Page 67 of Shackled

"Sounds great."

The meeting with Kolya runs longer than I had planned. We go over every detail, and in the end, I go looking for her.

"Mom, have you seen Isabella?" I ask her. My text to her goes unanswered.

"I think she went back outside," my mom says. "She said something about wanting some fresh air."

Isabella doesn’t like being inside for long periods of time and often walks outside to clear her head.

At first, I don’t see her. It takes a while to locate her, but then I hear her voice. I walk down the steps toward a little paved area where my mother has some garden furniture. Isabella stands in a secluded corner of the garden, speaking quietly on her phone. I can’t make out the words, but she’s hunched over, speaking in a hushed voice.

What the fuck? I’m on guard right away. Who is she talking to? Why is she hiding here? If she wanted to talk someone, why couldn’t she have this conversation in front of me?

I know I have trust issues. After years of being who I am, they flare up from time to time. It feels like everything is beginning to crumble. The warnings from Kolya and my brothers didn’t help. I’ve taken an extreme risk marrying her, and even she knows it.

“Isabella?” She spins around and stares at me with a classic deer-in-the-headlights look. Her eyes are wide, her mouth parted. She says something in Spanish on the phone and then shoves it in her pocket.

I stare at her. “Who the hell are you talking to?” I ask, trying to tamp down my anger.

“It’s nothing.”

Oh no, she doesn’t.

“It’s not nothing. You obviously needed some privacy, and it seems we have a serious issue here. Who the fuck was that you were talking to?”

“I thought you trusted me,” she snaps.

My jaw tightens. “I do trust you.”

“Then trust me that I was talking to somebody I had to speak with. I promise everything I’ve told you is the truth.”

Why does she even say that? I wasn’t questioning whether she told me the truth. I assume she did. “Then tell me who you were talking to.”

She looks away and shakes her head. “I had to speak to Carlos’s sister. We’re friends.”

“You can’t be loyal to your family and mine at the same time,” I snap.

“Excuse me?” she snaps back. “Who said that I was being disloyal to anyone? You know what my intentions are. You know what it took for me to give you that information about LSD. I put a death sentence on my head the second I told you everything, Lev.”

I look away. “I know.” I shake my head. “I’m sorry. It’s just that when you act evasive like this…”

“Is it my fault?” she says, incredulous.

“Yes. You were sneaky. You didn’t tell me who you were talking to. What the hell do you expect me to think?”

“She’s talking to someone she can’t speak to openly, but she’s promised to tell me everything so I will trust her. Look, I just wanted to keep this conversation private.”

I clench my jaw. Pushing isn’t going to get me anywhere with her. I know her too well.

“Fine, Isabella. Let’s go.” I want to ask her to show me the phone; to pull up the person she was talking to so she can prove it, but that feels like a dick move right now. I promised my brothers that I would watch out for her. I promised that I wouldn’t let her betray us.

But in the back of my mind… I can’t help but ask myself.

Can I really trust her?

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Isabella

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