Page 72 of Trouble

He cursed under his breath and made to stand up. “We’re donehere.”

“No, wait.” I reached forward to put my hand on his tattooed forearm in an instinctive response to the panic flaring in my chest. If he left now, we weredoomed.

Isaac stared down at my hand, and it took everything in me not to flinch offhim.

“We need your help. Please, please don’t go.” I spoke as quickly as I could, the pleas bubbling from my lips as fear gripped myspine.

To my great relief, he paused, but his eyes were narrowed to slit. “You’ve got thirtyseconds.”

“Your dad—your brothers found out that he killed Jeremy and got you sent in here. They were working on finding a way to get rid of him and get you out, but… he found out. We all had to flee London while Blaine tried to use his spies to keep tabs on your father. That’s how we learned he’s going to put a hit on us all. Some gang calledSmerts?”

“C?????,”Isaac corrected. He sighed deeply and rubbed a hand through his dark locks. “They’re not a gang, love. They’re the most dangerous assassins in the world. Sorry to be the one to tell you, but if you’ve been marked already, you’re as good as dead. Nothing I or anyone else can do aboutit.”

“But we haven’t—according to Blaine’s spies, it won’t happen until midday today. Marcus said… Marcus said you could help us. That you know something that will get him to back off before it’s too late,” I said, gripping his arm as if clinging to him would somehow make him care enough to tell me what I needed to know. “This girl—this Ellie. Is she why you’re in here? Did your father use her against you somehow? She’s safe, Isaac. But your brothers are not. I’m not.Please.”

“You say you’re here on behalf of the twins. What are you tothem?”

I was taken aback by the directness of his question, but as much as I didn’t want to get into the complicated relationship I had with his brothers, he had a right to know. “I’m their… their girlfriend.” Or as close to a girlfriend as a woman could be when stuck in a lovetriangle.

Isaac hummed, as if it was the most natural thing in the world that I’d not specified one twin, but included them both. “And from the looks of you, you’re a typical middle-class working girl, aren’t you? Take your career seriously, never broken the law. Had dreams of a white picket fence and barbecues in the garden with your neighbors, before those two off-railed yourlife.”

How on Earth he could read me that well I had no idea—I’d just gotten back from living in the wilderness for weeks, and my current attire borrowed from Sam’s lady friend didn’t scream middle-class, to put itpolitely.

When I just stared at him, he obviously took it as confirmation and continued, “If you’re here, talking to me, you’re the girl they expect to marry. They trust you. But I’ll wager the twins never meant for you to get involved in our family shit, and that they’re both pretty fucking panicked at how much danger you’re in. Probably tried to hide you away when you said you’d come see me so they could avoid my father’s eyes and ears a little longer. Am Iclose?”

I nodded mutely. Apparently, he knew his brotherswell.

“You know what I’d do in their place, Audrey?” Isaac leaned in over the table a little, fixing me with gray eyes that should have reminded me of the twins but didn’t. “I’d fucking lie through my teeth to save my woman. Even to my own brother. I’m sorry they were stupid enough to get you involved in our family shit, I truly am. They should have known better. But I’m not risking Ellie’s life foryou.”

“And your brothers’ lives? Do they mean as little to you? Because they’re out there, risking their arses to saveyou.They could’ve taken your father down when they realized how evil he was, but they didn’t… because that would leave you to rot in prison for the rest of your miserable life. Instead, they’re risking everything to try and stop the man who put you in here. Your brother Blaine—he’s got a wife and a child. And still he didn’t take the easy route. Liam and Louis could’ve left the country, but they didn’t.No oneabandoned you—and you’re telling me you’re refusing to help them because they mightlieto you? I wonder what Ellie would think of you, if she knew what a coward youare.”

I hadn’t meant to lose my temper at him, but the unfairness of his claim that the twins would lie about something like that made my blood boil. I moved my hand from his arm and stared him down, too furious to be rattled by his disturbinggaze.

“He told me he would peel her skin off.” Isaac’s voice was soft, but devoid of emotion. “Strip by strip, while she was still alive. And video it for me to watch. Have you ever met my father,Audrey?”

I shook my head, mute fromhorror.

“He doesn’tlookevil. But you can still tell—that part of us who recognizes monsters will know him for what he is. I am in here because I know my father’s secret, and I was stupid enough to tell him Iknew.

“Have Louis or Liam ever told you how he used to beat us? So brutally we’d have bruises for weeks and months? How he used his belt for any slight, perceived orreal?”

I shook my headagain.

“I guess they wouldn’t. Maybe they don’t remember. They were very young, and we tried—my brothers and I—we tried to interfere when he went after them. You think I don’t love my brothers enough to sacrifice my life for them? I do. But not hers. Never hers. So if they don’t put him down, and if he finds her again… I will kill you. And Mira and Evelyn. There is nothing and no one who will be able to stop me. So tell me, Audrey. Do you still want me to tell you hissecret?”

The complete sincerity in his stormy eyes made a shiver of ice travel down my spine. But his threats didn’t matter. If he didn’t tell me, we were as good as dead anyway. “Yes.”

Isaac leaned back in his chair, hands clenched into fists on the table. “He had our mother murdered. She was working with the cops to try and get him locked up for good—because of the beatings. He didn’t touch her, but she wanted us to be safe. And since you don’t divorce a mafia patriarch… she went to the police. He found out. This is why Jeremy’s dead, too. I was stupid enough to tell him, and he didn’t have a weakness to be exploited. So our father set me up on a drug deal, had Wesley shoot a man with my gun, and told me to take the fall or he’d come forEllie.”

“Who’s Wesley?” I did my best to keep my mind clear, despite the horror of his tale. To have grown up in a home with so much violence… But I had to keep my head on straight if I was going to figure out how we could use this information to get out of thismess.

“My father’s right hand man. He’s been with the Family for the past twenty years. Done all the horrible shit dear Dad didn’t want to dohimself.”

“Do you think he was involved in your mother’s murder?” I asked as the first threads of a plan began weaving together atlast.

“I know he was. It was in the files of the detective who was working with my mother. Dad eventually found out who he was and had him killed, too, but I got to the files before he did. Everything’s in there. Every dirty familysecret.”

“And where are those files now?” I asked, unable to conceal the urgency churning in mygut.

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