me to clearly see as her dark smoky drawing eyes pinned me. “I’ve had enough, where is he?” I demanded, seeing that he hadn’t followed her.

  Her head tilted as the rest of her stood erect, but she didn’t respond.

  “Where is he?” I screamed and dropped my eyes to her red heels as they clicked with each step.

  “He’s up there, waiting for you.” She stared at me with confidence and pity. I knew all too well the look of pity which prompted something inside of me to darken.

  I turned, lifting my eyes toward the stairs. “Good.” I’d had enough of all of this. My entire life I’d been looked at like I was nothing more than a weak girl. One big tear wobbled down my face as the woman in front of me snickered. I wanted to punch her pretty face as I moved past her voluptuous body toward the stairs, but I kept my cool. Was that what he really wanted? I let the pain fuel me.

  I’d ignored my ringing phone since I’d hung up on Jax because I needed to be levelheaded. I wouldn’t give him an out from confronting me; I deserved at least that much. A single tear slipped, but I ignored that too, determined not to let another fall as I continued. My heart banged in my chest and my fingers trembled as I held onto the railing. I knew that I had no control. Since I could remember, that had been the recipe of my entire life, and I’d had enough. I’d let Jax tell me that he didn’t want to be with me, and then I’d leave him and everyone else behind. Maybe I’d start a new life where no one knew who I was, where guards were a faint memory.

  I reached the top of the stairs and sauntered closer to the bedroom suite and drew a terrified breath, afraid of finally confronting him. I chewed on my lip biting as hard as I could to keep my heart from singing to dust. With another few steps, I reached the closed door pressing it open and moving forward with my agenda.

  “Jax?” I asked, seeing no one in the brightly lit room. My eyes narrowed with confusion. I tightened my jaw as my eyes started to sting.

  I turned seeing the doctor standing behind me. “Your baby”—she nodded toward my belly—“he’s viable?”

  My hands jutted to my belly protectively. “What?”

  “If he were born right now, he’d be viable,” she stated while still staring. Something in her words terrified me. I felt as if I needed to leave immediately.

  “My baby is none of your concern.”

  A dark laugh rumbled in the back of her throat.

  “Where is he?”

  “I can’t have children,” she continued, lifting a dark stare, “I thought that a baby was only a dream, but I see now that it’s all more than possible.” Her lips curled as she pulled a capped needle from her pocket, and my eyes widened with horror. “I took this job promised I’d reap rewards beyond my imagination. I thought it was just Jax that I’d get, and that would be enough,” she scoffed. “But having you in the wings wouldn’t work for me; he’d always have you there bothering him.” Her eyes narrowed with anger that I existed. “But I had no idea how I’d get you out of the picture… until now.” She stepped closer with the needle in hand.

  “Who promised you these things?” I demanded.

  Her head tilted. “Patient-doctor confidentiality,” she snickered. “It won’t hurt, Bella, if you succumb to it. I’ll make this as painless as possible.”

  “You’re crazy!” I had to figure out how I’d get out of this volatile situation intact, but she blocked the only way out. I remembered dropping my bag downstairs which housed the gun Sal had given me before, but I still had my phone in my clenched palm. Hopeful she would be none the wiser as I slid my fingers on the screen, unsure that it even worked as I waited for her to respond.

  She laughed, “I’m a doctor, I know what I’m doing; he’ll be fine. If it makes you feel any better, you can die knowing that I will love him as if he were my own.”

  I surveyed the room for anything I could use to stop her. “You can't have my baby, you crazy bitch!”

  She muttered something I couldn’t understand from under her breath and pushed her weight into me. Panic surged through me as horror filled my chest. I fell onto my back having been knocked to the floor by her body. I screamed hoping to God that someone would hear me, terrified they wouldn’t. If she stuck me with it I’d die, that was the only certainty I’d had.

  Her face curled with anger. Did she think I’d go willingly?

  “Jax!” I screamed, feeling as the high pitch of it scratched my throat. “Help!”

  She laughed while she tried to pin me. “He’s not here.”

  I had only three seconds to understand what she’d said. I tried, but it didn’t settle as she bit off the cap of the needle and pointed it at me.

  The realization that I would die was at the tip of my understanding, and defeat hid there as well. “Please, don’t do this.” I turned my head to the side seeing a pair of black boots rush into the room and her body was lifted from mine.

  My mind whirled as people stormed the room violently. I turned to the left seeing a man wearing all black pull a gun from his side. A loud pop reverberated through me.

  The doctor laid limp on the floor ten feet from me. I shuttered and lifted to sit on my bottom. Men rushed from the room and others lifted the doctor carrying her by the feet and hands, jostling her body toward the bathroom.

  I attempted to focus, not aware of what had happened.

  A man approached with a graceful saunter as his gaze scanned my body. “Are you alright?” He turned toward the door speaking to someone I couldn’t see, and I turned my attention to the men who still remained as they wiped down the walls and floor. I slouched feeling the adrenalin slip from its heightened level, aware that these people had complete disregard for human life. But who were they?

  “She seems shaken but okay.” I turned as he approached once more.

  He had rendered the room with Jax and our eyes locked. “Bella?” He asked as he closed the distance.

  “Yes.” My voice trembled.

  “Hey,” Jax kneeled and cupped my face in his heated hands.

  “Jax,” I hoped it wasn’t a dream. A surge of love filled me as his arms cradled me protectively.

  Fear was rampant in his darkened eyes. “I’m so sorry,”

  He held me tight to his chest and pelted kisses to the top of my head. “I had no idea he sent her until today.”

  Who? “What?” I tipped my head back, “Who hired her?”

  “Ivan, he sent her. I didn’t know.”

  “What are you going to doing with her?” I asked as my head had fallen back to the warmth of his chest.

  “Shh, don’t worry about that now.” His arms moved across my body as if he needed to touch every inch to satisfy himself. Jax cradled me into his arm before standing to his feet disregarding the men in the room.

  Jax carried me downstairs and laid me down on the couch before disappearing from the room coming back a few minutes later with a glass of water. “Drink this.” He pushed it at me, patiently waiting for me to drink all of its contents.

  I pushed it away having left a few drinks and wiped at the moisture that had settled on my lips. I struggled to sit up feeling weak and defeated. “She told me that you didn’t want me anymore.” Tears surprised me as he watched with horror-filled eyes.

  “None of that was true.” His head fell.


  “How was I supposed to know?” I sniffled, feeling anger rush my chest. Not giving him a chance to answer, I said, “You wouldn’t speak to me, treated me like I was nothing. You… you ghosted me, Jax! You left me alone, and I didn’t know what was going on.” I rolled my head along the sofa. “You left me,” I cried, letting the overwhelming emotion freely escape without worry that someone would think I was weak.

  “I did, yes.” I lifted my head. He stood and disappeared up the stairs, our conversation was ended.

  I searched the room and sat up pressing my bare feet onto the hardwood floor. I watched as five men jogged down the stairs and disappeared out the door. Curiosity took hold as I’d never seen any of them before. Jax followed shortly after and a few more men after him.

  “What’s going on?” I tucked my arms into my chest.

  His approach was slow but dominating as his hand swept my hair behind my shoulder. He raised his chin looking toward the stairs and said, “They got rid of the body.”

  I pushed back looking at him, “How?”

  “Too many questions.”

  Honestly, I didn’t care how they did it. “She was going to kill me and take our son.”

  A harsh breath left his lips, “I know, baby.” His grip tightened. “Never again will you have to feel that way.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  —Bella—

  Two weeks later

  “Good morning, beautiful,” I woke to warm kisses peppering my neck. “How did you sleep?”

  I stretched into his embrace. “Pretty good actually, I slept all the way through,” I answered, stretching my toes. “Wait! Ennio!” I jutted upward.

  He laughed, “Don’t worry, I took care of him. He’s snoring away.”

  “Oh my God, that’s why my boobs feel like their gonna explode milk balls.”