Chapter Four
Bella got ready for bed. She did the routine her mother had set up that would take care of her skin and hair. She was also taken to a spa once a week for beauty treatments of all kinds. Some she liked, and some were painful.
After she’d turned off the light, she lay in the dark and thought about the past few hours since Caleb had walked into her life.
A smile grew across her face.
She couldn’t remember having more fun or feeling as safe as she did. She knew she should feel that way about her mother, but she never had. Her mother was out for herself and no one else. Bella was just a means to get what she wanted, and she knew that.
There was no love or respect between the two and hadn’t been for years. It was fear that kept her with her mother and nothing else. And it was the money she made that kept mother with daughter.
If she had her way, she’d live in the country and have animals and a bunch of children. The things she had wished for over the years and thought she’d never had were suddenly becoming a possibility with Caleb’s help.
She wasn’t going to ask him to take care of her. Instead, she just wanted to learn how to fight against her mother’s control so she could live her life the way she wanted to.
Although dreams were a good thing, one of the biggest problems was her mother had kept her so isolated, she’d never been able to make friends or learn how to take care of herself. She had no idea where to start but knew this might be her only chance to get away from her mother.
“God, I’m pathetic.” Bella snorted.
“I’m twenty-three years old, and I have made millions and millions of dollars, but I don’t know how to call out for food or even how to pay a bill.”
Every day, she worked hard, but she had to be told what to do every minute of it. She couldn’t drive a car because she had never been taught. She didn’t buy her clothes or food, didn’t know if she could walk down the street and get from one place to the next by herself.
Everything from food, clothing, books, and even to what shampoo to use had been given to her.
That was another thing. She’d been homeschooled with tutors because it was the easiest when she was making a film, show, or commercial. She knew from other people if she’d actually gone to public school, she wouldn’t have a diploma because of the classes her mother made her take.
No science or math because they couldn’t help her in the long run. English and different languages because she had to go to various functions the studio set up for her and her mother. Those helped in conversations she had with other people.
Bella giggled. “Not that my mom let me talk,” she said to herself. Her mother was always the one who answered people’s questions, even if they were directed to her.
She had seen so many looks throughout the years from other people. Pity and compassion were the emotions she’d read. Disbelief and anger were at the top as well.
Bella had been embarrassed so many times over the years. One of the worst things was when her mother told the director of these films or commercials how to do their job and made suggestions that would make Bella look better. Her mother had been kicked off the set several times and had to stay in the guest lounge.
Bella would hear about that for hours after. “The nerve of those people,” she’d hiss. “No one knows you better than me.”
Bella stayed quiet and let her vent her anger because there was no use trying to argue with the woman.
Her thoughts came back to the present day.
She’d research and learned what she could on her laptop. Her mother looked to see what she was doing, but she knew how to change the password and find a good hiding place for it.
Her heart thumped crazily in her chest. The anticipation and excitement made her giddy. She thought about the warm feeling Caleb gave her. She’d never been able to be around a person for long that she’d taken a liking to.
It would take time to get to know him, and she would see where her feelings led her. Hell, he might not find her attractive. She was younger than him by at least a decade, and she was incredibly naïve when it came to the world. Bella flipped over onto her stomach and punched her pillow.
“God, I’m beyond pathetic to think someone like him would even look twice at me. Talk about needy,” she said to herself.
Sometimes, like then, her thoughts turned back to the father she couldn’t really remember. She did remember horrible fights between her parents and then the last day she’d ever seen him. She was eight and had been working as an actress since she was six months old.
Most of the fights she remembered were about that. Her father hadn’t agreed, but her mother wouldn’t listen. She just said she knew her daughter could become something big, and she’d make sure it happened.
When her mother had told her about her father’s accident, she’d been so cold about it. The fact she never let her go to the funeral because she was working made her resent her mother. She’d been able to visit his grave a few times with someone else, but it was without her mother knowing.
Sometimes, she secretly wished it had been her mother in the accident and not her father but then prayed for God to forgive her.
Bella rolled to her side and closed her eyes. She needed to sleep so she’d have the energy to deal with whatever came up.
As she felt sleep drag her down, her last thought was of Caleb, and it made her smile.
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