AllFreeNovel
Share Us
ISABELLA
“Let’s move on, or I’m going to go against my word and punch you in the throat!” I tell Lucien, who raises his brows as he looks at me. “I can’t help how my father brought me up.”
“You should never tell your opponent what you’re about to do.” Lucien laughs.
“That’ wasn’t me telling you. That was me warning you!” I turn as footsteps sound behind us, and Harry brings a tray with my tea and ginger cookies.
“Thank you.” My tone is clipped as Harry puts the tray beside me. “I won’t be far if you need me.” He’s about to walk away, but I stop him.
“Sit!” I command and point to a leather armchair a distance from me and Lucien. “I’ll speak to you in a bit.” Then turn back to my cousin who is smirking at me. “What?”
“You were born to be a queen, cousin,” Lucien tells me. “You’ll realize it soon enough.”
“Whatever.” My eyes search his. “You were telling me about Stacy.” My eyes narrow thoughtfully. “Your question about the friends I had. My only friend was Stacy. My father didn’t really allow me to have other friends.”
“Which suited my narcissistic sister well,” Harry tells me. “She was so jealous of you giving anyone any special attention she even eventually killed your dog Titan.”
“No!” My eyes widen in shock. My first Cane Corso, Titan, had been found dead on the motorway a few miles from our house. The vet had told us it looked like he’d been hit by a big truck. “I don’t believe Stacy would do that. She loved Titan.”
“She pretended to love Titan,“ Lucien tells me. “Then the first opportunity she got, she tied him up, muzzled him, and beat him with Harry’s baseball bat so she could blame him if you ever found out.”
“Bullshit!” I hiss. “You’re lying!” Nausea starts to roll in my stomach once again. “Jesus. That’s just sick.”
My mind is whirling. I just can’t see Stacy doing that. She was always fiercely protective of me and such a good, loyal friend. She’d cried with me when they’d found Titan dead.
“I’m sorry, Isabella, it’s true,” Harry says.
“Why would I believe anything you tell me?“ I glare at Harry.
“Stacy was obsessed with you right up until she met Lev,” Lucien tells me. “You left for Switzerland for a year or two when you were twelve. When Stacy’s parents wouldn’t let her go, she retaliated and threatened to go to the police and tell them her brother raped her while her perverted parents stood and watched.”
“You’re fucking lying!” I yell, my voice echoing through the room. “Stacy told me that Harry did rape her.”
“No. Harry did not. When Stacy’s parents didn’t take her threat seriously, reminding Stacy they were respected judges, Stacy went to someone they were scared of—your father,” Lucien told me. “Giving him the story she’d come up with.”
“Bullshit!” I shake my head. “My father was at her house fucking Stacy’s mother.”
Lucien laughs and stares at me in disbelief. “You think Marco would dip his dick in that whore?” He pulls out his phone. “You really did live with cotton wool over your eyes, didn’t you, little cousin?”
“Marco has been fucking Genevra for about ten years now. Once she was over the grief of Matteo and Marco over your mother, they found solace in each other’s arms,” Harry tells me.
“You might not remember me as you were too young. But I used to visit your house before Karina died. While Marco and Karina may not have started out in love, they eventually fell in love.” Lucien’s eyes fill with pain for a few seconds.
“Is that why he and Ivan had her killed?” I guess.
“Your father had nothing to do with that,” Lucien tells me. “He was going to take you and James over to Russia a couple of months later to avoid the suspicion that your mother wasn’t going to let you anywhere near the Belovs.”
“But she left me engaged to Andrey.”
“A few days before she died, she called Roman and demanded he choose Andrey and get the contract signed immediately,” Lucien tells me. “Karina knew that the only way to ensure your safety was to have the Belovs’ future attached to yours.”
“But why attach me to the very family she was running from?”
“Because she knew that Ivan would ensure you were protected with the promise of a kingdom he’d always envisioned for the Belov Bratva,” Lucien answers. “Karina knew too that with that alliance signed and Ivan’s ensuring Isabella’s safety, Roman would stop the squeeze he and Karla had on the Belov’s organization and Velvet Transport, of which Roman owns the greater portion.”
“I’m confused,” I tell him, sipping the ginger tea. “You said my mother didn’t want me to marry a Belov, but then she got Roman to ensure I was engaged to Andrey.”
“No.” Lucien shook his head. “She didn’t want you to. But she also didn’t want Roman and our grandmother to kill Ivan or Andrey. Karina was adamant about that, which is still perplexing for all of us who have been putting the pieces together for your mother’s last few days for years.”
