Present Day:

Backstage WWE: Target Center in Minneapolis

Colby makes his way through the backstage area in a complete fog after his meeting with Stephanie. It's like he's walking in slow motion as he maneuvers through the usual hustle and bustle. The voices calling out his name vaguely register but don't sway him from his path. He needs to get to his dressing room and just revel in the silence, he needs everything to stop.

He finally finds his way back and gently closes the door behind him and locks it. Standing with his back resting against the hardwood, he stills himself trying to even out his breathing before slowly slumping to the ground in floods of tears.

He shakes his head side to side over and over, no this isn't happening, he's going to walk back out and bump into her around the corner. They're going to talk and he'll listen this time, he's going to listen to everything she has to say and they will work it all out. No this is not the end, this can't be the way they end.

"Baby, I'm sorry...I'm so sorry.' He sobs.

Ten Months Ago...

Melbourne, Australia.

A New Year is about hope, starting over and blah blah blah. It isn't about bringing temperatures hotter than the Sun! Currently, the South Eastern Coast of Australia is experiencing one of the worst heatwaves in recent history. And it doesn't help either that the night temperatures are only a few degrees cooler than during the day.

When it's this hot it not only turns your home into a sweatbox but it takes over your entire body as well. All you want to do is go for a swim or take a nice long cool bath, but of course, today's the day the pool filter decides to stop working turning the once beautiful in-ground oasis into a murky mess and the bath; well that's not happening until after work.

Belle sits at her desk a sweaty mess wanting to crawl into either her small air conditioning unit or the desk fan that squirts out cool water like a fine mist - her Mum bought it for her as a novelty Christmas present; whilst she makes her last edits to her blog piece. She goes over it again and again until it reads as well as it sounds in her head and presses save. The "ping" noise indicating a new email blares through her speakers which are up way too loud and she clicks onto her email tab.

She blows out a deep hot breath and reads the header, "Travel Itinerary, WWE CORP". Belle closes her eyes and reclines back in her chair. "Why did I have to go and write that stupid blog!"

For the past three years on the advice of a good friend, Belle's been working for an online Lifestyle/Celebrity site; and her blog "Gossip Diva" is one of the most popular blogs on the site. So when the WWE was last in Australia, a source gave Belle a few tidbits of information to follow up on and after some digging, they were far too good to pass up. Within about ten minutes of her posting, the traffic on her blog hit the roof and beyond, and her fan base.

'Travel Itinerary. Malia L'Touberine WWE CORP

Title: Travel Itinerary, WWE CORP January 17th,2019.

Dear Ms, Westlake,

As per our previous discussion via the telephone Thursday, 10th January 2019, please find a copy of your travel itinerary for your upcoming trip to Stamford to meet with Mrs. Stephanie McMahon - Levesque's Office. I have also enclosed the car service we have arranged for you and a map of the local area.

If you have any further questions please feel free to contact me. We look forward to seeing you next week.

Kind Regards,

Malia L'Touberine

Senior Assistant, Human Relations. World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.

1241 E Main St, Stamford, CT 06902, USA.

Belle clicks on the four attachments, flight information, hotel confirmation, car service and the map with a few eateries highlighted and saves them all to her desktop. She likes to keep a backup on the computer in case something happens to her phone - which lately is prone to never being where she leaves it.

She reads through all the information and smiles as she notices the name of the Hotel. She's staying at the Sheraton Stamford Hotel. "Good times". She whispers.

Belle wipes her eyes, even after all of these years the memories of her previous life still have a way of popping up at random. Some make her laugh and smile and others tear at the scars in her heart that she's spent the last four years trying to heal. Reaching forward for her water bottle she takes a deep sip and reclines back in her chair; her mind taking her back to the day her life fell apart...

Mid June 2015 - 1AM Wednesday Morning:

Belle walked into her office building in the heart of the greatest city in the World, New York and pressed the button for the express elevator. She'd only been back in the City for less than an hour after her flight from the U.K after covering the three month International manhunt and subsequent arrest of notorious N.Y mobster Johnny 'baby face' Marzuni, and she wanted to make sure that everything went to plan and that her story made it in time for the early morning edition.

She walked off the elevator on the eleventh floor and headed straight to her desk. She lifted her carry bag onto her desk and sat down digging for her laptop and notepad. Belle loved technology but always had the tendency to back everything up longhand and jot down notes when they floated around in her head.

'Welcome back kiddo, how was the vacation?" Her editor Alan asked.

Belle shook her head with a laugh and looked up at him. Alan was in his mid to late forties with a nice 'Dad Bod' with salt and pepper short-cropped hair. "Pretty boring, but I did manage to get a hold of some tickets to Wimbledon, I really thought Serena was in with a good shot at winning this year."

Alan burst out laughing, he loved her sarcastic comebacks. "Any issues arise on the way home?"

"No boss, all good. Security was incredibly tight as you can imagine but I got some sneaky shots of him but it was fairly quiet. What did you think of my story so far?"

"Brilliant as always and don't forget to send the photos to Jimbo, he can clean them up a bit and work his magic." He replied, and wandered off. "Hey Belles, I'm happy to have you home."

"Thanks Boss.' Belle replied, and turned her attention back to the computer and connected her blue-tooth signal to the computer. After sifting through all her photos, she finally found the ones from the Plane and sent off a quick message to Jim the newspaper photo editor.

After a further twenty minutes of additions and edits, Alan gave his final yes and put the next edition "to bed" as they said in the business. Belle leaned back in her chair and relaxed. It had been a really frantic past twenty-four hours and all she wanted to do was go home and crawl into bed. She repacked her belongings away and went back down to the Lobby to hail a taxi.

"The Flint Building, please." Belle advised the driver as they pulled away from the curb. Belle lived in the Upper Eastside with her stockbroker fiancé Ben Huntington.

Ben and Belle had been together since they met in High School when Ben and his family relocated to Melbourne. His father had been put in charge of the expansion into Australia for the family's Internationally renowned Investment Firm, Huntington & Flinders.

After High School, they both went on to attend Melbourne University, Belle majored in Journalism and Ben in Business and Finance. Shortly after graduating the call they had known all along came and soon the lovebirds were jet setting halfway around the world to begin their new life in New York. Ben flew up the corporate ladder at work and eventually landed the prominent role of Investment Banking Vice President whilst Belle had been offered her dream role of lead investigative journalist at the N.Y Express.

She traveled all around the World covering stories from War Crimes, to Capital Murder cases and her current story involving the Marzuni Crime Family. They were the toast of the town and had an open invitation to any and all parties and events. Life was good on all fronts.

Later that morning Belle woke to unexpected knocking on her front door. She dragged herself out of bed and grumbled when she noticed that it was just past seven AM. "Hold on I'm coming" She said, as the knocking started to get louder and heavier. "Can I... Are you Miss. Annabelle Watkins?" Asked a large Man in a dark grey suit.

"Excuse me who are you?" Belle demanded.

"Are you Miss Watkins?" The same Man repeated.

"Yes, I'm Miss Annabelle Watkins...We're from the FBI Miss. Watkins, we have a search and seizure warrant please step aside." The Agents quickly entered the Penthouse and walked off in all different directions. "Miss. Watkins, my name is Agent Reynolds, and we need to talk."

Belle looked around as her home was torn apart and possessions 'tagged and bagged' and put into huge boxes with the words 'EVIDENCE' written in large black lettering on the sides. "I'm sorry what is all of this about? You can't just come into our home and take our things. I'm sorry where the hell do you think you're taking those?" Belle demanded when another Agent walked past her with boxes of files from Ben's home office. "She can't take those, they're private!"

"Miss Watkins, please take a seat and I will explain what's going on." Agent. Reynolds replied.

'Sit down! You force your way into my home and start ransacking the place and you have the nerve to tell me to sit down, you ... Belle, do not say another word. Agent Reynolds may I have a word please." Announced Marcus James, one of the senior members of the families in house legal firm.

Marcus was a thirty-five-year-old African American from a very wealthy family in Boston. He was tall well over six foot tall, short-cropped dark hair and was an impeccable dresser. He interned at the firm straight out of Law School and worked his way up to one of the senior partners in record time. He oozed charm and sex appeal like both traits were going out of fashion and didn't suffer fools lightly. He worked hard for everything that he had achieved and was a very proud man, but to say he had a soft spot for both Ben and Belle was an understatement.

He adored Belle from the first moment Ben had introduced them and he was hell-bent on making sure she made it out of the mess as unscathed as humanly possible.

"Marcus, what's happening where's Ben?" She asked as he walked in.

"Belle, take a breath and I will sort this out okay?" He replied, and squeezed her hand. "Let me talk to him and I'll be right back. Speak to nobody."

Belle nodded her head and sat down in the living room. She ran her hands over her tired face and tried to gather her thoughts. She'd seen scenes like this before but never once did she think she would be on the receiving end of such invasive measures.

After a terse moment of back and forth between Marcus and the FBI, Agent Reynolds called out to his team and asked them to drop everything they have in their hands and to join him in the foyer. Marcus walked back into the living room with what appeared to be the warrant in his hand and joined Belle on the couch.

"Belles, listen to me carefully because we don't have much time." Marcus begun as Belle nodded her head. "Ben, his Father, Grandfather, and several other upper-level managers have been all been arrested...please sweetheart let me finish." Marcus said when Belle started to protest. "They're going to be charged with money laundering, securities fraud, illegal wire transfers amongst many other charges. Don't worry all we need to focus on now is making sure we co-operate with these Agents and let them take what they need. Now I've told them and they've agreed to let you pack a small bag of clothes and other necessities and in return, we'll both go through the listed items here on the warrant and they won't have to make any further mess in here."

"I don't understand Marcus, Benji isn't a criminal where have they taken him?" Belle asked.

"He had an early start at the office and he's been taken downtown to the FBI offices. Belle now is not the time for all of this I'll explain later, now I want you to go with this Agent here and she will take you into the bedroom to pack. Can you do that for me?" Marcus asked kindly.

Belle looked up to see a female Agent approaching with a small sincere smile on her face. "I... she stammered. "Yeah okay."

"Sweetheart, hold it together for just a little while longer, stay strong alright?" Marcus whispered to her.

Belle closed her eyes and tried to even out her breathing. "The bedroom is through here." She said and lead the Agent away.

"I'm Agent Parker, Miss. Watkins. Please only pack your personal belongings a few days worth of clothes and toiletries. Do you have a bag or case I can get you?"

"Ah, I've just gotten back into the country early this morning, I haven't unpacked yet. " Belle replied and pointed to her suitcase in the corner of the room. "May I grab a few fresher items? She asked somewhat calmly. Marcus was right the last thing anyone needed was for her to freak out and make matters worse.

"Yes that will be fine, but I do need to go through your case."

She exhaled and mentally counted to five before she nodded her agreement and proceeded into her part of the closet to collect more underwear and shirts. She brought them out into the bedroom as Agent Parker opened the case onto the bed. "These are alright, aren't they? Do you need to check them also?"

"I will have too, yes. I'm afraid I can't let you take anything else. We still need to process everything else in here. " Agent Parker replied. "Is this small case your toiletries? Did you need anything else?"

"Yes they are, and no everything I need is in there."

The Agent went through each item and the cases and slowly closed them. "After everything has been cataloged and photographed our Office will be in touch with Mr. James." She explained and placed the case back on the floor.

"Thank you, oh is it alright if I take a couple of our photos? I can leave the frames if that's going to be an issue?"

"You can take a couple of your photographs and the frames Miss. Watkins that's fine." Agent Reynolds announced from the doorway.

Belle looked up and thanked him. She walked over to her vanity and picked up three of her most treasured memories. One was taken right after Ben proposed, the next photo was of them both and her family and the last one is of her recently deceased grandparents taken at her University Graduation.

Agent Reynolds helped Belle with her bags as they walked back into the living room where Marcus stood surrounded by the other Agents reading over the warrant again. He looked up as they entered. "Everything okay?" He asked looking at Belle.

"Yes. Now, what else is on the warrant?"

After finishing up with the FBI, Marcus told an exhausted Belle that he and Agent Reynolds had arranged a brief meeting with Ben in a couple of days if she was interested, and until then and beyond the Firm would arrange for her to stay in one of their suites at the Langham Hotel on Fifth Avenue since the Penthouse was still being processed. Belle agreed to meet with him and thanked Marcus for the Hotel. He mentioned that Ben's mother Mary had wanted her to stay with her and the rest of the family, but knowing Belle as well as he did, he politely declined on her behalf making up an excuse about added attention if Belle was seen due to her job and public status. Belle thanked him profusely, the last thing she wanted to do was spend time cooped up at the Huntington Estate virtually under house arrest, surrounded by people she didn't particularly care for.

Belle spent the next couple of days hiding out in her Suite and only answering calls from Marcus, her Parents who were beyond frantic and her boss- whom she trusted implicitly. How had everything gone so wrong so quickly? Six months ago the man of her dreams proposed and they were busy planning their Christmas Wedding and making plans for the future and then...BAM! It all went up in smoke.

The arrests had, of course, made headlines worldwide and was the number one topic across Social Media and on the relentless twenty four hour cable news broadcasts. People they had called friends were being stopped in the street and interviewed and throwing them all, Belle included under the proverbial bus. They had gone from being at the top of the social scene to being bottom-feeding piranhas. But none of those things bothered Belle, they could say whatever they wanted and obviously would, all she cared about was Ben. He was the man she loved and she needed to see him and speak with him. None of this could have been true, she knew the real Ben and the man she knew would never have committed the crimes that he had been charged with, not then not ever. She was determined to clear his name and then they could start again. She didn't care about leaving the City just as long as they were together - she believed in her heart that they could get through anything that was thrown their way.

She messaged Marcus asking to see Ben the next morning and went to bed trying to mentally prepare herself. The next day, Belle was picked up by the private car service under heavy security and taken to the New York FBI offices. Marcus greeted her in the underground parking garage and escorted her upstairs. He spent the few moments they had in the elevator going through the procedures and what was going to happen. "I've arranged thirty minutes Belle, they won't listen in but there are cameras in there and they will be watching you both closely. It's the best that we could arrange I'm sorry."

"No, I understand and thank you, Marcus, I really appreciate everything that you've done for not only me but also Ben." Belle smiled.

After another explanation about the rules from Agent Reynolds, Belle was escorted into the private waiting room, "Please take a seat, Mr. Huntington will be down shortly."

Minutes later the door slowly opened and Belle stood up as Ben walked in handcuffs and flanked on each side by FBI agents. "You have thirty minutes."

"Hi baby." Ben cried as Belle wrapped her arms around him.

"Shh, Benji it's okay, talk to me, it's all okay...Belle soothed over and over.

"I'm so sorry Bella...

"Hello... A voice calls out from outside pulling Belle back into the present.

"Sorry, did you say something?" Belle says watching her Dad appear in the doorway.

"Mum's going shopping she wants to know if you need anything?"

"Ah, no Dad I'm all good for now thanks." Belle smiles.

"No worries Love, I'll let her know. You all ready for your big trip?"

"Nearly, they sent through all my travel details just then, so I'm just going over them," Belle replies.

"Okay, call out if you need help."

Belle watches her Dad close the door and walk up the back steps leading to the patio. After everything in New York, Belle quit her job at the Express and left the city in disgrace in the dead of night and came back to the family's home in Melbourne. She doesn't speak about her meeting with Ben to anyone, not even her Parents whom she shares everything with no matter how embarrassing.

Belle didn't watch any of the trials or read in-depth any of the articles, but she did know that Ben on the advice of counsel plead guilty to two counts of money laundering, one count of wire fraud and one count of securities fraud. As a part of his deal, he wore a wire to help the government's cases against his Father and Grandfather and is currently serving his ten-year minimum sentence in Upstate New York. The monetary total of his crimes is around thirty-five million dollars.

His Father and Grandfather went to trial and were later found guilty on all charges and are serving their life sentences plus more in Federal Prisons in North Carolina and West Virginia. The three other co-conspirators all took pre-trial guilty plea deals and are serving their twenty-year sentences up and down the North East of the U.S. The Firms' crimes add up to just over half a billion dollars - the press still refers to them as the Madoff's 2.0.

After Belle's departure, Marcus and the FBI after reassurances from Agent Reynolds did declare that nobody except those currently in jail is guilty of any wrongdoings nor at any time a target in their investigations. Eventually, the intense fire around her burnt out, but the damage to her personally and professionally will always remain.

Belle huffs again if the money and the perks weren't as enticing as they are there's no way this would be happening. But let's face it; she's not earning the same anymore and living in a multi-million dollar Penthouse, no she's writing an online blog under an assumed name and living in a Bungalow her Dad built in the back yard. She's not ungrateful she knows she has more than a lot of people do, but perhaps it's time for her to dip her toe back into the real world as her Parents say and get back to having some semblance of a life.

"Alright Belles, time to put your big girl knickers on... Stamford here I come!"