his stare, or the pull of attraction. I’m not sure what it is that breaks down my inner walls and I know as he’s looking back at me, he can see the real me too.
He can see the girl inside me screaming for help. She’s been locked inside me a long time. Locked away in the abyss of hopelessness. In the darkest corners of all that desolation searching for the light.
My father put her there, put me there. I’ve been there for the last twelve years, right from the night he killed my mother. I’ve been there waiting for someone to save me because I know I can’t save myself.
I look away when a tear slides down my cheek. It’s too much and I can’t acknowledge that part of me yet. That’s why I haven’t thought much past what’s happening from one day to the next. It’s because I don’t know what to do.
With all the connections my father has, I don’t know if Tristan and his people are strong enough to get to him and if they fail, my father will find me. I know he will. Then I’ll be trapped in the dark for the rest of my life.
I should go. This isn’t right. I can’t be out here in the arms of this man with the conflict of emotions swirling within me. And another tear has just tracked down my cheek.
I must look like a crazy person.
I move to step out of his arms, but he stops me and catches my face.
“What makes you happy?” he asks quickly. The question throws me.
As I search for the answer, I realize why he’s asking. He can see straight through me. I can tell.
“Nothing...”
“What makes you wake in the morning? What is that I see fighting inside you to break free? It made you fight me, and if I weren’t for who I was, you would have fought till the end to get off this island. What is it Isabella?”
“Hope…” I’m almost afraid to say the word in case what little hope I have left inside me shatters and breaks. “Hope that there will be light one day.”
My pulse quickens when he runs his finger over my cheek. Blood surges from my head to my toes and my heart flutters when he lowers to my lips and presses his mouth to mine for a kiss.
Fire ripples through me, a delicious sensation that heats up my blood as the kiss sings through my veins.
The velvet warmth of him expands as spirals of ecstasy flow through my body, touching every part of me, every fiber of my being awake.
I drink in the sweetness, the tenderness, the luxuriating sensation.
But then the moment dispels when the music suddenly cuts and his phone starts ringing against the table.
We jump apart and he looks over to his phone.
I take that moment to leave before anything more can be said.
That was too much. That kiss reached too deep. I already know it would be a big mistake to start falling for my captor.
I mustn’t do it. I can’t.
Doing so would make things worse.
I just have a habit of doing exactly that and making things worse for myself.
Even when I know it will be to my detriment.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Tristan
Damn it…
Although I know I should let her go, I feel like I should go after her.
I’m only not doing so because when my phone rings while I’m here on the island, it’s going to be either Massimo or Nick.
I pick up my phone and see it’s Nick.
I’m almost glad it’s not Massimo because he wasn’t happy the plan with Sacha didn’t work. I also know even though he didn’t question me, he wasn’t happy I believed Isabella.
“Hi,” I say.
“Boss, I’m just checking in. I’ve noticed some senior shadow members arrive to help with the search for Isabella. Just thought you should know.”
“Thanks,” I reply. The sign of senior Shadow members is good and bad at the same time. “Keep watch.”
“You know I will,” he assures me, and we hang up.
I haven’t stopped thinking about what the fuck we’re supposed to do now. The fucking door of opportunity is still there for us to move in with a surprise attack. But we need to know where Mortimer is.
I’m thinking of everything we can do that doesn’t involve plan B. Without a location though I’m at a loss. I keep going around in circles in my mind and that’s the same answer I keep coming up with. I’ve taken time we don’t