Page 44 of Dear John

“About that…she knows.”

His body tensed as he took in my words. “And I suppose you’re the one who told her.”

It may have been a mistake since she reacted so poorly to it, but it didn’t feel right to hide it from her. What Rafe did to her was eating her up inside. If I could end that, I had to do it.

“I did what had to be done.”

“It wasn’t your place?—”

“Yeah, I get that a lot from you. Nothing is my place. It’s not my right to know that I had two brothers or that I had a sister. It wasn’t my place to know that she was being held captive on an island for thirteen years. Or that you had two other wives…Yeah, nothing is my fucking place. I didn’t choose to have you in my life again. Come or go, I don’t give a shit, but that’s my sister and I will protect her and do what’s best for her. And that includes being the adult in the room and telling her what she needs to know so she can heal and move on. If you don’t like it, I really don’t give a fuck.”

He gritted his teeth and stormed from the room. Yeah, I fucking pissed him off with my attitude, but I didn’t give a shit. Ever since I enlisted, I hadn’t heard a word from him, and now he was back in my life and fucking everything up. He moved on to his other families, but so had I. And now that included Isabelle.

A half-hour later, I was taking on Lola in the ring, working out my frustrations as best I could. The problem was, every timeI tossed a punch, I saw Isabelle flinching back in horror. The only time a woman had looked at me that way was when I was about to end their lives, and that hadn’t happened since I took out those responsible for taking Kate.

Now, it was all I could see. The fear, coupled with the need to protect. Deep inside, there was a strong woman struggling to break free. But she’d been so buried by all the garbage Zavala beat into her that she didn’t know how to emerge.

A sharp hit to my temple sent me to the mat. Getting up wasn’t as easy as it used to be, and not because I was weak, but because I was older. Fuck, I never thought I would see the day where taking a hit laid me out. But here I was, a second slower and getting my ass handed to me for it.

“You’re getting sloppy,” Lola panted.

“Thanks,” I grumbled. She offered her hand, but I refused. The last thing I needed was to be babied. I had to get up and fight the way I used to.

“You want to talk about it?”

I strolled over to the edge of the ring, fighting back a wince as my hip twinged. I just needed a soak in the hot tub. “Nothing to talk about.”

“I heard about what happened with Isabelle.”

I shot her a look. She knew my family was off-limits.

“What are you going to do?”

“None of your goddamn business.” I’d already fought over this once today. I wasn’t about to do it again.

But as I stepped out of the ring, she followed me, refusing to leave me the fuck alone. “You know what you have to do.”

I grunted, not liking the direction she was going with this.

“Ignore me all you want, but I’ve been through this. I know?—”

I spun and glared at her. “Do you think holding a knife on her will help the way it did with you?”

If I was hoping for a shocked reaction, I was sorely mistaken. Instead, Lola pursed her lips, throwing off tons of attitude. She was immune to anything I had to say.

“It won’t work for her.”

“It will. You just have to give it time.”

“She’s not you,” I snarled. “She’s not as strong as you are. And frankly, she’s been through more.”

“Yes, that’s possible, but survival isn’t about what you’ve been through or how traumatic your experiences were. It’s what you’re mentally able to handle.”

“She still thinks Zavala is the most wonderful man in the world. Tell me how the fuck I’m supposed to help her past that.”

“You’re already doing it. You’re getting her out of the house and helping her day by day.”

“That’s fucking great. But in the meantime, she still wishes Zavala was here.”

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