Page 68 of Isabelle’s Forbidden Love

The words replayed in her head on an endless loop. Orlando hadn’t even tried to deny the allegations. As if he’d resigned himself to the fact that it was over, not just between them, but also over for him: Scanguards would hand him over to the vampire council. It didn’t matter that the murders had been committed forty years ago.

Why had he done it? Why had he killed Margarite and her entire family? Literally slaughtered them, if she could believe the article. Something about that wasn’t right. It couldn’t have been jealousy, because Orlando had only found out about Dennis LaRuson being his wife’s lover a few hours ago. He couldn’t have known that she’d betrayed him. Or had he guessed it and lied about it? Had he suspected that Margarite was seeing somebody else, even though he hadn’t known who the other man was?

“Here, sit,” Cooper said, and pointed to the last step on the first floor. “I’ll help you put your shoes on.”

Like a doll, she followed his suggestion and felt his hands on her feet as he helped her slip into her ankle boots. But her mind was far away. She remembered everything Ines had told her and Orlando, and realized all of a sudden that there was one glaring inconsistency Surely, if Ines had been the Arnaud family’s housekeeper and lived in Montreal at the time, she would have read the same newspaper articles that accused Orlando as the killer. So why had she treated Orlando with such kindness? Why wasn’t she angry at him when she knew full well that he was the murder suspect, and by his own admission, he’d killed them all?

“Come, let’s go back to Scanguards,” Cooper said and helped her up.

Isabelle rose and realized her handbag was still sitting on the last step.

“I’ll get it for you,” Cooper offered and grabbed her handbag, before he ushered her outside.

There, in front of the garage, Benjamin was blocking the driveway with his Porsche. When she caught his pitying gaze, she wiped her tears with the sleeve of her shirt, where they left red streaks.

Benjamin approached. “Did he deny it?”

Isabelle shook her head. “No, he admitted that he killed Margarite.”

“And her family,” Cooper added.

She turned her head to look at Cooper, her head spinning all of a sudden. “What?”

“The entire Arnaud family.”

Isabelle felt her forehead furrow. Orlando had made no excuses and admitted instantly that he had indeed killed Margarite. “He never mentioned the family. Only Margarite.”

“Are you saying he denied killing his mate’s family?” Benjamin asked quizzically.

“No,” Isabelle said, contemplating Orlando’s words once more. “He didn’t deny it. But he didn’t confess to it either.”

Benjamin shrugged. “Well, not that it matters. To kill one’s blood-bonded mate carries an automatic death sentence.”

“Benjamin, don’t!” Cooper hissed. “Can’t you see that she’s hurting?”

“Sorry,” Benjamin said, casting her a soft smile. “Isa, I didn’t mean it that way. But it’s what he will face.” Then he motioned to Cooper. “I can stay here and make sure he doesn’t leave.”

It was still daytime for another couple of hours, plenty of time for Scanguards to come to the condo and arrest Orlando. With Benjamin blocking the garage, he couldn’t leave with Lydia’s car, and while the sun was still up, he couldn’t leave the building on foot. Orlando was trapped.

“All right,” Cooper said, “you stay here until—”

“Did you already contact my father or anybody else at Scanguards that you found us?” Isabelle interrupted, before she knew what she wanted to say.

“No, I was about to,” Cooper replied.

“Then don’t.”

“Why not?” Both hybrids looked at her like she’d lost her mind. And maybe she had.

“Coop, you said yourself that Orlando had an alibi for Hong’s murder. And I’m his alibi for Jessica’s murder. That means the person who killed those two is still out there. And we now have a name: Dennis LaRuson.”

“Yeah, but we’ve gotta bring Orlando in. He needs to be in lockup,” Cooper protested.

“I’m with Coop on that,” Benjamin added.

“LaRuson has to be stopped. He killed two people already, and now he’ll be coming after me. He knows that Orlando loves me, and he will try to hurt me to get back at him.”

Orlando had made that clear only minutes earlier. That’s why he wanted her to be protected at all times. But she couldn’t live in a golden cage. She had to find LaRuson and make him pay for what he’d done, because if Orlando had to pay for his crimes, the same rule applied to LaRuson.