Page 143 of Devious Knight

“It’s safe with me. I will never share it with anyone.”

“Thank you.”

“Rest up. Try not to worry. I’m here.”

An appreciative smile floats over her lips, and I squeeze her hand again.

The crude revelation sinks in along with that dark feeling of despair.

We both have unsolved mysteries from the past that weigh down our souls. Mine torment me day and night, but I can’t imagine how she must feel after seeing her mother die and knowing the killer still walks free.

I was there, too, when my parents died, but I never watched them die.

It was wrong of me to blame her. And it’s best I don’t tell her anything about what that hacker really did. Or how he used her.

I thought about this the other night and knew that telling her would hurt her to no end.

She’ll want to know at some point, but I’ll cross that bridge when we have to.

Not today.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Isabelle

Dad and I just got back to Raventhorn.

He went into in the kitchen to make me hot chocolate while I came upstairs to my room.

I quickly change out of my clothes into a baggy sweatshirt and yoga pants, then sit on the bed and sink into my fluffy stack of pillows.

I still feel like hell. My vision is still scratchy, my stomach still queasy, and my mind is still lopsided like I’m walking around backwards in a Picasso painting.

But it’s good to be back. It’s even better to be home knowing I survived last night. I’ve never experienced anything like that before—being drugged.

Every time I think of what Michael was going to do to me, bile rises into my throat like a lake of acid and scorches my insides.

My body felt like it was fighting itself, even when I was unconscious. My mind was a battlefield that I couldn’t escape. The world still hasn’t righted itself.

I can’t stop being thankful for Kade. He left a few minutes after Dad arrived at the hospital, but I could tell he didn’t want to leave me.

Of everyone in my life who’s shocked me, he has the most. And to think I thought Michael was nice and normal. I couldn’t have been more fooled.

I heard he’s at the Bratva compound and will most likely be expelled from Raventhorn. Good. I pray his hopes to play pro for the NBA are crushed, too.

I suppose, though, that in the grand scheme of things, Michael is the least of my worries.

I confided in Kade earlier.

He was the least likely person I thought I would ever tell that secret about the gallery because of his link to Parker.

Somehow, I found myself opening my soul. It was because we were talking about Mom, and I felt like I could trust Kade.

I didn’t tell him everything. I left Parker out to protect myself, but I told Kade enough.

Something is happening between us that is drawing me closer to him and making me trust him.

That hasn’t just come from what he did for me. Although it helped.

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