The Beast And His Belle

Chapter 28

"Hey beautiful, I'm sorry I haven't been able to reach you. Today has completely gone to shit and I just want to be home already, kissing you. For some reason, my phone hasn't been working so I had to wait and call you from the jet. But there seems to be some mechanical malfunctions going on so I'm grounded here until further notice. Once I figure all this mess out, I'll try to call you before we take off. I wanted to say this before I left and I've wanted to say this for a while now, and I also wanted to say it in person but I'm saying it now, I love you, Belle."

It would've been the reassuring heartwarming message that could've sent her heart to flutter erratically to the moon, but she never got that message. Jackson's plane finally landed and he was fit to be tied at the day's strange events. He wanted nothing more than to go home and retreat from the world in her arms.
"Sir, your uncle is on the phone for you," Jackson's driver said through the window handing him the car phone.
"I don't care what it is! I'm going straight home after this fucking hell of a day! Whatever it is, it can wait until tomorrow!"
"Unfortunately this can't wait and if you don't come here you will go home not having the answers you want." Marcel practically spoke in code and left Jackson confused on the other end after he hung up.
Since it seemed he had no choice he told the driver to turn around and head to the office, making a quick stop at the jewelers expecting his demands were followed through by his assistant while he was gone.

He walked in being greeted by royalty from the jeweler. Already placed to the side awaiting his arrival the jeweler showed him what Jackson had specifically custom-designed for Belle. Exchanging Charlotte's old engagement ring that he no longer had any use for to make Belle a gold padlock necklace with an engraving of a heart and the words Je t'amerai pour toujours, meaning I will always love you in French. As he observed the beautiful creation he smiled remembering their time together in Paris, the Love Lock Bridge, and how meaningful the symbolism meant to her.
"Thank you. It's perfect."
He left the shop filled with excitement he had been anticipating, wanting to surprise Belle and place it around her neck finally confessing his undying love for her.

"I'm here! What is it that's so important it couldn't wait until tomorrow? I want to go home and see Belle. I haven't been able to reach her all day!"
"That's what I brought you in here for," Marcel said sliding a clean crisp document across his desk for Jackson to read.
"What the fuck is this?" Jackson questioned.
"It's the contract between you and Belle. She signed it."
"I-I don't understand?"
"She took you being gone for business as her opportunity to barge in my office demanding to annul the marriage and break the contract. She said she couldn't go on pretending anymore and wanted her own life back."
"But-" Jackson stumbled on his words as his body was overcome with shock and grief.
"But what? I told you this would happen and you refused to listen to me! You two were under a contract! It was always bound to end! She did this so we wouldn't go after her father and nothing more! And she's not stupid! She turned you soft and when you decided to put her on a pedestal in front of everyone she knew she could up and leave without the media asking questions."
"No! You're wrong! It may have started out that way but we-we had something. She said-"
"She said this, she did that...she played you, boy! Like a fool! And I saw it coming from a mile away. I tried to warn you but you chose to do things your way!"
Jackson stood there frozen and broken.
"Look, at least she did this peacefully, ok. Just sign the contract and all this will be over. Just lay low for a while so the media doesn't get word and this will all be behind us."
Jackson took the pen and stared at the crisp document. It looked untouched, straight from the printer if he wasn't staring at her signature with his own two eyes. He analyzed her writing until his eyes were blurry and it left no hesitation on her end; signed neatly under her name wrote Miss Isabelle Rose LeFleur. Marcel wasn't paying any attention to Jackson hesitating and in the end, he couldn't bring himself to sign it. He turned the pages back to the beginning and threw it back on Marcel's desk.
"File it away so I don't have to look at it again!" Jackson turned his body around and went to his own office.
What had happened, he questioned to himself. He thought they left on such a positive note and he thought she was happy. His mind was racing trying to come up with some answers as he hit the button on his office phone to listen to his missed calls. No messages that didn't pertain to business; not even a message from Belle explaining herself. She just left, exactly like Charlotte, and taking with her all the remains of his heart.
"Is someone in the need of a little cheering up?" He heard her vixen voice and his head darted up in a rage.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" He blasted seeing Veronica standing in his office accentuating her curvaceous body.
"I knew you'd be happy to see me back!" she said with a seductive wink.
"Think again! I fired you and I don't want you here!"
"Well, your uncle very much likes me and hired me back. What does it matter now anyway? Your wife is gone!" Veronica slyly moved her body closer towards his desk lifting her ass just enough to sit on his desk right in front of him.
"Don't talk about Belle!" he shot daggers at her but she wasn't phased.
"Fine by me! We can just pick up where we left off! Right here!" She brought her arm up to touch his chest and before she could lay a finger on him he grabbed her wrist tightly snd fling her hand back.
"Don't touch me! I don't want you!" He blew past her leaving his office and heading for the lobby. As he made his way to the car where his driver was waiting he caught a glimpse of the building next door. The school was closed and the lights were off. Another feeling of his heart shattering to the ground. She was everything and more to him, the color to his world, the light in the darkness. How could he ever go on without her?

"BELLE!" He stormed through the doors of his house with the last thread of hope she was still here packing.
"Mr. Mason, you're back!" Flora answers coming from the kitchen. He ignored her for a moment racing down the guest hallway to find Belle's bedroom empty. He was quickly losing hope as he turned around and made his way down the west wing to his bedroom.
"CLOSE ALL THE CURTAINS!" He shouted like a beast passing by Flora again.
"Why don't you go to her and tell her how you feel?" Flora pleaded and he stopped dead in his tracks as the last bit of hope fell to the floor with the answer that Belle was already gone.
"AND MAKE A FOOL OF MYSELF?" he shouted at her.
"SHE! LEFT! ME! I DON'T WANT YOU TO SPEAK HER NAME AGAIN!" He spat as an enraged beast.

He stormed down the west wing hallway, stopping his heavy trotting outside the door of the library he made for her. His hand lingered on the doorknob fighting back the emotions of his broken heart. Barging through the room in his beastly rage, he buries the remaining feelings he had for her. Throwing the books off the shelves, trashing the place shattering the tea set against the wall, tipping the table over until there was nothing left in the room that wasn't unturned. In a huff, he finally exited and made his way to his bedroom. He was weak with energy and the heartbreak filled his body back up with memories of seeing her bare body asleep in his bed, the love they made there together. As he got closer, the shining rings caught his eye; the engagement ring and wedding band that he thought she wore with pride and endearment for him. Believing he was wrong that she ever had those feelings for him was the final piece of his heart detaching from his chest and shattering at his feet with a tear; like the last petal of a rose falling to the ground. He placed her rings in the box with the necklace he bought her and hid them away in his nightstand; deep down praying one day she'd come back.