Edward
Bella and I had spent the entirety of the previous day outlining our plan. We had decided to drive down from Manhattan, completely ignoring our preexisting plans, to confront Eleazar and be done with this once and for all. Bella is currently explaining to Lauren about our plans, but she's leaving everything out about Eleazar.
I'm speaking with the concierge in regards to making sure Lauren is taken care of while we're gone and that our suite isn't entered. I know how much this hotel relies on the trustworthiness of its employees, but I also know how money can force people to make poor decisions. Just as the employee and I shake hands, I can see Bella walking out from the bank of elevators.
"I called down to have the valet bring the car around. I'm ready if you are," she says, taking my hand gently in hers.
She knows how nervous I'm feeling about this. Even though I feel as if I have the surest footing possible, I still worry that Eleazar will have some way of twisting everything in his favor. At this point, while I worry about the future of the magazine, I just want to know who or what I'm truly dealing with. The uncertainty that has been lingering around me. I don't want that for my future with Bella and our baby. I built this life, and I can do it again if I have to.
"Let's go." I squeeze her fingers and walk us toward the entrance. As we're about to exit through the revolving door, someone calls my name. Pausing, I look to my right and left, trying to place where the voice is coming from.
That's when I see her. She's older and her hair is shorter, but she's just as I remember: honey-blonde hair, full cheeks and lips, and a curvy full-figured body. When my eyes find her, her smile broadens into the same genuine response she always gave me, and I'm struck by how beautiful she still is.
"Edward, what is it?" Bella asks as I stand stock still, staring.
"Well," I whisper as the woman starts to make her way toward us. "Jane or Maria is here."
"Oh fuck," Bella mutters.
"Oh my goodness. I thought that was you, Edward! What an unexpected surprise," she says as she reaches us. She doesn't reach out for a hug or even a handshake, just smiles even more brilliantly at me and Bella. "How are you? It's been such a long time!"
"It certainly has. We should really sit so we can catch up … Do you have time?" I ask, hoping we can pin her down and get some answers.
"You know, my plans for the afternoon were canceled, so I'm actually free. How amazing is that?" She smiles again, and I can see something is off in her eyes. It's slight, but it's present.
"Great! Bella, why don't you see if Felix can seat us in the lounge?" I squeeze her hand once again, trying to get her out of this situation. I can't anticipate what will happen, but I'm not sure I want her around for it.
"Sure, I'll go do that." Bella releases my hand and drifts away from us. I watch Bella as she slips past us and digs her phone out of her purse. I can only hope that she's calling Felix after my clue.
"Let's go sit while we wait for a table, shall we?" I lead Jane to a few armchairs set up in the lobby in cozy nooks and gesture to her to take a seat.
Jane sits but doesn't settle into the chair. Instead, she's perched on the edge with her bag in her lap as her eyes scan the room warily. "Will Bella be joining us?"
"I think she may give us some privacy … to catch up," I explain slowly, watching her.
"That's a shame; she doesn't seem interested in keeping your relationship private." She leans forward and whispers conspiratorially. "She's always posting pictures of the two of you on Instagram."
My pride swells slightly at Jane's statement. Bella was right. My smart, beautiful, canny woman was right; we were being watched.
"Oh, I let her have her fun. But enough about that; tell me about you. You all but disappeared when you left Seattle." I want her to give me something, anything, that I can use.
"You know I went to work for that cyber security firm, but then someone approached me, and he changed my life." Jane smiles, but again, it doesn't fully reflect in her eyes. "You know, I thought I had been missing something with you and I was."
I've been careful, specifically not using either Jane or Maria during this conversation. Mostly because I'm not sure how to address her and because I'll always think of her as Jane. But as I examine her now from my own seat, she clearly isn't who I thought she was.
"What were you missing? A piece of yourself?" I offer as I see Bella over Jane's shoulder, giving me a thumbs up. I can't be certain what it means, but I have to hope for the best.
Jane smiles, and this time, it does reach her eyes. "I was missing a piece of myself. You never knew this, but I grew up without my father. Maybe that's why I was into you."
She laughs; I don't.
"I met him right before we ended things. He was repentant, generous, and caring. He was aware of what the relationship had been between us, and he was embarrassed. He hated that his daughter would be in that type of relationship—"
"But … you weren't his daughter with me. You weren't Maria Xavier; you were Jane," I clarify calmly, hoping she won't lash out.
Her pupils blow wide at my acknowledgment. "That's right. When did you find out?"
"Only recently, but I've been curious about you for some time. Curious about how you seemingly vanished only to be replaced by some other person. Curious about how you were connected to someone who only until recently I admired and looked up to. Curious about how you could possibly be connected to me losing my business." She shifts in her seat as I feel like I've gained the upper hand. "Have I missed anything?"
"Don't you want to know why?" She leans a little closer toward me, and I sigh deeply.
I'm about to answer when I see two NYPD officers enter the lobby. Bella meets them, speaking rapidly and gesturing to where Jane and I sit together. The officers look over to us as Bella continues to speak. One of the uniforms turns to look down at Bella's phone, and then speaks to his partner.
"I don't really care why, but I do want to know who put you up to this? Was it Eleazar?" I ask just as the officers walk over.
"Maria Xavier?" one of the officers asks, and her face goes pleasantly blank once again.
"I'm sorry, my name is Jane," she replies as she moves to stand, but the cops stop her movement.
They begin questioning her about her name, date of birth, social security number. She flubs a few times before the second officer cites a warrant from several years ago issued for Maria, and they begin to read her her Miranda rights and cuff her.
I can't help but call after her. "I know Eleazar's your father; was he behind all of it?"
"Of course, Edward. Daddy knows best," Jane answers as the cops lead her away to question her.
Several hours later after Bella and I have both given the police our statements and Jane is under arrest for an outstanding warrant, I'm pacing as Felix is explaining every detail of the last few days to me.
Jane has been cyber-stalking Bella, Lauren, and me for months. She's had personal relationships with my previous investors, causing them to relinquish the shares they held. She's been living under, well, her real identity; the one she used with me was false.
And we've come to learn that Lauren didn't do anything wrong; Jane had hacked Lauren's phone remotely. That's how Eleazar knew where to find her last night. It doesn't come as a surprise to Bella or myself that the men Felix put on Eleazar were paid off.
"It's disappointing, Edward. It's never happened before; I'm sorry." Felix has been direct, even abrupt while explaining everything, and I now understand it stems from his distress at doing what he considers a lackluster job.
"Felix, I'm not worried about your men. You'll have to deal with that on your own. I just want to make sure that Bella and I are safe, that Lauren learns the truth, and whatever actual damage that's been done can be reversed." I'm pacing through the hotel suite.
Bella has been on the phone for the last thirty minutes. I'm not exactly sure who she's talking to, but she seems determined as she catches my gaze and winks. Felix and I remain silent as she finishes her call and wait while she takes a breath.
"Felix, you're good at what you do, but sometimes, it takes a woman's touch to get to the bottom of things." She walks over to flop down onto the sofa and sighs dramatically. "We're basically untrained CIA agents when we want to be."
I eye Felix as he wisely keeps his mouth shut.
"Baby, I'm not arguing with the fact that you're crazy smart, but what could you have possibly figured out that Felix didn't?"
Bella smirks. "Order me a cheeseburger and I'll tell you what I know."
"Tell us what you know as I order the damn food," I tell her, grabbing the hotel phone.
"Ugh, fine." She sits up a little before launching into her story. "Felix, what did you ever find on Maria's mother, Eleazar's ex?"
Felix perks up. "Nothing."
"Nothing as in?" Bella trails off, waiting for his reply.
"As in nothing. No record of her since the birth certificate. No death certificate for her, nothing." Felix looks between me and Bella.
"That's because you were looking in Seattle, right? The States?" Bella asks, and he nods. "Maria may have been born in Delaware, but her mother was a Puerto Rican citizen who met Eleazar while he was on vacation. He flew her to Delaware to have the baby, and then put them up in a house and paid for everything without being involved."
What Bella explains to us is sad to say the least.
When Maria turned 18, Eleazar stopped contributing, and she and her mother were kicked out of their home. The college fund she had now had to go to basic living expenses, and when times got too hard, her mother wanted to go back to PR; only Maria didn't want to go with her. Her mother split what was left of the money and left her here without anyone or anything.
That's when Maria began to make plans for her future. She made friends with skilled people who could turn her into whoever she wanted to be. With those new personas, she began to go to new places and meet powerful men who were willing to help her. Money started flowing in, she had the means to keep herself afloat but also had the attention of enough men that she didn't need to do it alone.
"So, she's just a grifter?" Sitting down on the sofa next to Bella as she takes a bite of the food that arrived soon after she began, I feel lightheaded.
She swallows before speaking. "It started that way, for sure. But there's more to it, Edward."
I reach for Bella's hand, squeezing. "You better finish it."
"Some of those skilled friends she had taught her a lot, and some of those powerful men did a lot for her. Like finding out who she could target on the other side of the country. I guess some people were starting to get suspicious of her; people were less willing to offer her things and didn't want her around as much. Then … she found out about you and your, um, proclivities."
I must not look that shocked because Bella doesn't immediately move to comfort me. She's letting the information sink in, and as it does, I can imagine what must have happened.
As a habit as much as a rule, I don't start taking my babies out to functions right away. I want to figure out how we interact as a couple first, and if our relationship is purely physical, then they won't accompany me to anything. My babies were companions for specific needs, carnal needs, but they also served a purpose when I needed a plus one.
They needed to be smart and well-spoken; charming, funny. Call me old-fashioned, but when I was in those other relationships, that's what I thought I wanted.
"Did she target me to get to Eleazar or what?" I ask, not feeling hurt but confused.
"When Maria became Jane, when she first met you, did you notice a difference in her after a short time?"
"Yes, after I went to a few industry-related events and didn't allow her to join me." Admittedly, not my finest hour, and Bella clearly agrees as she rolls her eyes.
"Classy, Edward. Anyway, according to my source, Maria, now Jane, made sure to become more demure, more pleasing so—"
I cut her off. "So I'd start taking her with me."
"And then she met Eleazar."