Chapter 18 Isabella #2
"I'm going to count to three," he says. "And then I'm coming in. And you don't want me to come in the hard way, do you? Think of Elena. Think of how scared she'll be if she wakes up to shouting. To violence."
The threat is clear. He'll break down the door. He'll make a scene. He'll terrify my daughter.
And Lupo won't be home for hours.
I have no choice. With shaking hands, I unlock the door and open it. Draco smiles. It doesn't reach his eyes.
"There's my girl," he says, and steps inside.
I back away instinctively, and his smile widens. He likes that. Likes seeing me afraid. It turns him on to sense my fear, my pain.
"Where is she?" he asks, looking around. "Where's Elena?"
"Sleeping. Don't wake her."
"I'm not a monster, Isabella." He closes the door behind him and locks it. "I'm not going to traumatize my own child."
"Then leave. Come back another time. We can talk then. Give me time to prepare her for your visit."
"We'll talk now." He moves into the kitchen, making himself comfortable. Leaning against the counter like he owns the place. "Nice place you've got here. Rustic. Not what I would have chosen for you and Elena, but I suppose beggars can't be choosers."
"What do you want, Draco?"
"What do I want?" He tilts his head, studying me. "I want what's mine. I want my woman. I want my daughter. I want the life you stole from me."
"I'm not yours anymore."
"We'll see about that." He pushes off the counter, moving closer. I back up until I hit the table. "But first, I want to know who the fuck he is."
My heart stops. "Who?"
"The man." His eyes are cold. "The one who's been staying here. The one whose work boots are by the door." He leans in close. "Did you think I wouldn't notice? That I'd show up without watching first? I've been surveilling this place for two days, Isabella. I know everything."
Two days. He's been watching us for two days.
"He's no one," I say quickly. "Just someone passing through. He needed work, and I needed a few repairs done."
"Is that why you let him into your bed?" Draco's voice drops to a dangerous whisper. "You let him around my daughter? You let some stranger play house with my family?" His hand shoots out, gripping my arm. Not hard enough to bruise yet. But the threat is there. "Where is he now? This nobody?"
"He’s working. He won't be back for hours."
His grip tightens slightly. "That gives us time to discuss your return with me to Rome."
"I'm not going back with you."
"Yes, you are." He pulls me closer. "You and Elena.
We're going to be a family again. The way we should have been all along.
I'll forgive you for this little indiscretion.
This running away. This man you've taken up with.
We'll put it all behind us. Elena is still young. She won’t remember any of this if you return now. "
"Draco, please."
"Please what?" His other hand comes up to my face, almost gentle.
Almost loving. If you didn't know him like I do.
"Please forgive you? Please take you back despite your betrayal?
I'm willing to do that this one time. Because Elena needs her father.
Because you need someone to take care of you. Because you're mine."
I try to pull away, but his grip on my arm tightens. Pain shoots through my shoulder.
"Don't try it," he says quietly. "Don't fight me. You know how this ends."
I know exactly how this ends. With me giving in. With me packing our things. With me climbing into that Mercedes and disappearing back into his world.
Unless Lupo comes home.
But what can Lupo even do? He doesn't even remember who he is. And Draco is connected, powerful, dangerous in ways that go beyond physical strength. His long tentacles can reach me no matter where I run to.
"Let me go," I say, trying to keep my voice calm. "You're hurting me."
"Am I?" He loosens his grip slightly. "Sorry. I forget my own strength sometimes. You remember that, don't you? How strong I am?"
The threat is implicit. The memory of my broken arm flashes through my mind.
"Elena will wake up soon," I say. "She'll be scared if she sees you. She doesn't remember you."
"Then you'd better help her remember." He releases me, stepping back. "You'd better make her understand that her Daddy's home. That we're going to be a happy family again."
"She's three years old, Draco. She was barely one when we left. You're a stranger to her."
"Whose fault is that?" The coldness in his voice makes me flinch. "You took her from me. You kept her from knowing her father. But that ends now. Today. We're going home, Isabella. All three of us. You don’t have a choice in this."
“She needs time to adjust to the idea,” I say. “This is her home now.”
"This is no life for my child," he continues, gesturing around the small kitchen. "Living in poverty. Hiding from the world. She deserves better. She deserves what I can give her, the best schools, clothes, a future. A real home. Not this trash."
"She has a home here."
"Does she?" He turns back to me. "Does she really? Or is she going to grow up poor and isolated because her mother is too stubborn to accept help? Too proud to admit she made a mistake?"
I don't have an answer. Because part of me knows he's right. Not about going back to him. But about Elena deserving more than this.
"We're managing," I say finally.
"You're barely surviving." He's watching me carefully.
"And this man you've taken up with, how long until he leaves?
Men like that always do. They take what they want and move on.
Especially men who are hiding something.
Working for cash, no papers, he's running from something, Isabella.
And when whatever he's running from catches up, he'll be gone. And you'll be alone again."
"You don't know him."
"Neither do you." He moves closer again. "But I know men. And I know you. You're scared. You're desperate. And you latched onto the first person who showed you kindness. But that's not love. That's survival. And it's going to end badly. For you and for Elena."
Maybe he's right. Maybe I am just clinging to Lupo because I'm desperate.
But it doesn't feel that way.
"I'm not going with you," I say quietly but firmly.
Something flashes in his eyes. Anger. Rage. But he controls it, smoothing it away. "We'll see about that. We have time. Your boyfriend won't be back for hours, you said. That's plenty of time for us to come to an understanding. To get to know each other again."
He reaches for me again, and I back away. But there's nowhere to go. The table is behind me, he's in front of me, and Elena is sleeping just down the hall.
I'm trapped.
And Lupo is miles away, working on a construction site, with no idea that the life we were building together is falling apart.
That the monster I ran from has finally caught up to me.
Draco's hand closes around my wrist, pulling me toward him. "Let's start over, shall we? Let's talk about how this is going to work. You're going to wake Elena. You're going to pack your things, not much, you won't need most of this. And then we're going to drive back to Rome. Like a family."
"And if I refuse?"
"Then I'll take Elena myself. Have you forgotten, I have legal rights?
Rights to my daughter. And I have the resources to enforce them.
I can make your life very difficult. I can make it so you never see her again.
" He leans closer. "Or you can come willingly.
Be a family. And I'll forget all about this little rebellion.
I'll forget about your boyfriend. I'll forget about the past eighteen months.
We'll start fresh. This is your one chance to do the right thing. "
Tears burn my eyes. "You'll hurt her. Eventually, you'll hurt her like you hurt me."
"I would never hurt my daughter."
"You say that now."
"I would never hurt Elena." Each word is sharp, deliberate. "She's my child. My blood. Whatever you think of me, whatever I've done to you, and you pushed me, Isabella, you always pushed me, I would never lay a hand on her."
I want to believe him. Part of me desperately wants to believe that Elena would be safe.
But I can't. I've seen what he's capable of. I've felt his rage. And I know that control is a fragile thing.
"Please," I whisper. "Please just leave us alone."
"I can't do that." His grip on my wrist tightens. "You're my family. And families stay together."
And all I can do is pray that somehow, someway, Lupo comes home early.
That he saves us.
Even though I don't know if he can.