Page 8 of Devious Knight

“I got to your trail in time and erased it from the system. Even though the code had a cloaking algorithm protecting it, the moment you inserted it into the system, it registered your name. I deleted everything as best as I could so no one should ever find out that it was you, but we need to be careful.”

“Thank you, Dad.”

“Do not thank me, girl. Consider yourself lucky.”

“I do.” I nod so fast I feel dizzy. “How did you know the system was hacked?”

“Parker contacted me. His access had been revoked. I can’t see any signs of this new guy doing anything else on the system.”

He wanted the paintings. I don’t know where they went, but I’m sure he got what he needed to find them. If he hadn’t, he would have come back to see me. To use me and shove me deeper in the shit.

Dad rests his large hands on my shoulders and stares at me with that fatherly warmth I always take comfort in. “Isabelle, you’re going to finish the day here and act normally. As far as you're concerned, nothing happened. Do you hear me?”

“I hear you.”

“If you see the man again, call me.”

“Okay.”

He inches closer and touches his forehead briefly to mine, then he pulls away and the sternness returns to his face. “My sweet girl, I know how hard it was for you to lose your mother the way you did, but you must never do anything like this again.”

“But, Dad, Parker was?—”

“There’s no evidence, Isabelle. None.” The firmness in his voice grips me. “There’s no evidence he was near you or your mother that night. You know that if there were I’d be the first to find it.”

“Not if he’s hiding it. And no one will help us because they think we’re outcasts.” I hate saying that to him just as much as he must have felt telling me how our family is viewed as outsider by the Knights.

Mom might have come from one of their elite founding families but she committed a cardinal sin when she fell for my father and got pregnant with me while still in college. She was promised to marry a Knight of the same caliber. Not my father, who might be amazing and useful to them in all sorts of ways but will never be one of them because their blood doesn’t run through his veins.

“We can’t put ourselves in danger. You can’t. Parker is a senior Knight.”

The reminder highlights that I’m out of my depth, but I still have fire in me to never stop trying. “That doesn’t mean he’s better than us.”

“But it means he could have us killed with one word for such a serious accusation with no solid proof.”

My lungs lock, my stomach flips, and my skin becomes so hot I fear it may burn right off me. “Killed?”

Dad squeezes my shoulders. “Yes, my love. Parker Federov could have killed us both and he wouldn’t stop there. He’d have the right to work his way through our family until he was satisfied we’d paid enough in blood.”

My soul weeps as I think of Dad, my family, and myself dying for my mistakes. “I didn’t know.”

“Now you do. So you must promise me that you will never put yourself in danger again.”

“I… promise.” I nod slowly, my resolve crumbling and my heart aching with the weight of remorse.

There’s nothing more we can do to get justice for Mom’s death.

Dad tried. I tried. And we both arrived at the same dead end.

I’m so sorry, Mom…

I’ll honor my promise to stay out of danger but that doesn’t mean my eyes are closed.

My heart still tells me that Parker wanted my mother dead.

I just wish I knew why.

Chapter Three

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