The Rose He Killed novel Chapter 221

Chapter 199 de Out bust

Clare

Outside, on the court steps, the air was cold and clean. The city was just going about its Tuesday afternoon-taxis passing, pigeons flying, and someone eating a sandwich on a bench across the street.

“How are you?” Caleb asked.

I thought about it. “I never want to see her again,” I said. “Not in court, not behind glass, not ever. I am done spending my life on what she became. It’s over.”

Caleb looked at me closely. “The last thing she said in court.”

“Ask her what you really are,” I repeated. “Yes.”

“Do you want to?”

I stood on the cold stone steps and watched the busy city. I thought about what would happen if I pulled that thread. I thought about the secrets my mother might be hiding, and what kind of past was waiting for

“No,” I said. “Not today.”

“Not today,” he said. “Or not ever?”

“I don’t know yet,” I said. “But right now, no. Right now I just want to go home, see Tom and Grace, and forget about Jade and my mother for as long as I can.”

Caleb nodded. “Then that’s what we do.”

“She wanted to break me,” I said, mostly to myself. “That whole speech in there. She wanted to hurt me.”

“Did it work?”

I thought about it. “No,” I said. “It just made me tired.”

Caleb was quiet for a second. Then he said, “Okay.”/

“Okay,” I agreed.

He put his arm around me, and I leaned into him. We stood together in the cold afternoon air. Right then, I decided Jade Hart deserved absolutely no more space in my life

My phone buzzed. It was a photo from Nadia. Tom and Grace were at the kitchen table. Tom was using a spoon to explain something, and Grace was staring at him.

I showed the photo to Caleb. He looked at it for a long moment.

“Tom is using a spoon as a prop,” I said.

“He’s demonstrating something.”

“He’s always demonstrating something.” I looked at Grace’s face on the screen. She had that look of quiet judgment, like she was deciding if the lesson was worth her time. “She looks exactly like you do in pointless business meetings.”

Caleb looked closer at the photo. “She does not.”

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< Chapter 198 de’s Out bust “She absolutely does.”

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He was quiet for à second, still staring at the screen. “He looks like himself,” Caleb said finally. “Tom looks completely like himself”

I looked at Tom in the photo. He was a boy who had been through something terrible, but he had come back.

“Yes,” I said. “He does.”

The cold wind blew past us.

“Let’s go home,” Caleb said.

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Chapter 199 The Gall

Chapter 199: The Call

Bella POV

Months later

The merger documents were forty-seven pages long. I was on page thirty-one when my phone rang.

It was Silverton Primary and the time was 3:22 RM.

I answered on the second ring.

“Mrs. Black, this is the main office,” a woman said. “We need to let you know that Tom didn’t board the afternoon bus.”

I stood up before she finished talking. My chair rolled back, and my hand reached for my jacket on the door hook. Every alarm in my body fired at once, but my voice came out steady.

“When was he last seen?” I asked.

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“We are checking our attendance records right now, Mrs. Black,” she said but her voice sounded strained. “We will call you back as soon as we have a location. Please try to stay calm.”

“Check well,” I said, but the line went dead.

I hung up and instantly dialed Caleb as he answered on the first ring. “Tom didn’t come home from school.”

There was silence on the line then Caleb said, “I’m moving. Where are you?”

“Leaving the office now,” I said, I jabbed the elevator button for the lobby. “The school called. They don’t know the last sighting yet but they are checking the cameras.”

“Bella”

“Calling Lena next,” I interrupted. The doors opened, and I walked through the lobby fast. The receptionist called out after me, but I didn’t catch the words. “Maya needs to stay with Grace.”

“I’ll get Maya,” Caleb said. “You call Lena. I will be at the school in eight minutes.” He paused for a half-second. “Bella.”

“Don’t,” I said. “See you in minutes.”

hung up and called Lena, Lena answered before the second ring finished.

“I need you at Silverton Primary,” I said. “Tom didn’t board the afternoon bus. They don’t know when he was last seen. I need the cameras pulled-the school interior and every street within three blocks.”

“Moving,” Lena said. She didn’t ask questions or hesitate. That was why we paid her what we paid her. “ETA twelve minutes. Do you want me to contact Reyes?”

I thought about it for exactly one second, some months ago, I would have said yes immediately. Today, I said, “Not yet. Let’s find out what we’re dealing with first.”

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<Chapter 199 The Gall

“Understood.” She paused then continued. “Bella Breathe.”

“I’m breathing.”

“You’re not,” she said gently. “Breathe. You need to function when you get there.”

I took one slow breath as I walked out of the elevator and through the lobby. “Twelve minutes,” I said.

“Twelve minutes,” she confirmed, and hung up.

Claim

At this point I doubt if I could live without Nadia, because ever since Nadia went back to her hometown for a break, it had been difficult to manage everything alone especially with the kids.

I called Maya. Maya picked up on the third ring, which meant she was with a patient.

“I need you,” I said. “Tom-the school called. He didn’t get on the bus. I don’t know anything yet.”

There was silence. Then, very quietly, she said, “Oh God.”

“I need you to get to the penthouse,” I said. “Grace is there with the temporary nanny, and I don’t trust her. I need to know she’s with you.”

“I’m leaving right now,” Maya said. “I’ll be there in minutes.”

“Nadia is away, the elevator over ride key is in the”

“I know where the key is, Bella,” she interrupted. “I have her. Go find Tom.”

“Maya”

“Go,” she said firmly, using her doctor voice. “I have Grace. You find Tom. Go.”

I hung up.

I got into the car and sat at the first red light. My hands stayed steady on the wheel because I forced them to be.

At the second red light, I hit the steering wheel once with the heel of my hand. Just once. It was the only physical release I could afford.

Please, I said inside my head to the universe. Please just let him be in the building. Let him be somewhere

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