WITSEC

Bonus Chapter

Bonus Chapter

ISABELLA

Shiloh’s Secret

It had been over a month since I’d been attacked and almost murdered. I couldn’t believe I was alive. To be honest, there were still moments I thought I was trapped in a nightmare, and I was waiting to wake up.

I could still see his face. I was afraid I’d never stop seeing it. I still didn’t know who he even was. The police wouldn’t tell us anything even though it was obvious that they knew, which frustrated the hell out of my parents. The need to know who he was didn’t plague my mind as much as the need to know why he’d tried to kill me. He had clearly known me, possibly watched me, and waited for the opportunity. What had made him go to the trouble? Had I cut him off on the road? Had I given him a dirty look without realizing it?

Something squeezed my hand before a voice said, “Izzy.”

I blinked a couple of times to pull myself out of my thoughts and turned my head. Ethan was sitting in a chair by my hospital bed, holding my hand. Between him and my family, I hadn’t had a moment alone since I had woken up after being stabbed ten times. Ten fucking times, and I could recall each one.

“What?” I asked.

“You were zoning out again,” he said.

So what? How else was I supposed to have a moment to think?

I squeezed his hand, hating myself for being annoyed with him. I ached to have some time to process everything, to break down without someone telling me, It’s okay, you’re safe now . I needed to explode, but I couldn’t do that to them. My parents took so much time off from work to be here with me, and when they were here, my mom was either crying or looking like she was about to cry. My dad was just pissed off. All. The. Time. If Ethan wasn’t at school or football practice, he was here, constantly asking if I was okay. I loved him. I loved him so damn much, but I wished he would stop asking me that. I was not okay. What happened to me was not okay. I couldn’t tell him that, though. Not when I could see the need to be reassured in his eyes. I understood what I’d gone through was traumatic for them, too, and they didn’t know how to handle it, either. It just wasn’t easy.

“Are you okay?” he asked, and I wanted to scream.

I tried to force a smile. “Yup. I’m hungry, though.” I needed him to leave. Just for a little bit.

“Want me to call the nurse?” he said, standing from his chair.

“No!” I winced at my outburst and tried to think quickly. “I don’t want to bother them. They have other patients to take care of,” I said in a calmer voice. “Could you go get me something?” Please just go.

“Will you be all right alone?” He looked reluctant to leave.

I gave him a reassuring nod. “I will be fine.”

He glanced at the door and then back at me. “Okay. I’ll try to be quick.” He leaned down and placed a kiss on my forehead. “Love you.”

“Love you, too,” I said as I watched him leave. As soon as the door shut behind him, I let out a heavy and long sigh. I rested my head back against my pillow and stared up at the ceiling. Just as my eyes began to burn, there was a knock.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” I grumbled as I blinked away the tears that had almost formed. “Come in!”

I was angry at my visitor until they walked in and I saw who it was.

“Shi!” I gaped.

Nobody had heard from her and her boyfriends since I’d been attacked. Just a few weeks ago, her picture had been all over the news along with Cassy’s, Amber’s, and Gabe’s. There were so many rumors going around, I didn’t know what to believe. However, Ethan and I both assumed that if the Stone brothers were missing, too, then Shi was undoubtedly with them. We just couldn’t fathom why they had taken off. I had hoped it was for a good reason; otherwise, I’d be hurt that my best friend hadn’t come to see me all this time.

“Hi,” she said as her gray eyes took me in. Her brow scrunched up, but she kept her composure. I noticed she had changed her hair again. It was pink. Which was strange, because I had a hunch that she hated pink.

“I’m okay,” I said, feeling the need to reassure her.

She made her way over to me and as she moved, the corner of a bandage on her chest peeked out from the V-neck of her shirt. She took a seat in Ethan’s chair, her eyes locking with mine. “No, you’re not.”

My throat tightened at her response, and I had to swallow a few times before I could speak. “No, I’m not.”

She squeezed her hands together tightly in her lap. “I wasn’t either after he tried to kill me.”

My heart skipped a beat and I felt like I hadn’t heard her right. “What?” Then I took in her scars on her wrists and inner arm. I remembered how she wouldn’t talk about her family, her inability to watch scary movies, her need to take medication to sleep because she suffered from nightmares.

She took in a calming breath before she began to speak. All I could do was sit there as she told me her story. How her crazy freshman English teacher had developed an obsession with her, how he had almost raped her, how he had stalked her, how he had murdered her family and nearly killed her, too, because she hadn’t played along with his delusions. How she had been put into witness protection, how her uncle had trained her to fight, why she had moved here, how hard it was to lie to everyone. She talked about her trauma, how she had been struggling to deal with it, and how that was the way her boyfriends had learned the truth about her.

Tears poured down her cheeks as she explained how she had found me at Ethan’s birthday party and how Mr. X almost killing me had been her fault.

She quickly wiped her cheeks. “I had to disappear because I knew he’d go after Ethan next.” She went on to tell me how Cassy’s father, Sheriff McAllister, had gotten involved and kidnapped Colt. She had managed to save him, only to come face-to-face with Mr. X again.

“He almost killed Derek?” I blurted, breaking my silence.

“He didn’t get hurt. He got away,” she said, and went on to tell me how she and the Stone brothers had been hiding out at one of her safe houses until the sheriff had found her. My eyes couldn’t get any wider when she said she had killed the sheriff, then gone off to meet Mr. X because he had taken her uncle hostage.

“I killed him,” she said, finishing her story.

“How?” was all I could think of to say.

She bit her lip for a moment, as if pondering whether she should tell me or not.

“I think I deserve to know,” I pushed.

She sat up straighter. “I stabbed him in the side of his neck. Then ripped the knife out through the front.” She brought her fingers to her throat. “He cut my sister’s throat. I thought it was fitting to tear out his.”

Staring down at my lap, I nodded. “Good.”

I had finally gotten the answers I’d wanted...but I felt surprisingly disappointed. Maybe I’d thought I would feel better, or everything could be fixed.

“I am sorry, Isabelle. I am so, so sorry.”

I glanced at Shi, finding her gaze still locked on me.

“I understand if my apology isn’t enough for what you’ve—what I’ve put you through. I just wanted you to know the truth, and how much I wish you didn’t go through what you did. If I could switch places with you, I would.”

I was angry. Maybe a little bit of me did blame her. It would have been so easy to take everything out on her. The only thing that gave me pause was that she wasn’t looking for reassurance. Other than a tear that she quickly swiped away, I could see she was doing her best to appear strong and prepared to take the anger she thought I’d unleash on her.

That pause gave me a moment to imagine being in her shoes and how miserable her life had been, the losses she had suffered. She hadn’t deserved or asked for any of it.

“That man was crazy. His actions are not yours. You didn’t make him try to kill me, Shi,” I said, and I meant it. It wasn’t just to reassure. It was the truth.

“You’re being too kind, Isabelle. You don’t have to be. I should have kept to myself and not gotten involved with any of you.”

I shrugged. “I see what you’re saying, but you are his victim, too.” I shook my head. “I can’t imagine the pain and loneliness you have felt. Hell, I can’t even process my own pain. For you to move here and just suffer alone…” I looked away from her to collect my thoughts. “It would have given him too much, I suppose.”

She put her hand on top of mine, pulling my eyes back to her. She was letting her tears roll down her cheeks without stopping them. “He almost did take more, and I will be grateful every day that he didn’t.”

I squeezed her hand. “I am a little sad you didn’t confide in me, but I understand why you couldn’t.” I let out a dramatic sigh. “It must be so nice to be a good-looking Stone brother.”

She laughed even though she was still crying. “There was nothing nice about how they pulled the truth from me. Knox and I ended up screaming at each other. I called him a stupid, muscle-headed bastard.”

I felt the need to laugh, and in my attempt to stifle it, I ended up snorting. “Only you could get away with calling him that.” I leaned my head back against my pillow and tried to relax a little. “You owe me so many sex stories after this, you know. I especially want to hear about what went down on Halloween with you, Knox, and Keelan.”

She laughed as she wiped her face dry. “I’ll give you all the details, I prom?—”

Before she could say more, the door to my room ripped open. Ethan stormed in, looking more pissed off than I had ever seen him. Colt and Creed followed right behind him. “Get the fuck out!” Ethan roared as he beelined for Shiloh.

His outburst startled us both. The sudden way my body jumped and tightened made pain flare from my hips to my shoulders.

Colt and Creed picked up their steps and got in front of Ethan, blocking him from getting any closer to Shi.

Colt put his hands up. “I know you’re upset, and we will leave.”

Ethan turned his angry gaze on his friends. “She almost got my girlfriend killed! She almost got us all killed, and you fucking knew the danger she was putting us in!”

They didn’t argue with him. I knew they felt like they deserved Ethan’s anger.

I had this knee-jerk reaction to tell Ethan to stop, but I kept my mouth shut. The whole situation was fucked.

Shiloh got to her feet. “Let’s go,” she said in a low voice to Colt and Creed.

Ethan glared at them as the three of them headed for the door. “You are supposed to be my best friends and you fucking ruined it for her.”

Shiloh gave her boyfriends a gentle nudge to keep walking and shot over her shoulder, “You can place all the blame on me, Ethan. That’s where it belongs, but you’re acting like you wouldn’t have done the same for Isabelle. For her sake, please be careful with what you say. You love her just like they love me. That’s why you’re so angry right now.”

Ethan opened his mouth to say something, and just by the look on his face, I knew he would only escalate the situation.

“Stop it!” I snapped before he could speak.

Ethan shut his mouth and glanced at me. His attention was on me long enough for Shi and her guys to leave.

“How are you not pissed off right now? They fucking lied to us!” he shouted.

I fisted my blanket in my hands. “Don’t fucking raise your voice at me.” My voice was calm, but it was evident that I was indeed pissed. “I get why you’re upset, and you are entitled to that.”

“But why aren’t you?”

“Because things aren’t that simple.”

“You almost died, Izzy!” he yelled.

Something just snapped in me then. “Yes!” I yelled back. “ I almost died. Me, Ethan. And just like you, I am entitled to feel the way I feel.” Tears filled my eyes. “I should be allowed to decide whether to be angry at Shi or not. Just like I should be allowed to be broken and fall apart for a while without having to reassure everyone that everything is okay.”

He flicked a hand at the door. “Like what you just did for Shiloh?”

“No, actually. She’s been the only one who hasn’t needed that from me.”

He stared at me as if I had slapped him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

I wiped at my face. He was so upset, he hadn’t heard a single thing I’d said. “I feel like I have to be okay for your sake and for my parents. But what about me? When can I have a moment to not be all right?”

“What are you talking about? I have been here with you every spare moment for over a month, unlike your best friend who decided to run away after she realized what that lunatic did to you.”

I wasn’t going to straight up ask him to be strong for me so I could have my moment to be weak. If I did, it wouldn’t feel genuine. It would be like I’d made him be there in the way I needed him to be.

Maybe I was being selfish. He was right. He had been here for me. I should just be grateful for that.

My throat was feeling tight again, but I forced myself to say, “I don’t want to fight anymore, please.”

I hated how pathetic I sounded, but it seemed to sway him. He sighed and took a seat back in his chair. “Want to watch TV?”

I noticed then that he hadn’t returned with anything to eat for me. It had been a way to get him to leave, but I had been hungry. With how upset I was right then, I couldn’t have eaten anyway. I supposed it was for the best that he had forgotten.