Chapter 44: Chapter 44

Chapter 44 Loyalty

The farce ended with the White family accusing Bella of deliberately starting a dispute.

Amidst the insults from the crowd, Bella pushed Edward out of the house.

Despite the tears in her eyes, her soul had never been more at ease.

Her illusion was shattered, but it made her feel relieved.

One-sided love was a heavy burden that Bella carried through the first 25 years of her life, and now she had left it behind that closed door. She no longer longed for their love and no longer felt alone and helpless.

She and Edward, the two poor abandoned souls, joined together to form a complete family. They comforted and supported each other, and with each other's comfort, they no longer feared the attacks of other people.

Bella wiped her tears with her sleeve and smiled at Edward, reassuring him, "We will never set foot in this house again. I promise, they can't hurt you anymore."

Edward did not answer, but she knew that he believed her words. Somehow, a silent understanding had formed between them.

Bella helped Edward get into the car, put the wheelchair away in the trunk, started the car, and drove home.

The car was going very slowly, and Bella opened the windows to let the refreshing evening breeze blow into the car and dissipate her worries.

"You know what? Just now, when I think of the word "home", I think of our little red brick house, where I feel so at home as if I was born to be there." Bella exclaimed, "This feeling is something I never experienced in my parents' home, even though I lived there for 20 years. I never felt like I was part of that family, and I tried so hard to fit in with them, but they did everything they could to remind me that I didn't deserve it."

Edward listened to Bella's monologue without speaking, all she needed was a listener, and he knew it.

"I behaved as well as I could, obediently. I had faith that my efforts would be seen," Bella continued, "But I was wrong, I could never wake someone who was pretending to be asleep, and I can't believe I realized that so late in life."

"I'm a diamond in the rough. It's not that I don't deserve to be loved; it's just that they don't see my worth," she smiled helplessly and laughed to herself, "Am I being too full of myself?"

"No, you deserve the best," Edward replied. He looked at Bella quietly, and he noticed that she had changed a lot overnight because before, she always had a defiant look on her face, but now she looked softened, and her eyes were calm.

"You know what? I always minded that I was born without a wolf before, which made me feel inferior, but today, I am suddenly glad that I don't have a wolf, which means I don't have a mate," Bella continued, ignoring Edward's surprised expression, "Werewolves firmly believe that there is absolute loyalty between mates, but that's just an old legend. Look at Lanny and David; they cheat and torture each other, ew."

Mentioning her sister's and ex-husband's names made her feel incredibly sick.

"Wait, what makes you think you don't have a mate?" Edward asked curiously.

"Because I don't have a wolf, and I don't feel a mate. Five years ago, David lied to me and said he was my mate, and since I was a fool back then, I believed him. But a month ago, he told me that his real mate was Lanny, and he only married me to be close to Lanny," Bella sighed and continued, "He told me that a werewolf without a wolf is just like a normal human, and told me to stop imagining things."

"Never believe his words," Edward seriously said, "If you find out that a man has deceived you once, he has probably deceived you countless times."

Edward's seriousness made Bella inexplicably want to laugh, "You're not like him, are you?"

"That goes without saying?" He grunted and turned his face away.

"So you're saying that if you ever met your mate, you'd choose her over me, right?" Bella asked the question in a deliberately joking tone, but her nose began to tingle slightly at the thought that his answer might be "yes".

'Am I in love with him?' She pondered this question silently, and when she realized her answer, her face flushed. She gripped the steering wheel tightly, stepped on the gas, and accelerated, forcing herself to focus on driving and not thinking about this embarrassing question.

The question made Edward freeze, and he didn't know how he should answer it for a second. He didn't know if he should tell her that she was his mate.

In the end, Edward just silently sighed when he remembered that he was still in danger, and he couldn't tell when he would be attacked again and die. He would keep it a secret until he was out of danger in case Bella would not be able to bear the pain of losing her mate.

Edward failed to understand that if Bella were given a choice between him and her mate, her choice would be him.

"By the way, I want to know if you really bought that vase? How did you afford such an expensive vase?" Bella felt the atmosphere in the carriage gradually stagnant, so she changed the topic, trying to ease the awkward atmosphere.

This new topic was a lifesaver for Edward. He cleared his throat and replied, "That vase was given to me by one of my business partners. I didn't know much about porcelain and thought it was an ordinary vase, so I gave it to your parents."

"How can you pass on a gift given by someone else to another person?" Bella pouted, expressing her strong condemnation of his behavior, "This kind of behavior is so disrespectful, didn't your mom tell you..." She realized that what she said was a bit too much and shut her mouth quickly.

Edward was not angry; instead, he smiled, "Why don't we return to your parents' house to get the vase back? But since I was injured, that business partner and I have lost contact..." He watched her expression go from tense to relax as he spoke. He knew she didn't want to return to the White family's house, so he gave her a valid reason.

"Okay, forget it this time. Next time, you don't do it again," Bella said with a shrug.

Edward and Bella's verbal argument was resolved peacefully, but Lanny and David's argument continued until midnight.

Lanny smashed everything in the house until she was exhausted and then stopped. She drove David to the study for the night and lay in bed by herself, thinking about her next plan.

She took out her phone to send a message, and the person she messaged was Bob.

"I want you to spy on Bella and her husband, Edward, 12 hours a day, and you would get paid 200 dollars a day. Edward has been cheating on Bella by pretending to be disabled to get Bella's sympathy when in reality, she doesn't love him at all. She once expressed to me privately that she has a crush on you, and I will do everything I can to help you pursue her."