Page 21 of Our Darling Isabelle

“Doc wants to know blood type,” He calls to us. We all focus our attention on her, everyone on edge from adrenaline.

“She’s B positive.” Markus says, brushing her hair out of her face. She shakes her head once, giving half a smile.

“Creeps.” Isabelle says. After a few moments, she forces her eyes open, looking between us with more fondness in her eyes than I have seen before. She glances at where the man is lying unconscious, her eyes going wide in horror.

Before anyone can react, Isabelle screams and scrambles to get her feet under her. She dives into Markus, knocking him backwards as the deafening sound of a gun echoes around us. Jared and I draw our weapons, swinging to face the man on the ground. While propping himself up on one elbow, he grins maniacally with blood dripping from his mouth and points his gun at me. My arm is already raised as I take slow steps towards him, pulling the trigger repeatedly. Every bullet makes my hand jerk, but nothing can shake away the cold pit in my stomach. I only stop when Jared grabs my arm and pulls the gun free. It had long been clicking in my palm, empty.

“He’s dead, Alec.” He says, clapping me on the shoulder. He stole our girl, then tried to kill my brother. I didn’t feel an ounce of remorse for ending his pathetic existence. I hear Isabelle’s voice full of alarm as she cries out for me.

I rush towards her, finding her lying on Markus, pushing down on his left shoulder with her tiny trembling hands. Blood pools between her fingers as Markus groans beneath her, a look of irritation on his face.

“Markus? Hey, please don’t move. Oh shit. I think I’m gonna be sick.” She whimpers, her face paling as more blood soaks the ground when he tries to sit up.

“Jared, get them in the car!” I shout, yanking the door open and watching as Jared lifts Markus.

“Looks like an exit wound. It hit nothing vital. He will be okay if we get him some help, princess.” Jared tells her and she lets go of her death grip on Markus’ arm. Her body slumps as she staggers sideways and I lunge froward to catch her. She squirms as I hold her up while she retches all over the ground, clutching her ribs.

“Don’t look, get away.” She moans before gagging, her stomach empty while she still dry heaves. I just roll my eyes and hold her hair back, not listening to her pleas. Jared steps up, holding a bottle of water out to her and she takes it, chugging greedily until I pull it away.

“Vomit doesn’t scare me, darling. I’m not going anywhere. But you need to slow down or it’ll just come back up. Let’s get in the car before Markus bleeds out.” I guide her in, and she clumsily crawls across the floor of the car to sit near him. His face is pale and a sheen of sweat covers his skin.

“Thanks for saving me, but if you ever try to take a bullet for me again, you are getting a spanking you won’t like.” He snarls the words, pulling her closer. She climbs onto the seat, pulling his head into her lap as tears flow down her face. Jared takes off his jacket and folds it up, handing it to Isabelle and she presses it into his shoulder with a wince of discomfort. She disregards her own pain when someone else is hurt and it causes my heart to ache as I sit in the seat in front of her while Jared drives us back home. I turn to look at Isabelle, reaching out to take the hand that isn’t holding a jacket to Markus’ shoulder. She meets my eyes for a moment, fear and exhaustion warring within.

“Just keep your eyes open.” She whispers, pleading with Markus.

“You saved his life.” My voice is low, but Markus still snorts.

“Yeah, some rescue mission. Had to save my ass.” He groans when Jared hits a bump, repeating ‘sorry’ whenever the car jostles. Isabelle shakes her head and looks guilty for a flash.

“It’s my fault.” I nearly miss the words, but uncertainty blooms within me. Did she try to run away?

“The man who took me kept saying it was my fault.” She whispers, sniffling as tears fall onto her chest.

“Who was he? Tell us what he told you.” I ask. Agitation laces my words and Markus shoots a glare at me. Isabelle shakes her head, her face full of uncertainty.

“I don’t have a clue who he was. But he wanted to kidnap me so you would come after us. He said that he was going to kill me while you watched, before killing both of you.” Her voice breaks as she takes a shuddering breath. Markus rubs her cheek with his thumb and she clutches his hand in hers, rubbing her face against his palm.

“I was so scared.” She admits. I wish I didn’t kill the guy. So that I could go back and do it again.

“Should’ve crushed his throat under my boot when I had the chance.” Jared snarls. I scrunch my brows, pulling out my cell to call David, who is still at the casino.

“Yo?” David says.

“Clean up outside my office. Pull his wallet. Give me a name.” I say and wait until I hear the crunch of gravel a moment before David hmph’s. I huff impatiently as the seconds tick past.

“This is weird.” He mumbles.

“David.” I grind out between clenched teeth.

“It’s Gabe, Kurt’s brother.” David says. My eyes widen just a fraction and I nod without saying a word and hang up the phone.

“Gabe was his name.” I say. Realization dawns on Jared’s face.

“I knew the son of a bitch looked familiar. But why would he go this far?” Jared says, confused as we pull up to the house.

“We killed his brother. I would have done worse.” I say before climbing out and turning to help Markus walk inside. Jared scoops Isabelle up and jealousy makes my brother and I exchange looks. Jared just brushes past us while Isabelle struggles to keep her eyes open as he storms through the open door.

My bedroom has an older woman waiting, with a spilled bag of medical supplies on my dresser, and two IV stands by the bed. Looks like he’s going to get blood all over my bed instead of his own.

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