5

"Hey, where have you been?" Belle greeted me first after I walked into my hotel room. Her mouth dropped open when she looked me up and down and then she shook her head again. "You-"

I brushed past her and entered the bedroom, saying, "The flies will come in if you don't shut your mouth." I cut her off and looked into Ace's room, but he wasn't there. I turned to Belle, who had her mouth shut but was blinking rapidly. "Where's Ace?"

"He went with Vito and Max to the mall. They're going to buy him ice cream." She replied. "Seriously, where have you been? You didn't come home last night, and now you come in your party clothes from last night, and without your shoes."  She chuckled. "What have you become? Cinderella?"

"Is Ace whining? Is he crying?" I changed the subject.

Belle shook her head. "He didn't. He was just looking for you and when I said you were still taking care of things, he asked for ice cream."

"He had breakfast?"

"Mom made it," she replied. "Stop changing the subject. Answer me, where have you been? We've been looking for you!" 

I sat on the sofa in front of the television, playing a reality show, leaning against the headboard with resignation like my world was over. "You all should have been looking for me harder,"

Belle chuckled. "Max said you went to spend the night with Dante Romano afterward, so we didn't want to bother your romance blah blah blah."

My eyes widened, surprised at that. I was curious to know how Max could make up that story or not even try to help look for me. Or do anything...Then, why would he assume something like this?

And I can't say I spent the night with the President's son because that's false. The fact is that I was drunk and slept without realizing that the man I was with was my ex-husband. What does that fact have to say?

Anyone but my grandfather would be shocked and condemn my carelessness.

"Whoa. Holyshit. First time meeting, and you two just..." Belle still needs to finish her sentence. Her mouth opened again, staring at my neck. Damn. She shook her head a few times. "Sister... is it you?" she said in surprise.

I sighed. "Shut the hell up. I don't want to talk about it."

"You should." Belle shifted her seat to face me still with her dumbfounded face. "Didn't you say you didn't want to be in a relationship with anyone? Has that changed?"

"It's not on purpose," I sighed softly. "I was drunk, and... a guy came over. We danced and then...that was it." I bit my lip. "And it wasn't Dante Romano."

"A stranger?" she let out another incredulous laugh. "You truly have a gift, sister."

I closed my eyes and exhaled softly. "Promise me that you won't say this to anyone."

"Sure."

"Sebastian Sanchez."

"What?"

"I slept with Sebastian Sanchez."

"Huh?"

"My ex-husband. I slept with him."

"WHAT?!!!"

I bit my lip and looked at her, who had an expression as if I had just grown two heads on my neck. She gaped wide again and was dumbfounded.

My breath caught. "Like I said, it was an accident. I was really drunk, he came over, he was wearing a mask and I didn't know it was him. He asked me to dance and he took me to a hotel. Then..."

"Sex."

I swallowed and nodded twice.

"Shit."

I rubbed my face roughly, my lips puckered with anxiety and panic. "I shouldn't have come last night."

"Did he recognize you?"

"I took off my mask." I cursed at the stupidity of it.

"And he was fully aware because he took you to the hotel," she continued.

I didn't know about it, but her statement was true. "He's here, and we're going back to the States today." I said final. "Last night was a mistake and I don't want it to open a path for him to find me or to find Ace. I don't want that to happen."

Fear seeped through me about Sebastian still being around and somehow finding Ace. That had to be prevented, and the first way was for me to get out of Italy as soon as possible.

She straightened up and then rubbed my shoulders. "I'll buy the tickets on the schedule early today, and prepare everything for you."

I looked at her pale. "Thank you."

***

"I thought you'd be spending a lot of time there. Doesn't Ace feel at home there?" Kate sat on the chair in front of me. I leaned back in my chair and looked at her like my soul was gone without answering. She frowned and shook her head. "Did something hit your head by accident?" she raises an eyebrow.

I sighed softly, leaned over, put my elbows on the table, and rubbed my face roughly.

Two days had passed, and everything that happened in Italy had followed me here. Everything was mixed up inside me. It could have made my day go smoothly.

"Hey, is something wrong?"

I bit my lip, looking at her for a few seconds before I answered, "I met him."

Kate blinked a few times. "Who?"

"Him." I replied in a depressing tone. "My ex-husband."

Her mouth formed an O with an utter shock expression before she made a sound. "Oh my god." Her shocked face was a reflection of mine. Kate shook her head with a look of disbelief and then leaned in. "How? I mean...I can't believe you two met."

"Bahms, Regina's husband is apparently Sebastian's business partner," I swallowed before continuing. I told her what happened, and her shocked face got even worse when I got to the story of where I spent the forbidden night with Sebastian.

"What the hell, Bella!" she squealed, standing up from the chair while looking at me like her eyeballs would pop out. It was an exaggeration, but who wouldn't when they heard my story? I thought Killian would give me a worse one.

I closed my eyes with a grimace, rubbing my face again. "I was drunk that time!" I yelled back at her.

"Yeah, but... geez," Kate ran her fingers through her hair with a thoughtless look at me.

I sighed softly. "If you're like this, you can imagine how I'll react when I see what I've done."

"And he knows it's you," she retorted.

I nodded.

"And you thought coming back here would be safe?"

"I actually don't know," I shook my head. "But it could be. He wouldn't have come here even if he knew I was here. You know?"

"Yeah, and what makes you think he won't stop?"

"He just mess with me," I looked at her sharply. "You shouldn't be freaking me out right now,"

"No," She shook her head and then sat back down. Looking at me with that genuine concern that I recognized so well. "I didn't mean it like that, I just want you to think about this. The reality is that he already knows you, if he really didn't care about you anymore he wouldn't have brought you to bed."

I chuckled reproachfully at her words. "Huh, you talk like you don't know him." I said. "He had even dared to cheat behind my back with that bitch in the past, and you think that he can't do it with me too behind her back?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't make sense."

"What doesn't make sense to you?" I said. "He's just an asshole. That's what asshole do, play around with women and then screw things up." I continued. My head throbbing, I leaned back in my chair.

I never underestimated Sebastian Sanchez. The man was the prince of a Spanish business empire that ruled the Americas to Europe so he could do it all. He could have found out where I was by now, and then screwed me if he wanted to. But he didn't show up and that was a clue that he really just wanted to screw me that night for his ego. It was sad for me, it messed me up all over me because he was the only guy who had ever touched my body like that, and my inexperience made me vulnerable. It's crazy, and I hate Sebastian Sanchez more than anything.

Kate sighed softly and looked at me softly. "And you believe that he won't come after you?"

"I told you, he's just playing around, he wants to mess with me because that's what he does. He probably thought that I would miss him after the sex we had..." I shook my head again, looking for an excuse. ".... or maybe he thought that I would crawl back to him, or maybe he thought that I had been suffering without him all this time."

"Did you?"

"No," I answered immediately. "No, fuck. Of course not. Gosh, you know so well how my life was after him."

Kate looked at me, intense and stern in her answer, yet there was tenderness behind it. "You don't feel lost? Longing for a companion?"

I shook my head. "Ace is enough for me. He's my world. He's all I have. Only him. I don't need anyone else to help me make him see the world."

"Because you can," she said. "You're the strongest woman I've ever met."

I smiled. "I couldn't do it without all of you." I replied. "Certainly not without your sharp words that always make me realize reality. You are my pillar."

We laughed.

"I know this won't be easy, Bella, because I feel he won't just stop." She said softly and deeply, and it shook me. "But we're here. I'm with you. I'll still be your bull when he comes and messes things up."

I nodded. "Thank you. I don't know how to repay this,"

"Oh, you don't have to," Kate replied. "As long as you give me a free lunch,"

I chuckled, standing up from my chair to go over to her and hug her. "Come here," she said as we embraced. "I'm know you need this after that mess."

***