10. Ryan #3
Iz looks her over. “Pretty dress. Pretty face. Right family. Right parties. Right boys. You’ve turned yourself into exactly what everybody wants, and you’re still pissed nobody gives a fuck who’s underneath it.”
Bella’s face empties. Then she smiles. “You know what your problem is, Isaac? You think because people hand you their broken pieces, it means they love you.”
That one fucking lands. I see it in the slight tightening around Iz’s eyes. Bella does too.
She steps closer. “They don’t. They need you. And you’re so fucking terrified nobody would choose you otherwise that you’ve built your entire personality around making sure someone always does.”
Iz doesn’t say anything. For one beat. Two. Then his mouth curves. Mean. “You done projecting, Isabella?”
“You wish.”
“I wish you’d stop pretending being cruel makes you complicated. You’re not mysterious. You’re not misunderstood. You’re a spoiled little society parasite who learned early that being beautiful means nobody expects you to have anything worthwhile inside.”
Bella shoves him again. He catches her wrist. Instantly. Everything stops. His fingers close around it. Not hurting her. Not gentle either. Bella looks down at his hand. Then slowly back up.
“Let go of me.”
Iz does. Immediately. Her hand drops. For a second, neither says anything. Then Iz sits back down. Dismissal. That might be the cruelest thing he’s done yet. Bella stares at him. Iz picks up his drink.
“You really think you’re better than me,” she says, quieter.
“No.” He sets it down. “I think there has to be something there before you can compare it.”
Jesus fucking Christ.
Bella’s face turns blank. Iz looks away from her. She should leave. Any sane person would. Bella Whelan has apparently never suffered from that affliction. Her gaze drops to the books beside Iz. Then the folder sticking out beneath them. A Johns Hopkins logo across the top.
She stops. Looks at it. Then at him. “What the fuck is that?”
Iz glances down. “My enrollment shit.”
“Enrollment for what?”
“Hopkins.”
Silence. Bella laughs. Once. But there’s nothing amused about it. “You’re fucking lying.”
“Why would I lie about that?”
“You’re going to Johns Hopkins?”
“Yeah.” Her expression has changed completely. Not mean. Not smug. Genuinely blindsided. Iz notices. His eyes narrow. “Why?” Bella doesn’t answer. “Isabella.”
Penny looks between them. Then her eyes widen. “Oh, fuck.”
Bella points at her. “Not one fucking word.”
Iz turns toward Penny. “What?”
“I think you two should probably have this beautiful moment yourselves.”
“What fucking moment?” Iz looks at Bella again.
She folds her arms. “I’m going there too.”
Iz just stares at her. Then—“No.”
“I committed months ago, you narcissistic prick.”
“To Hopkins?”
“No, Isaac. Hogwarts.”
His expression hardens. “What major?”
“None of your business.”
“What major?”
“Public Health Studies.”
Silence. Real fucking silence. Even I stare at her. Iz looks like she just slapped him again.
“Public Health Studies. You?”
Bella’s face changes. “You have a fucking problem with that?”
Iz laughs. Low. Ugly. “You don’t give a fuck about people.”
Bella stares at him. Then laughs. Cold. “And you do?”
“More than you.”
“No.” She shakes her head. “You like being needed. You want to be the guy running toward the disaster. The one everybody talks about afterward. Brave Isaac. Brilliant Isaac.” Her smile is vicious. “Saint fucking Walsh.”
“Fuck you.”
“Doctors Without Borders.” She laughs softly. “Of course that’s your plan. Biggest hero costume you could find.”
“At least I plan to do something besides attend charity galas and pretend writing checks makes me useful.”
Her eyes flash. “You don’t know what I plan to do.”
“I know you.”
“No.” Something in her voice changes. “You know the version of me you need. You need me shallow. You need me selfish. You need me stupid. Because if I’m not, maybe you’ve been fucking wrong about me your entire life.”
For once, Iz doesn’t answer immediately. Then his face hardens. “And you need everybody looking at you because you’re terrified they’ll realize there’s nothing underneath.”
Bella goes completely still. For a second, I think she’s going to hit him again. Instead, she smiles. “Tyler found plenty underneath.”
Iz’s jaw locks. And that’s it. No comeback. No insult. Nothing.
Bella turns away. She takes one step. Then another. Her eyes catch on my phone in Penny’s hand. She slows. Stops. “Is that Marianne Tremblay?”
Penny looks down. “Yeah.”
Bella’s face twists. “Jesus. I forgot about that dress.” She takes a step closer and glances at the screen. “That was Whitmore. My mom was pissed because Marianne promised she’d sit on the women’s foundation committee that year and backed out.”
Penny frowns. “She did?”
“Last minute.” Bella shrugs. “Victor didn’t want her doing it.”
Every fucking thought in my head stops.
Penny looks up. “What?”
Bella barely notices the question. She’s still looking at the picture.
“Some stupid society drama. Marianne had already committed, then suddenly she couldn’t because she and Victor were ‘prioritizing their marriage.’” She makes air quotes.
“My mom called bullshit because Marianne had been doing that foundation forever. Then she stopped doing basically everything that wasn’t his anyway, so I guess he won. ”
My pulse kicks. “What do you mean?”
Bella looks at me. “What?”
She shrugs. “Her committees. Her events. Friends. Whatever. Marianne used to show up alone all the time. Then after Victor?” She gestures toward my phone.
“That.” I look down. Victor’s table. Victor’s hand.
Victor’s wife. Bella makes a face. “My mom used to say you could tell how bad things were getting by how much harder Marianne smiled whenever he touched her.”
Cold spreads through my chest. Bella has already lost interest. Ancient gossip. Nothing more. She looks at Iz one last time. Whatever she sees makes her mouth tighten. Then she turns and walks away with the girls who’ve been smart enough to stay the fuck out of all of this.
Nobody speaks. Penny looks down at my phone. Swipes. Another photograph. Victor’s hand on Marianne. Another. His arm around her. Another. His fingers at her waist.
“Fuck,” she whispers.
Cat leans closer. “What?”
Penny starts scrolling through the later appearances. “Victor’s table.” Again. “Tremblay Foundation.” Again. “He’s on the host committee.” Again. “Tremblay donor dinner.”
Kaiden leans over. “Holy shit.”
Cat looks at the screen. “So she didn’t disappear.”
Penny shakes her head. “No.”
Cat’s eyes move across the photographs. “Her world just got smaller.”
My stomach drops. Driver. Teachers. Roman.
Victor. Switzerland. Every fucking thing tightening around Ally.
She still comes to school. Still goes home.
Still attends whatever Roman tells her to attend.
Still smiles when somebody is watching. Still looks like Ally O’Toole.
Her world is just getting smaller around her. One piece at a fucking time.
Xander stares at Marianne. His expression goes flat. “That’s how it happens.”
I look toward the building Bella disappeared into.
Then at Iz. He’s staring at nothing. Tyler.
Homecoming. She looked scared. Ashbourne.
October eighteenth. Bella’s name. Ally’s.
Becca’s. Three girls from the same fucking circle.
Forms started within days of each other.
And Bella just stood here and casually told us exactly what Victor Tremblay’s control looked like before anyone knew they should be afraid of it.
Something about this picture is getting bigger.
And I have the sickest feeling Bella Whelan is already in it.
“Don’t,” Iz says.
I look at him. “What?”
“Whatever the fuck you’re thinking.”
“I’m thinking she knows something.”
“She always knows something.”
“About Victor?”
“About everyone.” His jaw tightens. “It’s Bella. She collects shit. Gossip. Secrets. Scandals. Who’s fucking who. Who’s cheating. Which family is quietly falling apart before the rest of Edgewood figures it out.” Penny glances at him. Iz notices. “What?”
“Nothing.”
“Penny.”
She shakes her head. “Not touching this one.”
He looks back at me. “And neither are you.”
“I didn’t say I was going to do anything.”
“You were thinking it.”
“I’m always thinking.”
“Try less.”
I look toward the doors again. “She knew exactly what happened to Marianne.”
“She remembered old gossip.”
“She remembered something none of us did. And her name is on that Ashbourne paperwork.”
His expression changes. Barely. “Leave Isabella out of this.”
There’s something about the way he says it. Not fuck her. Not who cares. Not even she’s not involved. Leave her out of it.
I study him. “You don’t actually believe she’s out of it.”
His eyes cut to mine. “I believe you need to stay the fuck away from her.”
“Why?”
“Because you don’t know what you’re poking at.”
“Do you?” His jaw flexes. I let that sit for a second.“She always knows things.”
“I just fucking said that.”
“Have you ever wondered why?”
Iz opens his mouth. Stops. And for once, he has absolutely fucking nothing to say.