The Whispers

15

Bea left a voice message on the number Kenneth's parents had surrendered after a lot of groveling and begging from her. The Bolton family loved having people at their mercy. Well, Bea hadn't minded groveling if it meant not having to tell them what she needed the number for. Even though Kenneth was sure to tell them after listening to her voicemail, at least it wouldn't come from her, because, sure Mr and Mrs Bolton would have have assumed — still going to assume — that she was trying to force their son into matrimony.

Ha! Let them assume whatever makes them sleep better at night!

"Was that Kenneth?"

Bea started and turned to Nate, who had been in the gym the past hour with his trainer forward slash physiotherapist. After Nate was discharged from the hospital, Bea had hired maid for him and also spent a lot of time at his house. The very same house in the very same neighborhood across the very same house she'd shared with Kenneth.

"Yes, if the answering machine counts." She walked over to her slightly limping fiancé. "I told him to call me. That it was urgent."

Nate took a huge gulp of the mineral water he'd justice extracted from the refrigerator, then braced his arms on the kitchen counter breathing heavily. "You did the right thing, Beatrice. Never doubt that."

She took a stool at the kitchen island across him. "It's just... What if he tries to fight me for custody?"

"Then we'll fight him right back," he scowled.

The 'we' in what he'd said got Bea tearing up for the umpteenth time in the last three weeks of Nate's discharge from the hospital. She had no wish to have Nate see her get emotional, so she shooed him to the bathroom for a shower.

She was just getting started on dinner when a buzz from the kitchen counter drew her. Dreadful of what was about to transpire between herself and Kenneth, she approached very slowly to calm her pacing heart.

But it was not her phone on the counter, it was Nate's.

Relief!

"Nate! Phone!" she shouted from the base of the staircase.

He must have not heard because the only sound that followed her announcement was a running shower.

Well, it wouldn't hurt to take the message.

"Hello!"

"Who are you?" A female voice chimed through the speaker. "Where's Nate?"

"Um... Can I... Can I get a message for him?" Her attempt at being strong was just that. An attempt.

"Tell him to call me."

And the line went dead.

Bea walked the short distance to the living room, dropping Nate's phone on the coffee table on her way to the couch. Her heart hammered violently in her chest, and the sound of blood rushing filled her ears. Her heart hurt even more than when she'd found out about Ken and Lisa.

Why it hurt this much for someone she'd only known less than six months was a mystery to her.

Her bags hastily packed and Nate in the shower — what was taking him so long? — Bea slipped out of the house quietly. She had cried so much that there was no ounce of strength left in her for confronting him about the call.

The cab was waiting outside and she climbed in and drove away. If her heart had been torn into two when Kenneth and Lisa betrayed her trust, now it was shattered in a million pieces.

Nate had known how hurt she'd been by Kenneth and had pretended to be the caring and loving one when he knew quite well that a relationship with him would be, as the saying goes, from the pan into the fire. If his plan had been to kill her, it might be working because her chest was tightening with pain.