The Hurt Locket
With enough time, we all find what we were looking for. Even if its been there all along.
"Oh so you are alive?" Anna questioned as Chuck finally answered her call as she walked into the penthouse in the Empire.
"Of course I am." Chuck replied as he exited the jewelry store onto the busy streets of New York.
"So you must be in the hospital then or why did you miss lunch?" Anna asked as she dropped her purse on the counter before walking over to grab a bottle of water from the fridge.
"I just gave you more time to get ready for dinner with the French ambassador tomorrow night." Chuck said with a smile.
"Oh haha." The Hawthrone girl rolled her eyes in reply as she sat down on the couch.
As she did, Anna spotted a file sticking out behind today's newspaper which read Andrew Tate Investigators. Anna pulled it out to see a picture of a locket that had a picture of Bart inside of it.
"So why did you miss lunch?" Anna questioned as she continued to stare at the picture.
"I'm trying to meet someone who schedule is even more unpredictable than ours. I'll see you tonight." Chuck said before hanging up.
Anna took one last look at the picture before grabbing her phone from her purse and snapping a picture of it so she could try and figure it out on the way to her next meeting.
"Hey Anna." Nate spoke as he got off the elevator as the Hawthorne girl was heading towards it.
"Hi Nate. Bye Nate." Anna replied as she stepped onto the elevator before the doors closed.
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"You look beautiful." Chuck said as he stepped into the Empire penthouse to find Anna dressed and ready for tonight's dinner with the French Ambassador.
"And you look far from ready. We're supposed to leave 5 minutes ago." Anna replied as Chuck placed a kiss on her cheek.
"Change of plans." Chuck spoke stepping back slightly.
"You're going to leave me to sweet talk all those foreign company heads all by myself? Is this about that woman? The one from your father's grave?" Anna wondered.
"You read the file. Then you know why I'm doing this. She knew my mother's favorite flower. She had a picture of my father in a locket and she knew me." Chuck explained pointing to himself with his final words.
"And cleary has no interest in being found by you. You've been looking for weeks Chuck and nothing." Anna replied throwing her hands slightly for emphasis.
"I think she might be my mother." Chuck told her and Anna froze.
"What? Chuck your mother died during childbirth." Anna reminded her boyfriend.
"What if she didn't? What if it was just another of my father's many lies?" The Bass man wondered.
"Chuck look, it makes sense that after all this time when you finally let your dad go that your mother would appear." Anna suggested trying to find a reasonable explanation.
"She's not a ghost, Anna. Look I know it sounds crazy and that's why I couldn't tell you or anybody. I know any of Bart's old girlfriends may have knew my name or had a picture of him. But my father only had one of these made with an E on it and she had it." Chuck explained as he produced the same locket that was in the file Anna found earlier.
"Whoever she is, it just seems like she'll make losing your mom hurt all over again." Anna tried to reason with him.
"Do you really think anything could be more painful than killing my own mother and having my father hate me for it my whole life? If there is any chance this isn't what happened then I have to know." Chuck explained.
"Then I'm coming with you." The Hawthorne girl told Chuck.
"But what about Blair and Mr. Duri?" Chuck asked referring to the dinner with the french ambassador where Blair wanted to meet some man.
"Nothing is more important than being with you for this." Anna assured him with a smile.
The pair left the empire together and headed to the lobby of the hotel where the private investigator told Chuck Elizabeth Fisher was staying after having checked out of the last hotel Chuck was looking for her in.
"Elizabeth?" Chuck asked as he approached an older-looking, dark-haired woman.
"You ran away from me at my father's grave. I'm Charles Bass." Chuck explained as he held out his hand which the woman shook.
"Oh, of course. I apologize for my sudden departure, it was a very emotional day for me." Elizabeth replied after they had shaken hands.
"You must have known my father very well." Chuck told her.
"I'm not sure what gave you that impression. Your father and I simply shared a few memorable months many years ago. I was visiting my mother's grave and just stopped to pay my respects." Elizabeth explained in reply.
"But you knew my mother's favorite flowers and who I was?" Chuck wondered in confusion and Anna could feel a pain in her chest. Thus was exactly what she feared happening. this woman wasn't his mother.
"I simple read somewhere that Bart had a son and you resembled him very much." Elizabeth said and something about the way she spoke told Anna she was lying.
"Funny, people always say i look like my mother." Chuck replied and Anna could see the hurt look on his face.
After Chuck produced the locket Elizabeth simply said she thought Bart gave them to all his girlfriends at the time and let Chuck keep it and said how she was sorry she couldn't be more help before leaving the couple alone in the hotel lobby.
"I'm sorry Anna, you were right." Chuck turned and apologized to his girlfriend.
"It's okay. Now let's go home. I just wanna run to the restroom quickly." Anna spoke placing a kiss on Chuck's lips before he left to pull the car around Anna went to where she found Elizabeth gathering her things.
"I know you're lying, to Chuck. I could tell by your face. I've got a great judge of character." Anna told the older woman. "Chuck has spent his whole life believing he killed his mother and if you know anything that could change that, it would be extremely cruel not to share it."
Anna didn't wait for Elizabeth to reply before she left the hotel and went out to the front of the hotel where chuck was waiting by their car.
"Everything okay?" Chuck asked as he held open the door for her.
"Perfect." Anna said with a smile before getting inside the car followed by Chuck.
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"I can't believe I let one of Bart's girlfriends allow me to question my mother's death." Chuck spoke as he rubbed his hands down his face in frustration.
"It's not your fault Chuck. The thought of finally having a chance to know your mother was a greater factor than realising it was just your mind playing tricks." Anna told him as she wrapped her arm around his shoulder.
"Thanks." Chuck said with a small smile.
"I'll always be your family Chuck. I love you and I'm not going anywhere." Anna spoke as she placed a soft kiss on his cheek before getting up to get changed into my comfortable clothes.
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New chapter!!! Can't believe it's been nearly a year since I last uploaded it's crazy. Hopefully I'll get more regular updates and get the book finished!
Let me know what you guys think x
-ky❤️