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She takes off her jacket once we’re inside the room, sitting on my bed. I lean against the wall across from her and we simply watch each other for a few moments, unsaid words swirling around us.
Isabella breaks the silence first. “My father blamed me for my mother’s death,” she suddenly says, making my eyebrows rise in confusion. “You know she died from childbirth. He thought it was unfair that I survived when she hadn’t. My mother was the love of his life. I think the only person he ever truly loved. And with her death, he became a cold, heartless man. A monster. Or maybe he always was, I don’t know.”
I stay silent, listening attentively as she tells me about her life growing up with her father.
“The first few years of my life, he mostly ignored me. He made sure I understood that I was nothing to him, useless, especially since I wasn’t a boy. When he became Don, though, he suddenly remembered my existence. He thought he could use me, turn me into the perfect wife for some man in the future. A man who could take over his empire. But that wasn’t the worst of what he did to me.”
She tells me about the punishments and pronouncements he had her dole out on people. My hands curl into fists as I imagine all she had to go through. She was a child and she had to live every day of her life hearing that she was worthless. It makes me sick to my stomach that a man like that existed and that he treated her like that.
“He controlled my every action for most of my life. I wasn’t free to do anything I wanted. Living with him was hell, and I had to survive that hell for the first twenty years of my life. When he died, I was so relieved, Graham,” she says to me, her blue eyes haunted. “He no longer had control over me or my choices. My uncle took over after my father’s death but he was much softer than him, less prone to cruelty. And then Enzo came along, and I’m so thankful that he did. My cousin saved us, all of us, including the twins.”
I immediately resolve to be much nicer to her cousin, feeling an immense amount of gratitude to him as well. I walk to Isabella and sit down beside her, taking one of her hands and placing it in mine.
“You deserved so much better than that, Isa. You deserved the world and you deserved to have a happy childhood. And I’m so fucking sorry that you didn’t get that.”
She nods, her eyes becoming glassy. “Going through all that, it made me closed off. I didn’t know how to connect with the people around me. I didn’t date in high school, and I couldn’t have experiences like most normal girls my age. I was always so scared that he would find out about anything that made me happy and that he would take it all away. So I stayed away from everything, built a wall around myself. When he died, the wall slowly started to thaw, but it wasn’t until I met you that it completely broke, Graham,” she says softly. “And I didn’t realize it. You slid through the cracks so effortlessly, and it scared me.”
“I know, baby,” I say, pulling her closer.
She shifts until she’s sitting in my lap and I hold her to my chest.
“I’m sorry I didn’t say it back,” she whispers. “I feel it, Gray. Acutely. I just?—”
“You can take your time,” I say. “I don’t need to hear it if you’re not ready to say it, Sunshine. I can wait. For as long as it takes.”
She lets out a soft breath of relief. “We can’t fight like that again. I hated it so much.”
“Me too, Isa. I thought I was going crazy.”
She leans up to place a soft kiss on my cheek before placing one against my lips. “Thank you. For breaking down my walls,” she tells me, eyes painfully blue and open.
“You never have to thank me for that, Isabella.”
We’re both completely drained, emotionally and physically. Isabella falls asleep against my chest. I settle her down on my bed before sliding under the covers and holding her close before sleep claims me as well. And for the first time in four days, I’m able to breathe a little easier.
Isabella and I are in the kitchen the next day and she’s preparing breakfast for us. My eyes are fixed on her as she moves around the room, prepping her ingredients. She’s chopping up some vegetables when she suddenly looks up at me, blue eyes fierce. I’m a little startled.
“You look ready to kill someone, Sunshine,” I point out.
“I’ve been thinking about this a lot,” she starts. “And I don’t think you should let your father have his way.”
That’s so far away from what I was expecting her to say, I simply stare at her in surprise.
“Baby, I don’t have much of a choice,” I say slowly. “It’s his company.”
“I know it’s his company, but you can’t seriously tell me there’s anyone else who actually works as hard as you. You gave your all to your job, Gray. I’ve never seen you as passionate about anything else. Well, except for me,” she says confidently.
My lips curl up into a smile. “Yeah, and I’ve got you, so I’m good.”
“No,” Isabella states. “You’re not losing your position. I refuse to allow it.”
I place a hand on my jaw, a little amused as I stare at her. “And exactly what do you plan to do?”
“She can’t do anything about it, but I can,” my mother announces, walking into the kitchen
We both look up at her. She’s in a nightgown, her brown eyes alert.
“Isabella’s right, honey. You deserve that position. And I’m going to make sure he can’t kick you out.”
