Taken (Dark Desires 1)

“Belle, Jackson’s going through a lot.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Yeah, well so am I,” I said hotly. “And I don’t treat everyone like crap!”

“How’s your mom doing?”

“Terrible,” I said flatly. “She’s crushed. I’ve never seen her this devastated about anything before. I don’t know what to do – it’s impossible to take care of her right now.”

Alexa nodded and sipped at her wine. “Well, I’m sure Mitchell made plans to take care of her,” she said wisely. “A guy with that much money wouldn’t exactly leave his widow bereft.”

I nodded. “I’m sure you’re right.”

“Have you heard anything?”

“About what?

” I leaned back and took another long drink of wine.

“About the will,” Alexa said impatiently. “Do you know what your mom is going to do now?”

“Alexa, he just died like, a week ago,” I said incredulously. “God, you make my mom sound heartless.”

Alexa shook her head and blushed. “I didn’t mean it like that,” she said guiltily. “I just meant that, you know…she’s going to have to figure it out soon. She doesn’t work, does she?”

I shook my head. “Mitchell made her quit when they got married. He said it wasn’t seemly for her to continue working when he made so much money.”

Alexa frowned. “That’s…. not good,” she said after a moment.

I blinked at her. “Why?”

Before Alexa could respond, I felt my phone buzzing in my pocket. I pulled it out, frowning when I saw that it was Mom.

“I must have left something behind in New York,” I said slowly before answering. “There’s no way she’d be calling so soon otherwise.” Inside, I was plagued with guilt. I knew that I shouldn’t be at school – I should be with Mom, taking care of her and making sure that she ate and slept.

“Hi, Mom,” I said warily. “Is everything okay?”

“Belle, honey, do you have a few minutes?”

The sound of her voice made my stomach plummet to the floor. There was something about it that sounded strange, alien – almost removed from grief.

“Sure,” I said uneasily. “What’s up?”

Mom cleared her throat. “I have some bad news, honey.”

“What is it?” My heart was beating like a jackhammer against my ribs and I couldn’t stand the thought of hearing more bad news. What was she going to say? Had she been in a car accident?

Mom didn’t reply.

“Mom, are you okay?” I asked frantically. “Tell me what’s going on, please!” The suspense was making it hard to breathe.

“I’m fine, honey,” Mom said softly. “But I don’t know how much longer I can say that.”

My jaw dropped. “Are you hurt? Were you in some kind of accident? Mom, what happened? Are you— “

“I heard from Mitchell’s estate lawyer,” Mom said heavily. “About the will.”

For a moment, I couldn’t breathe. My chest ached tightly and my lungs pleaded for air but I couldn’t make them work.

“What happened?”