Page 49 of Out of the Darkness

At Melanie’s comment, the smile dropped from Isabelle’s face in an instant as her head snapped over to him. He just stared back at her, silently daring her to say something else stupid on the matter. He was dealing with a lot of pent-up frustration right now and had no problems using her as a verbal outlet. It wasn’t like he had anything else to do while trapped in the car. He was just sick and tired of having to defend his relationship with Madelyn to everyone.

“Is… is she telling the truth?” Isabelle asked eventually.

He gave her a curt nod. “She is. Madelyn is pregnant with my kid. And she is my soulmate, Isa. I meant it when I said that I love her. I wasn’t just saying that to convince Melanie to back off.”

“Not that it would have worked,” Melanie added.

“I see,” was all Isabelle said before she pressed her lips together. Her grip tightened on the steering wheel, and the road before them seemed to become the most interesting thing in the world.

“Is that going to be a problem?” he asked.

Isabelle hesitated for a split second before she shook her head. “No, of course not. Why would it be?”

“I don’t know,” he responded. “You’re the one acting like it’s going to be.”

“Nope. Not at all. There’s no problem.”

Xavier didn’t believe her. There was something she wasn’t telling him. Unfortunately, he didn’t care enough to figure out what that was. He had other, more important things to focus on.

Once again, the three of them fell into an awkward silence as Isabelle continued to drive them toward their destination. While he was grateful the subject had been dropped, he hated that he no longer had that distraction. He was back to feeling like he was crawling out of his own skin and counting every second that passed them by in the blink of an eye.

“Oh my God,” Melanie gasped with a soft laugh. He looked back at her to see what caused her to make such an exclamation, but her attention was solely on Isabelle. “You’re jealous.”

“What?” Isabelle scoffed. “No, I’m not. I know better than to bring a child into this dumpster fire. What Xavier does is his business.”

Melanie shook her head and leaned forward in her seat. “No. Not that. I knew from the moment I met you that there was something between the two of you. I thought it was because you guys were sleeping together, but it’s because you want to be. You are in love with Xavier.”

Xavier huffed and expected Isabelle to deny it right away. It was ludicrous. However, when she didn’t say anything at all, he looked over at her questioningly. She licked her lips before she met his eyes for a brief moment before focusing on the road again to make a right turn. The guys in the vehicles behind them followed closely.

“Oh, don’t look so surprised, Xavier,” Isabelle muttered. “Why do you think I showed up here and tried to get you to come back? Surely, you knew how I felt about you.”

He hadn’t known. He never once even suspected. He had thought she was like him, incapable of love. She used to say that to him all the time. Clearly, they both had been wrong as they had both fallen in love. It just wasn’t with each other, at least, not on his part.

“You said your father was the one that wanted me back,” he replied flatly.

Isabelle shook her head. “You know damn well if Rodrigo wanted you back, he wouldn’t send me or anyone else to convince you to do so. He would do it himself.”

“Isabelle—” he began. However, he didn’t know what else to say.

Xavier never saw her that way. It was true that they had slept together many times over the years, but he thought she had known that sex was all it was to him. Sleeping with her had been a way to scratch the itch and nothing more. He never even considered her a sister even though they had been raised together. To him, she was just a murderer like he was.

“It’s fine, Xavier,” Isabelle said before he could figure out what to say to her. “I get it. Madelyn’s your soulmate.”

“I never meant to hurt you.” The words felt lame, even to him, but they were all he could come up with. “I never knew you felt that way.”

“Of course you didn’t. Because I didn’t want you to know and because you were so damn convinced that we couldn’t have feelings because we killed people for a living. But like I said, it’s fine. I’ll get over it,” she looked over at him then and gave him a small smile. “And for what it’s worth, I’m happy for you.”

“There’s not going to be anything to be happy about if we don’t get to her in time,” he grumbled by way of response.

In that moment, Isabelle’s feelings for him didn’t matter. While it was a shocking revelation, he didn’t return those feelings, and he never would. His heart and soul, if he even had those things, belonged to Madelyn alone. She was who was important to him.

Much to his surprise, Melanie reached over the passenger seat and patted his shoulder. “We will get to her in time, Xavier. We have to.”

He silently sent up a prayer to whatever deity was listening that she was right.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Xavier

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