Chapter Eight

He didn't want to. “All these years, you didn't bother to tell me that your husband's info is only a search away from the internet." Bonnie beamed at whatever information she was seeing on the screen.

"Ex-husband," Belle corrected.

"Yeah, right. Geez. This is a lot to take in. My head won't stop calculating this guy's net worth." 

Everyone's talking about Nikolai's net worth, which annoys her already. "Yeah, they own an airline. Big deal."

"That alone is a big deal. That's just on the mother side. The father side? Oh, we're talking corporations. Freaking luxury items and cars. And what? A pharmaceutical company? You have got to be kidding me."

The more information she receives, the dizzier she gets. "A what? I have no idea about that. I just know he's rich and his parents run a business."

"We've totally underestimated this whole fiasco."

"They can keep their money. I'm not asking for a single penny." Belle sighed. "It was a bad idea. Going there and leaving my son here. I feel horrible, Bon. I was too blinded by anger and revenge."

Finally, Bonnie closed the laptop screen. She got the sleeping child from Belle and slowly placed Liam in the crib. He made a little sound but didn't wake up from his peaceful sleep.

"He's sleeping. You should have some rest. And I'm telling you again, there's nothing wrong with doing something for yourself."

"I should have kept my mouth shut, signed the divorce papers, and moved on.”

"As much as we love to turn back time and get back that quiet life, I know those times didn't give you peace of mind either, Belle. You wish you could keep Liam's existence a secret forever, but you can't."

"I wish I could."

"Don't worry, that handsome asshole deserved those punches he got from your brother."

Belle chuckled. Nikolai has always been that asshole. Somehow, he got the promotion of a handsome asshole now.

"What? It's true." Bonnie has those swooning eyes now. "He's an asshole. He's also handsome, and don't you dare deny it. Those dreamy eyes are trouble. I can tell. Those eyes your son inherited."

Bonnie was right. Looking at her son's face reminded her of Nikolai. It was one of the reasons why it was harder to move on.

“Should I just leave, Bon? Should I just escape? There’s still time, isn’t it?”

It took a few seconds before Bonnie was able to speak. "You can try and do something, but it would be a mess in the making. The kid would suffer, Belle."

"It always scared me, you know. Time will come when Liam will ask me about his father. I still have no idea how to answer the question he hasn't even asked yet. Nikolai married me, but it was out of... obligation. I don't want my child to ever feel rejected.

“But he wants to be in Liam’s life, doesn’t he? He would have easily let you go if he hadn't.”

“I honestly don’t know.” Belle was smitten with her sleeping child in the crib. Liam should be at the top of her priority list right now. Her feelings, or even Nikolai's, shouldn’t be the first on the list.

What would be best for Liam?

“You should ask him, then. Have a sincere conversation before taking legal action. You two have to be honest about what you feel and what you want to do moving forward."

“It’s not that easy. Since he appeared again in our lives, everything has become messy again. That’s it. That’s a sign that he shouldn’t be part of our lives. We can live without him.”

“I may not know the whole story, Belle, but I still think escaping and pretending that none of this happened is not the best thing to do right now.”

“We ruin each other, Bon.”

“If it’s because of what he did—”

“It’s not just that.” The lump on her throat was harder to swallow. She couldn’t forget how she was dismissed. That's how their story ended. She was the one who lost almost everything in the end. In the beginning of their story, it was Nikolai who lost something.

“What do you mean?”

This could be karma. A bitter realization dawned on her that she deserved to suffer because he made him suffer too.

“What happened between us was an accident. It wasn’t meant to happen. We- were both drunk. And I should have let things go. Forget about it and move on... but I loved him. I wanted him so bad.”

“Katherine Isobelle, what did you do?”

Belle’s left hand started to get red and swollen as she anxiously pinched it with her other hand. “They weren’t together at that time. Nikolai didn’t know something had happened between us. I left before he could even wake up. The woman he loved suddenly got engaged to another man. He wanted to stop Stella. He was even planning to marry her. I should have walked away, but on the day that he said he would beg Stella to stay with him and marry him, I told him I was pregnant."

"Oh, dear."

Belle was ashamed of everything she did. Her judgment was clouded with the hope of having a chance with Nikolai.

“Maybe he even doubted me too. But he knows I can't lie about something that big. He didn't want to, but I begged him. I shamelessly begged him to marry me so we could be a family. Him, me, and our baby. And I shouldn't have done that, forcing myself to fit in the picture."

She looked at her hand with an empty ring finger. They tried to make things work. She kept loving him, and he tried to be happy with her. In the end, they learned the hard way that it wasn't enough.

Her engagement ring never felt like hers. She had her wedding ring and even if it fit right, it still didn't feel like a fairytale. She had the title; she got the man; they lived under the same roof. By the time she had everything she thought she wanted, Belle had never felt so empty.