Jodi frowned, her delicate brows knitting together as a slow, deliberate shake of her head accompanied her deepening scowl. "I haven't heard a single thing from her, Belle. To be completely frank with you, I couldn't even use my mobile phone properly while I was in Dubai. Prince was absurdly strict about my roaming charges and internet consumption over there. You know how he gets, right? Always grumbling under his breath that I do nothing all day but waste money on social media and international calls. Anyway, why do you ask? Did something happen to her? Did she leave the country?"
"Oh, no! No, it's nothing like that at all, Auntie," Belle replied quickly, forcing a light, breezy chuckle to smooth over the sudden surge of tension in the room. "I was just curious. I wanted to know if you'd ever heard anything... unusual related to her back when you were close. Like... rumors of child abuse, or something along those dark lines."
