Chapter 14 Isabella
Isabella
Something was wrong. She felt it before anyone said a word to her.
She knew before the door opened and before the guard shifted outside the bedroom.
Isabella knew even before the air in Luca’s house changed in that subtle, dangerous way it always did right before something went sideways.
Isabella stood at the window, staring out at the city as though she were waiting for something.
Her chest was tight, like something was closing in, and she didn’t know why—yet.
A knock sounded on the door behind her, and she didn’t bother to turn around. “Come in,” she said. The door opened, and she noticed that the footsteps were heavier than Luca’s. She turned, slowly, bracing herself when she saw Dante standing in the doorway.
“What is it?” she asked. Dante didn’t answer right away. And that made her stomach drop. “Just say it,” she insisted.
His jaw tightened. “Boss wants you downstairs,” he said.
Her eyes narrowed. “Did he say why?” she asked.
“Um, no,” Dante said, “he just told me to come get you and that you’d be up here getting ready for the day.” He was lying, and she wasn’t in the mood to play games.
“Dante,” she breathed, her voice cut sharper this time. “What happened?” she demanded.
Dante exhaled slowly. “Your father’s awake.” Relief hit her first—hard and fast. He was alive and awake; that had to be good news, right?
“Where is he?” she asked quickly, already moving around the room gathering her things.
“He’s in a secure location,” Dante said. He was only giving her partial answers, and that wasn’t good enough.
“I want to see him,” she insisted. Dante didn’t move, and the way that he looked at her was almost comical. He didn’t agree to let her see her father, and she knew that if she wanted permission, she’d have to go through Luca.
Her steps slowed and then stopped when she realized that he was holding back information. “What aren’t you telling me?”
He was avoiding looking her in the eye, and that made her pulse start to pound. “Dante.” He finally met her eyes, and that’s when she knew. Whatever this was—it was bad.
“Boss will explain everything,” he said. No—that wasn’t happening, not this time. She wanted answers, and she wanted to see her father. If she went down to Luca’s office, he’d tell her more lies and deny her permission to go see him.
“I’m not going anywhere until someone tells me what’s going on,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest and planting her feet in place.
“He’s not clean.” The words didn’t make sense at first—not fully.
“Meaning what?” she asked.
Dante’s expression hardened. “Meaning this wasn’t just Serge.”
Everything inside her went still. “No.” The word came out instantly, as though denying everything that Dante wasn’t telling her.
Her father couldn’t have been involved with her attempted kidnapping, could he?
She worried that might be the case, but if he was helping the Russians to get to her, why would they hurt her father?
He practically had one foot in the grave when Luca and Dante found him with the Russians.
“That’s not possible,” she insisted. Dante didn’t argue, and he didn’t push her, because the silence did it for him. Her head shook slowly. “No. My father wouldn’t—he wouldn’t do that.”
“Isabella—” Dante started.
“No,” she snapped, backing up a step. “No, you’re wrong.” Her chest felt tight, as though she couldn’t take a deep breath. Panic consumed her, and she looked around the room as though searching for a way out. She couldn’t breathe and couldn’t think.
“He made a deal,” Dante said. Her entire world felt as though it had shattered.
“What kind of deal?” she whispered.
Dante didn’t soften it for her. He didn’t dress it up into a pretty package for her, and this time, he didn’t lie. “The Russians wanted leverage.” Her stomach dropped because she understood the kind of leverage the Russians used against people to make them cooperate. “They wanted you,” he breathed.
Her heart stopped as her world tilted off kilter. “That’s not—”
“He gave you to them,” Dante continued. The words hit like a bullet to her gut.
“No,” she breathed. That word came out broken and barely there. “That’s not true.” Dante’s silence was louder than anything else he could’ve said. Her legs felt weak and unsteady, like the ground beneath her wasn’t real anymore. “My father wouldn’t—” she whispered.
But now, there was doubt, because things didn’t add up. The warehouse, the timing of the leak, and Serge. Her father disappearing, along with everything Luca had said, and everything she refused to believe. It all started to line up, piece by piece, and it was becoming a perfectly horrible picture.
“No,” she breathed more to herself.
Dante stepped closer. “You need to hear the rest from Luca.” She laughed, and it sounded sharp and broken.
“Of course I do.” Because of course, Luca knew the details.
Of course, he had the full picture, and he waited to share it with her.
Her chest tightened, not just from the betrayal, but from something else.
Something worse. Because suddenly everything Luca had done made sense.
His control over her, and claiming her in front of all the other families—it was all a part of his plan.
The way that he wouldn’t let her leave—he hadn’t just been protecting her.
He had been keeping her from walking straight into the hands of the people her father had already promised her to.
Her stomach twisted violently. “I need to see him,” she said.
Dante hesitated and then nodded. “I’ll get Luca.”
“No.” Her voice stopped him cold. “I’m not waiting. He wanted you to bring me to him, so take me to him.”
Dante studied her and then turned. “Stay close,” he ordered.
She didn’t respond, but she didn’t need to. Isabella followed him because there was only one thing left now—the truth, and she was done running from it.
She didn’t remember walking to his office. The only thing on her mind was that she needed answers—and Luca was the only one who had them. The door was already half open. She pushed it the rest of the way and stepped inside without knocking.
Luca was on a call, but he didn’t look surprised to see her.
He never did. His eyes flicked up, locked on hers for half a second, then back down as he finished whatever he was saying.
“Handle it,” he said into the phone. “I want eyes on him at all times.” She wondered if the “Him” he was talking about was Serge or her father.
Her stomach twisted as Luca ended the call and set the phone down slowly, his attention shifting fully to her. “What is it?” he asked as though nothing had changed between them, or like her world hadn’t just cracked open ten minutes ago.
“I want to see my father,” she whispered. Luca didn’t move. He didn’t speak, but just watched her.
“No,” he said. Her jaw tightened, and she stepped further into the room, letting the door close behind her with a soft click.
“That’s not your call,” she spat.
His brow lifted slightly. “It is.”
Her hands curled at her sides. “He’s awake,” she said, “and you knew that.”
“Yes,” he breathed.
“And you didn’t tell me,” she accused.
“I didn’t need to,” he insisted.
Anger flared sharp and fast. “You don’t get to decide what I need.”
“I do when it involves your safety,” he countered.
“My safety?” she snapped. “You mean the part where my father tried to sell me to the Russians?” There it was. She had said the ugly truth out loud, and Luca didn’t even flinch.
“Yeah,” he said. “That part.”
Her chest rose sharply. “I need to hear it from him,” she said. “Not from Dante, and not from you.”
“No,” he repeated.
Her pulse spiked. “Why not?”
“Because you’re not thinking clearly.” Her laugh was sharp. She was getting sick of Luca thinking that he knew what was best for her. And she hated that he was right—she wasn’t thinking clearly.
“Of course I’m not thinking clearly,” she shot back. “I just found out my father tried to hand me over like I was a fucking trade deal.”
Luca’s expression didn’t change. “That’s exactly why you don’t go anywhere near him right now.”
She took another step closer to him. “No,” she said, quieter now but more dangerous. “That’s exactly why I do.”
Silence stretched between them. He leaned back slightly in his chair, watching her like he was recalculating something. “You think that doing this will bring you closure?” he asked.
“I think that it will give me some much-needed answers,” she said. “I think if I don’t look him in the eye and hear him tell me what he did, that I’m going to keep wondering if there’s something I missed.” Her throat tightened. “And I’m done wondering—I need answers, Luca.”
Luca’s gaze hardened slightly. “He made a deal,” he said. “There’s nothing else to understand.”
“There is for me,” she insisted. She stepped closer to him and was standing right in front of his desk. “I need to know if there was ever a point where I mattered more than the power he wielded over me.
Luca didn’t answer right away because he already knew the answer, and she knew that he knew. “That’s not a question you need answered,” he said finally.
“Yes, it is,” she said.
“No,” he growled.
“Yes,” she hissed. Silence snapped tight between them as her chest rose and fell. She wasn’t backing down, though—not this time. “Tell me something,” she said.
His eyes narrowed slightly. “What?”
“If I walk out of here right now and find my own way to him—what happens?” That seemed to get his attention. Luca went still—completely still.
“You won’t,” he insisted.
“You don’t know that,” she spat.
“I do,” he breathed.
Her chin lifted. “Try me.” There it was—the challenge. It was the moment where this could go one of two ways. One of them would win this argument, and she planned on it being her.