A Natural Act (Contradictions) (26 page)

“You okay, baby?” His eyes scan her rapidly.

“
I’m fine,” she breathes out slowly. “Just a twinge.”

I know she was in some sort of accident a few weeks ago and that she spent some time in hospital. She must not be one hundred percent recovered.

“Want me to get Craig for you?” I offer because it is pretty handy having a doctor nearby and I don’t like that she’s hurting.

“
No,” she shakes her head. “It just hurts when I giggle. You’ll need to be less funny.”

I laugh again because she grins cheekily. She turns away from me to make sure Jason isn’t too worried and I hear her tell him that she loves him.

I smile a secret smile because Craig loves me. Every part of me.

Even the little toe
on my left foot which is slightly wonky.

“
You’ve got a funny look on your face,” Elise leans forwards, baby Grace in her arms.

“
Have I?” I answer the fiery red head with a grin.

She nods, brushing a strand of her
mane behind one ear. “Looks a lot like love if I’m not mistaken.”

“
I don’t think I’m capable of love,” I mumble more to myself than her.

“
How come?” She cocks her head.

“
I…” I hesitate.

“
Didn’t mean to pry,” she reassures me. “I once thought the same thing about myself but I was proven wrong.”

I look at her and she smiles back. It’s hard to believe such a caring mother could ever have considered herself incapable of love.

She taps Jamie on the shoulder and gestures for her to take Grace. Jamie is only too happy to hold her niece, kissing the little bundle of adorableness on the forehead.

“
I was raped by my step dad as a child,” she whispers to me as she slides in next to me.

My mouth drops open because this woman is so confident, so well adjusted. Her
head is held high as she talks.

“
I once thought I was too dirty and tarnished to ever know real love,” she continues. “But I was very wrong.”

“
What if I’m too broken to know love?” I whisper my fears, looking up into her kind green eyes.

“
Not possible,” she shakes her head at me. “If you’re broken, love puts you back together. That kind of love doesn’t come from another though. It comes from yourself. If you learn to love yourself, you’ll learn to love another.”

I take a second to think about her words and realize how right she is. How can I love somebody else if I don’t love myself
first?

“
Oh my goodness,” Elise groans, shaking her head.

“
What?” I frown.

“
I sound like my mother,” she cringes and we both laugh.

“What’s his surname?” Ian asks me as we sit in the living room of the Carter household.

He’s still in his football kit, although he’s taken his shirt off and I can see that Craig’s defined physique is partly genetic.

“Callaghan,” I mumble.

“
Callaghan?” Ian raises an eyebrow. “As in the law firm?”

I nod, unsurprised that he’s heard of them
. They have a reputation thanks to a few high profile cases. One of which was a well-known football player. He killed a family with two young children after deciding to drive his Ferrari once he’d consumed a bottle of expensive Russian vodka.

Nigel’s father was able to get him off completely based on a technicality which revolved around a police office
r misspelling his name in a police report.

Another had a rumoured drug lord being acquitted because all of the witnesses failed to show up in court. Or ever again.

“That’s good,” Ian nods. “You know all about the law firm.”

“
I used to work there,” I cringe, hoping he won’t judge me too harshly.

He smirks slightly.
“I need to you to think hard about anything you might have seen or heard which could cause trouble for the company.

I’m familiar with the firm and I know there are many people who wouldn’t mind the
Callaghans going down for a long time for the things they’ve done for their clients.”

“
Ian,” Craig interjects before I have chance to answer. “Bella can still file against him for putting her in hospital. Considered it but I didn’t want to provoke him.”

“
That was my next suggestion,” Ian nods. “You’ve been on the defensive so far. He’s playing games, letting you know he holds the upper hand. With more pieces on your side, we can go offensive.

This scum needs putting down. We need
to let him know we’re not playing his game anymore. I want him off the streets and out of the court room.”

“
I don’t want to have to see him,” I admit, hanging my head slightly in shame.

“
Know that, lady,” Craig squeeze my knee. “Don’t have to.”

“
She has to, Craig,” Ian shakes his head. “We go on the offensive, he’s going to up his game. If he confronts her, she needs to hold her head high and show him he can’t manipulate her any more.

“
I can’t,” I tell him shaking my head rapidly.

“
Bella,” Craig frowns. “You will always be able to hold your head high in front of him. You will always be a better a person. You will always be more. You beat him because you survived, you got out, you found something better.” He winks at the last bit and I can’t help but smile because of his cockiness.

“
Fuck me,” Ian raises an eyebrow. “Didn’t know you were capable of saying so many words in one go.”

Craig just grins and shakes his head but I hold his full attention.
“With my family’s protection, nothing is going to get to you. Ever.”

“
You have our word,” Ian agrees.

I nod because I know these
men mean business.

“
I don’t want him to be hurt anyone else,” I tell them.

“
We’ll make sure he can’t,” Ian answers confidently.

“
But it’s his word against mine if I press charges,” I chew my lip contemplatively.

“
Not strictly true,” Craig replies cautiously.

“
How so?” I frown.

“
We have the hospital records and…”

“
And?” I prompt when he trails off.

“
And I took pictures in the hospital just in case you wanted to file charges. Could tell you were too far gone to admit the truth then but thought you might change your mind one day.”

“
You took pictures of me?” I accuse, surprised and shocked.

“
Wanted you to have proof, lady,” he tells me. It’s obvious he’s worried I’ll be upset that he did that without my permission.

“
Thank you,” I tell him with a smile because I’m truly grateful that he showed such forethought.

He nods, relief evident on his face.
“Your medical records will support you as well.”

“
How?” I frown. He took me to a different hospital or clinic every time I needed medical assistance.

“
NHS began an opt-in scheme to share a patient’s medical records across different facilities a few years ago. You opted in whilst you were at Derby hospital,” he tells me meaningfully.

I suspect that isn’t truly
legal and he took a huge risk for me.

“
Which was wise of you because it meant I could print out every medical note from your file for the past few years. Did you know almost every doctor you saw flagged your file for potential domestic abuse?”

I shake my head. Many of them had seemed to buy Nigel’s version of events, some even laughed and joked along with him about my clumsiness.

“I have everything backed up on my cloud,” Craig smiles reassuringly. “As soon as you’re ready, we can file the charges.”

“
Sometimes it surprises me how clever you are,” Ian mocks Craig. “Then I remember you’re my brother.”

“
Cheers,” Craig chuckles and turns his attention to me. “You okay, lady?”

“
I’m fine,” I reassure him. “This is just a lot to take in. I’m not sure I know how to go on the offensive.”

“
You’ve got us on your side, Bella,” he reassure me. “We got this.”

Ian nods in agreement before rising to standing.
He disappears from the room and I hear him shouting the rest of the family down. Within minutes, the room is filled with all the Carters and all eyes are on me. I guess they know something is going on and they know I’m at the root of it.

“
Isabella’s ex-boyfriend is a woman-beating P.O.S and he’s trying to get to her,” Ian tells them bluntly. I’m putting the family app on her phone. She messages, you answer.”

The family just nods.

“His name is Nigel Callaghan, works for Callaghan & Sons, a law firm with offices in London and Nottingham. I’m texting you all pictures of him just in case.”

“
More fucking drama,” Matt grumbles. “Can I have one fucking week where nobody tries to get killed?”

“
Shut up, idiot,” Karl elbows him with a grin.

“
Sorry,” Jelly squeaks, looking slightly guilty because she has been at the centre of a lot of drama in recent times.

Jason kisses her
cheek and whispers something in her ear with a frown on his brow.

“
As I was saying,” Ian glares at Matt for the interruption. “Keep Isabella safe until we can get rid of this bastard.”

“
Roger,” the twins nod.

And just like that, it’s accepted. Nobody even seems to mind –
grumpy Matt aside.

Jamie has been watching me intensely the whole time and she approaches me as people begin filtering out of the room.

“I’m not as useful as they are at helping keep you safe,” she apologises. “But I know what it’s like to feel like you’re being watched and to live in fear of the shadow behind you. I’m here if you need to talk.”

“
Thanks, Jelly,” I grin because I sort of like the family nickname and I’m feeling more like part of a family unit than I have for a long time.

“What’s going on in the pretty head of yours?” Craig asks me when we’re alone
in the flat later that evening.

“I’m trying to figure myself out
,” I pout.

“How does that work?” He teases me
with a kiss to my creased brow. “You don’t know yourself.”

“I know myself now. I don’t
understand the version of myself that you met at the hospital.”

“One and the same, lady,” he smiles. “You were just scared.”

I shake my head. “You’d kicked him out of the hospital. You gave me an out, a way of getting away from him.”

He nods, stroking my hair out of my face and behind my ear.

“Instead, I risked my health just to get back to him, even after everything he’d done.”

“He’d brain washed you, Bella. Anybody could see that, it’s why I didn’t try and talk you out of it. Needed to slowly guide you to the realisation.”

“You took me to the house,” I mumble.

He nods.

“What would you have done if he was there?”

He grimaces. “Don’t know. I was praying he wasn’t. Not sure I could have restrained myself. Wanted to give him a taste of his own medicine.”

“Maybe it was lucky for both of us that he wasn’t there,” I smile a sad smile.

“Finding you and getting to bring you into my life was the luckiest I’ve ever been.”

“I feel pretty y.

“You’re your own woman,” he grins at me. “I’ll help you keep it that way.”

“Thank you,” I grin, shuffling closer to him on the sofa. “I wasn’t even dressed,” I sigh, remembering my attempted return to Nigel.

“Hospital gown,” Craig chuckles. “Looked hot.”

“Aside from the fact that I was black and blue?” I tease.

He scowls.

“Sorry,” I murmur because it seems he didn’t like my attempt at humour.

“Nothing funny about the way you looked after he finished with you, Bella,” he cracks his knuckles.

“That time was unusually bad,” I note with a sad sigh.

“Unusually bad?” Craig scoffs bitterly. “He almost killed you.”

“I know,” I sigh. “I knew that at the time as well. Yet I still tried to get back to him.”

“Men like him don’t usually lose their cool. Even when they’re abusing women, they’re often calm about it. What was different?” Craig asks.

I cringe. “He asked me to marry him.”

Craig’s face remains sober
but I can see his Adam’s apple bob up and down as he swallows.

“I gave him his ring back,” I manage a small smile because I’m fairly proud of myself for not letting him bully me into
marriage. It may have meant temporary pain for me but it gave me a chance to escape a lifetime of the same.

“I see,” Craig smiles. “You didn’t want to marry him? What a surprise.”

“Made me realise I couldn’t stay with him,” I sigh, remembering the fear I used to live with on a daily basis.

“So you knew you wanted to leave him before we met?”

I nod although I’m not sure I’d fully accepted the fact.

“I wasn’t trying to get back to him through any sort of affection. I was scared what would happen
if I didn’t. As far as I saw it, I didn’t have any options.”

“Told you I’d take you anywhere,” he reminds me cupping my face in his hand.

I nod because I remember that. “I had nowhere else to go. He’d driven a wedge between me and everybody I cared for even if I didn’t realise it until it was too late.”

“Wanted you all to himself,” he scowls.

“And you want to share me?” I tease because I don’t him getting hung up on the negativity.

“You don’t keep a piece of art in a dark cupboard. You let it tour the world or on the wall of a gallery for all to see. You let everyone see the treasure you have.”

“Romantic for a big gruff fighter,” I smile with a slight blush because I don’t think I’ve been compared to a work of art before.

“Man of m
any talents,” he winks, sending pleasant tingles to every millimetre of my body as I imagine the extent to which his talents extend.