Chapter 48

~ Franklin ~

The suspicion had been a slow-growing rot in the back of my mind ever since I wired that first two million.

I wanted to believe Bella was just desperate, perhaps even a little manic from our time apart, clinging to whatever sense of control she could find. I made excuses for her—too many of them. But the math wasn’t adding up anymore. The requests, the urgency, the inconsistencies in her stories... they formed a pattern I could no longer ignore.

I needed to look into her eyes and find the woman I thought I loved.

I had Walter drive me to her apartment in the city. I didn’t call ahead. I didn’t want her to have time to put on a mask.

As I reached her door, I raised my hand to knock, but I froze. Her voice was drifting through the wood—sharp, clear, and vibrating with a cruel kind of excitement. She was on the phone.

"Of course I have you in mind, Rufus. Always, baby."

Rufus? Baby? The name hit me like a physical blow. I pressed my ear to the door, my heart hammering against my ribs.

"Yes, I know," she continued, her voice dripping with a casual malice I’d never heard before.

"I’m calling Franklin this evening to demand more. Fifty million? No, let’s make it sixty. Actually, let’s go for ninety. He’s a billionaire, Rufus; he won’t even blink at that amount."

I felt a cold sweat break across my skin. My chest tightened, making it hard to draw a full breath, like the air itself had turned heavy.

"He thinks I love him," she laughed—a sharp, jagged sound that tore through every memory I had of us.

"Well, boo-hoo for him. He’ll give me whatever I want. He’s wrapped around my little finger."

I stood there, paralyzed by the sheer weight of the betrayal. My mind raced through every moment we had shared, every touch, every word, every promise—and one by one, they all began to feel tainted.

I had ignored every red flag, every warning from my grandfather, every gut instinct that told me she was too good to be true. I had been a fool, and I had been a willing one.

"I’ll ask for a hundred million just to be safe," she said. "We can split it and finally get out of here. You can get that leather jacket you wanted. I’ll see you at your loft tonight... and Rufus? Wear something easy to take off because I’m going eat you up. If the plan works, we’re celebrating all night."

The casual intimacy in her voice made something dark and violent twist in my gut.

The silence that followed the end of her call was deafening. I didn’t wait. I didn’t think.

I began to bang on the door, my fist striking the wood with enough force to rattle the frame.

"Who the hell is trying to break my door down!" Bella yelled.

I began to bang on the door, my fist striking the wood with enough force to rattle the frame. The sound echoed down the hallway, loud, aggressive, impossible to ignore.

"Who the hell is trying to break my door down!" Bella yelled from inside.

The door swung open, and for a split second, her face was a mask of irritation.

Then she saw me. Her expression melted instantly into a look of practiced innocence.

"Franklin! Baby, what are you doing her—"

"I heard it," I said, my voice sounding hollow and strange even to my own ears.

"Heard what? Franklin, you’re acting crazy. I was just on a work call—"

"Don’t you fucking dare play games with me, Bella! I heard every word. Sixty million. Ninety million. The name Rufus. The loft." I stepped into her space, my eyes burning with a mix of rage and agony. "I heard how you’ve been using me. How you never loved me. How I’m just an ATM to you."

"Franklin, baby, you’re getting it all wrong. It was a joke, I was—"

"Don’t even try to gaslight me. I loved you. I accepted every flaw, ignored every lie, and made myself a fool just to keep you. And that ’old friend’ I saw you with? That was him, wasn’t it? Rufus."

Bella opened her mouth to speak, but for once, the lies didn’t come fast enough. She looked at me, and in that moment, the mask finally slipped.

The warmth in her eyes was gone, replaced by the cold, calculating look of a predator.

"Franklin, listen—"

"Don’t touch me!" I barked as she reached for my arm. "Stay the hell away from me. I don’t ever want to see your face again."

I turned and walked away, my legs feeling like lead. I could hear her footsteps behind me, her voice calling out in a frantic, high-pitched plea as I raced down the hallway toward the elevator.

"Please, Franklin! I can explain! Don’t do this to me!"

The elevator doors took too long.

Everything took too long.

My pulse roared in my ears as I jabbed the button repeatedly, my patience hanging by a thread.

The moment the doors slid open, I stepped in without looking back.

I burst out of the building and strode toward the waiting limo, the cool air hitting my face but doing nothing to calm the storm inside me.

"Get me out of here, Walter. Now!"

"Yes, sir," Walter said, his eyes widening slightly as he took in my state, but he didn’t ask questions. He never did.

I scrambled into the back of the car, the door slamming shut behind me like a final punctuation.

Bella reached the vehicle just as Walter was getting into the driver’s seat.

She began to pound on the tinted glass, her face distorted by the window’s reflection, her expression twisted with desperation.

"Franklin! Don’t leave me! Please!"

I stared straight ahead, refusing to look at her. I watched her silhouette in the side mirror as Walter pulled away, her figure shrinking into the distance until she was nothing more than a speck in the city’s grey landscape.

My heart wasn’t just broken; it was shattered into pieces I knew I could never put back together. I had lost everything for a woman who never existed.