Page 58 of Belle Amour

Casey's face was red, and she looked like she wanted to strangle Mirabelle. She pulled at Eddie's grip, mute with rage, and Bastian saw Eddie tighten his hold on her.

“Fuck, Mira. When did you become so goddamn vindictive?” Eddie glared at her with equal parts of anger and hurt on his face.

“Let’s see,” Mirabelle tapped her bottom lip and pretended to think for a moment. “I think it was when I walked intoourhome and saw you railing her from behind onourcouch.” Mirabelle raised her eyebrow at him. “And your response to looking into my eyes as you came inside another woman was to ask me what I was doing home like it was my fault I walked in and caught you fucking your best friend while still married to me.”

Bastian had noticed their argument was attracting a bit of a crowd, and Eddie and Casey finally noticed as well. They both looked around quickly, turning red when they saw some people had their phones out and were filming everything. Eddie’s face drained of blood in record time when he saw Casey's father standing on the edge, watching everything with silent disgust. Casey also saw him and finally pulled out of Eddie's grasp. She gave Mirabelle one last look of deep loathing but seemed to decide to hold on to her final shred of dignity because she turned and walked away, the crowd silently parting to let her through.

“Oh, don't give me that look.” She snarled as she walked past her father. “You're no better. You knocked up a girl thirty-nine years younger than you.”

“At least I didn't cheat on your mother to do it.” He snapped back as he followed her. They could hear them arguing the whole way to the elevator. Eddie didn’t move, just let out a defeated sigh as the crown started to disperse, his shoulders slumping and his head dropping to stare at the floor.

“When did my life become a fucking Spanish telenovela?” He muttered.

“See my previous answer.” Mirabelle snorted, clearly not feeling the least bit sorry for him. “Casey is a drama queen, and you feed off her, like a - a drama vampire.”

Bastian chuckled and moved to her side, picking up her arm and looking over the scratches. “These are going to bruise.” He ran his hand over them gently. “Come on, Bunny, let's go get these cleaned up so they don’t get infected; who knows where her hands were.” He wrapped his arm around her waist and turned her toward the hall to her room.

“Do my parents know?” Eddie asked, his voice small and sad. Mirabelle stopped and turned around.

“Yes.”

“And they're still paying for everything?” He looked up at her, surprise and confusion on his face.

“Obviously.” Mirabelle rolled her eyes, and Bastian chuckled at her blatant inference that he was an idiot. Eddie nodded, looking relieved.

“For what it's worth, Mira, it went on so long because I kept trying to end it. I wanted to be with you; I really did.” He swallowed and ran his hand through his hair. “But she’s kept throwing herself at me and…” He sighed. “I’ve loved her since University, and she never gave me the time of day before.”

“Eddie, that's really worth nothing to me.” Mirabelle turned away, gesturing for Bastian to take her back to the room, which he was only too happy to do.

“No, I didn't think it would be.”

Chapter Thirty-Eight: The Group Chats

After Bastian got her arm cleaned up and bandaged, which required a trip back to the front desk while she showered to get a first aid kit, Mirabelle pulled on a pair of shorts and a tank top while Bastian did his nighttime routine. He had given her his phone and showed her the group chats between Casey and her friends for her to read while she waited for him to finish so they could go to bed. To her surprise, as she scrolled through the messages, she found herself starting to feel sorry for Eddie. Casey clearly had no feelings or respect for him and bragged about his obsession with her, how he would tell her he loved Mirabelle and wanted to be with her, cut off contact for a few days and then come back, begging her to fuck him.

Her mother was a prostitute and a stripper; you'd think she would do a better job of keeping him happy in the sack.????

Mirabelle frowned. There were plenty of nights she left Eddie unable to move; the problem was he never returned the favour, which made her less enthusiastic about it.

He's upset his grandparents won't turn his trust over to him because he married the daughter of a whore. I think I found my way in!

Mirabelle rolled her eyes. When he was with her, he didn't need the trust. He was making good money as a lawyer in one of the top firms in New York, and so was she. She wasn’t even aware he wanted control; he seemed perfectly happy getting the monthly payments.

She walked in on us having sex on the sofa today and immediately ran away without saying anything???? Honestly, it’s about time. I was ready to tell her myself.

Eddie is very upset; he didn’t want things to end that way; he wanted to tell her and ask for a divorce. He's terrified about what Bastian will do, and I have to admit I'm a little nervous.

I tried to get Bastian to fuck me a few times, and he wouldn't. It's obvious to everyone he's in love with her, which I can only put down to trauma bonding.

Mirabelle snorted. “Bastian wouldn’t piss on you to put you out if you were on fire.” She muttered.

That fucking Bitch! She got us both fired!

She fucking bled Eddie dry; if it wasn't for the trust, I'd be out of here so fucking quick! Neither of us has been able to find a job with another firm in New York. It looks like we're coming back to Michigan. ??????

Mirabelle flicked through the screenshots. She noticed that a lot of the time, no one responded to Casey's messages, and if they did, it was generic. “Oh, that's terrible!” platitudes, no one was actually engaging with her. She saw the ones where she announced finding Mirabelle's modelling shots. Her comments were not kind at all and full of barfing emojis. Then she saw something that made her heart stop.

I'm pregnant! Let's hope it has my nose! The honker its father has is way too much! ??

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