Page 106 of Can You Take It?

Colton’s silent, but the look in his eyes tells me he’s as baffled as I am. I do a double take, shaking my head as if that’ll snap me out of this fucked-up nightmare.

“If this is Izel Montclair,” I force the words out, “then who the hell is the girl running around pretending to be her?”

Chapter 28

IZEL

I storm into Victor’s study, not giving a single fuck about his “Do Not Disturb” vibes. His eyes shoot me a look that screams, “I am not to be fucking disturbed,” but today, my mood is one big middle finger.

“You failed to mention that Isla was engaged to Liam. Is that why you wanted me to be around him?” I spit out the words, no sugar-coating, just raw anger.

Inwardly, everything starts to click into place. Of course, Liam would have Isla’s birthday as his safe password. It all makes sense now.

Victor, sitting all high and mighty behind his desk, doesn’t even bother looking up. His silence pisses me off even more.

“Answer me!” I demand, slamming the door open for extra dramatic effect.

He finally glances up. “Details, my dear, they’re insignificant. Focus on the bigger picture.”

“The bigger picture?” I snarl. “You fucking killed Liam!”

Victor leans back in his chair, unbothered. “And you ratted out Charles. Remember? I had to kill him because of you. An eye for an eye.”

“I didn’t rat out Charles—”

“Don’t you fucking lie to me!” Victor’s voice explodes through the room, a sharp contrast to the calm demeanor he had seconds ago. He slams his fist on the desk. “That was your plan all along, wasn’t it? You wanted the FBI sniffing around my business, pointing them straight at me so they’d lock me up and throw away the key.”

He’s wrong. He’s so fucking wrong. But I don’t say it. My only goal was to get Charles killed, and I managed that. I don’t want Victor in prison.

“You think I’m stupid?” he continues. “Do you really think I’d keep my mouth shut about all the blood onyourhands?” He points an accusing finger at me. “Do you honestly believe I’d go down without dragging you with me?”

I say nothing. There’s no point in arguing; my life was altered a decade ago, and no amount of words will fix that. Victor knows it too, which is why he’s using Liam’s death as leverage to manipulate me.

“Liam was a warning. You pull this shit again—put me in danger again—and I’ll walk into the FBI office myself, hand over every single piece of evidence I have. And trust me, sweetheart, I’ve got enough to bury you so deep, you’ll never see the light of day again.”

“So you killed an innocent man just to prove a point?” My voice wavers, but the rage is clear beneath it. “That’s your fucking warning?”

“No,youkilled an innocent man. I just cleaned up your mess. Besides, Liam had to die. He knew too much.”

My breath catches in my throat. “What does that mean?”

Victor leans back in his chair, finally showing some semblance of interest. “Liam’s existence was becoming a bane in mine.”

I shake my head, searching for sense in his words. “So you killed him?”

“I had to,” Victor says. “Liam’s obsession with his dead fiancée Isla—who put on his ring without her family’s permission i.e., me—was dangerous. After I broke Isla and Liam’s engagement, I told him she had moved on and was studying abroad. The only reason I wanted you to move to Virginia was for Liam to see Isla had moved on, but that fucker knew you weren’t Isla the minute he saw you. The more he dug up on Isla, the more he found out about me. He started accusing me of Isla and his unborn baby’s death. His obsession with Isla turned into an obsession with me.”

Victor scoffs, shaking his head like he’s reliving a bad joke. I suddenly feel unsteady on my feet. “Is that why you had me kill Isla? Because she was pregnant?”

“No, I had you kill Isla because she was a whore, just like her mother.”

“You used me.”

“I used you to keep him distracted,” Victor admits. “But you were useless as usual, and Liam had to die.”

I don’t answer because this is what he does—manipulates me into thinking everything is my fault. And maybe it is. Maybe my existence wasn’t meant in the first place, and the universe is now retaliating.

I whisper, barely able to get the words out, “There was no information that I was looking for on that USB drive, was there?”

---