Page 61 of Isabelle and the Beast

“Then he tells me that she’s going to meet up with him thatnight to run off and get married in Vegas, and I—I just snapped.” Adam exhales. “I punched him in the face.”

“As you should have!” I exclaim. “He totally had it coming.”

He gives me a half-grin, and my heart flutters despite itself and the serious conversation. “He did. But that didn’t give me the result I hoped for. I was seen as the instigator, and I got thrown in jail while Tristan ran off. With Lily.”

I gasp. “She went with him.”

He looks down at his hands, and the hurt in his eyes kills me. “She did. I called Henry, my younger brother, to bail me out of jail and start the search right away. As soon as I was out, we headed to Vegas. It wasn’t easy, especially while trying to keep the situation out of the public eye, but we did it.”

“Did they get married?” I ask, worried about the answer.

Adam shakes his head. “No. I don’t know why he postponed the actual wedding, but they weren’t married when we found them in Vegas. We found their hotel room, knocked on the door, and Lily was alone, so she opened it. When Tristan came back, it was almost like he expected us to be there. When Henry waved a check in his face in exchange for sending Lily home and never contacting her again, Tristan didn’t hesitate to accept.” Fury fills his expression and his fists clench. “He made Lily pack her things with tears streaming down her face; he was just smiling with his arms crossed over his chest.”

My mouth drops open. “What a snake!”

“No kidding.” He runs a hand through his hair, and I can tell he’s trying to calm himself down. “We took Lily back home and got her settled back in Silver Lake City, and I came here to the castle to hide out until everything blew over. We called our cousin Bethany, who’s a lawyer, and she got the ball rolling on all the legal agreements to make Tristan drop the charges against me.”

“Yeah, how exactly did you manage that?” I ask.

“My silence in exchange for him dropping the charges,” he says with a sad smile. “So no one will know how much of a scumbag he is.”

I furrow my brow. “Is that a fair exchange?”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s just going to do it again, if he hasn’t already! How many girls will he take advantage of before he gets taken down?”

“I…I don’t know,” Adam admits. “I was just thinking about protecting Lily.”

“Doesn’t Lily want him to face the consequences?” I ask.

Adam shakes his head. “At first, she was completely devastated and kept telling us that they were in love, that we were wrong, and that we’d never understand what they had between them. After a few days, especially after Henry and Luna got together, she slowly realized that she had been manipulated and he never cared for her after all.”

“And now? Isn’t she angry?”

“Yes,” he says slowly. “But she’s not in any state to come forward about what happened to her. She’s still very fragile.”

I nod. I can understand that. If someone had claimed to love me then threw me away for a check, I’d be broken, too.

Adam shakes his head. “Besides, if she came forward, Tristan would retaliate for sure, whether against her personally or using the paparazzi against her. And she’s made it very clear that she wants nothing to do with fame.” He looks away for a moment. “Well, that kind of fame.”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“Lily was studying to become a professional pianist. She could have done it, too. She’s an incredible player and performer. But when everything happened with Tristan, she pulled out of all her classes and studies and has been staying in the family penthouse apartment in Silver Lake City.”

“Wait, so she doesn’t leave at all?”

“No. It’s for the best. She needs to be kept safe.”

I twist my lips to the side, a little unsure about the way Lily has been locked up. But maybe she really is that fragile and broken and needs time to recover. Who am I to say how she should or shouldn’t react?

But anger still simmers in my blood. “So Tristan just gets to keep living his life, pretending like nothing is wrong, when we know he’s done this to an innocent girl.”

“I suppose so,” Adam says. “I haven’t really looked at it that way.”

“Something has to be done,” I insist.

Adam’s expression darkens. “Don’t get yourself involved,” he says. “That’s not why I told you about this.”

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