The Rose He Killed novel Chapter 8

Chapter 11 Months of Silence 1

Chapter 11: Months of Silence-1

Caleb POV

The guest room door stood open, mocking me with its emptiness.

+25 Points

I’d been standing here for twenty minutes, whiskey glass in hand, staring at the stripped bed where Bella used to sleep, since she’d vanished, and I still found myself outside this room every night, searching for answers I already knew.

“Mr. Black?” James appeared at my elbow, his tablet glowing in the dìm hallway. “The investigator sent his weekly report.”

I knocked back the whiskey and took the tablet, scrolling through pages of nothing. Bank accounts untouched, credit cards inactive, no phone records, no social media activity, no hospital visits. She’d disappeared like smoke.

“What about the card she used?” I demanded. “The one at that bus station?”

James shifted uncomfortably. “Sir, that was the last transaction. After that stop, we can’t trace anything. No cameras picked her up, no witnesses remember seeing her. It’s just like she just.”

“Vanished.” I shoved the tablet back at him. “Keep looking.”

“Sir, it’s been months. If she doesn’t want to be found”

“I said keep looking.” My voice came out harder than I intended, and James flinched. “Double the investigator’s budget, in fact triple it. I don’t care what it costs.”

He nodded and retreated, leaving me alone.I walked into the guest room and sat on the bare mattress, remembering how small she’d looked curled up here, always reading some business book or financial report. I’d noticed more than I’d admitted, even to myself. The way she bit her lip when she was concentrating, how she always wore that same simple necklace, her habit of making tea at exactly 10 PM every night.

I’d told myself noticing didn’t matter, that distance was kindness, that she was better off without my attention. What a fucking fool I’d been. My phone buzzed. Jade, again. She’d been calling constantly since Bella left, showing up at my office unannounced, leaving messages that grew increasingly desperate.

Caleb, we need to talk. Please call me back. What we have is special. I deleted it without reading the rest.

What we had was nothing. What we had was me being weak and stupid, believing lies because they were easier than the truth. Richard Hart had played me perfectly, feeding me stories about Bella being manipulative, obsessed, dangerous. And Jade had sealed it with that kiss, the one I’d been too drunk and too stupid to stop. The one Bella had walked in on.

I closed my eyes and saw her face again, the way it had shattered when she found us. The way her hand had moved to her stomach, protective and terrified. The way her voice had broken when she’d said she was pregnant.

“Please, Caleb. Please just listen to me.”

And I laughed. Christ, I’d laughed at her. The memory made me want to put my fist through the wall, but I’d

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<Chapter 11 Months of Silence 1

already done that twice this month, and my knuckles were still healing.

“Mr. Black?” My housekeeper appeared in the doorway. “Your dinner is ready. Should I bring it up?”

“Not hungry.” I stood and brushed past her, heading for my office. “Hold all my calls.”

“Sir, your grandmother called earlier, she asked if you’d visit this weekend.”

+25 Points

I stopped. Grandmother. The reason I’d agreed to this marriage in the first place, the one person whose opinion actually mattered to me. She’d been asking about Bella constantly, wanting to meet her properly once she recovered from her surgery.

How was I supposed to tell her I’d destroyed my marriage before it even began?

“Tell her I’ll visit Sunday,” I said quietly, and shut myself in my office.

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