Page 229 of Enigma: The Complete Collection
The moisture in Isabelle’s eyes dries when fury takes hold. “Don’t lie to me, Isaac. I’m sick to death of being lied to. Just tell me the truth!”
Her angry voice claws at my heart, forcing me to say words I never wanted to speak. “The night I was arrested.”
She slaps her hand over her face as her face scrunches up. “Oh my God, so it’s my fault.”
I scoot across the seat. “No, this isn’t your fault.Imade a mistake, Isabelle. Me. I’m an adult, so I’m more than capable of making my own decisions. This isnotyour fault.”
She intakes a sharp, quick breath. “But you did it because you were angry at me. You punished me for my disloyalty by betraying me.”
“No, Isabelle.”
She calls out my deceit by narrowing her eyes, proving without a doubt she knows me better than anyone. “I didn’t do it to antagonize you, but when I woke up with Clara in my bed, I wanted you to experience the hurt I was feeling.” My tone is brutally honest, but it also displays my sorrow. “But I never meant to hurt you. I regret ever hurting you.”
She rubs under her eyes to ensure her tears haven’t spilled over before asking, “Whatexactlyhappened that night?”
“I don’t know.”
Her eyes narrow as a stern mask of anger taints her face.
“I’m not lying to you, Isabelle. I don’t know what happened. After my house was trashed from the FBI serving the search warrant, I had Roger take me to my apartment, forgetting Clara was there—”
“Why was she there to begin with?”
“She needed a place to stay.”
Isabelle folds her arms in front of her chest. “Her family are billionaires, Isaac. She didn’t need your charity,” she remarks, her voice an angry sneer. “She didn’t want your help, she wantedyou.”Her tear-filled eyes drill into me. “And that’s precisely what she got.”
I shake my head. “No. She’ll never have me.”
Even if Isabelle never forgives me, I’ll never be with Clara. That mistake willneverhappen again. Only now, after Isabelle’s statement, do I realize Clara used my guilt about what happened to Ophelia to deceive me. How could I have been so foolish to fall for her trap? I’m usually more astute than that.
I glance into Isabelle’s sad eyes. “I only belong to you. I’ll onlyeverbelong to you.”
Time freezes when a tear drops down her pale cheek, and the stranglehold on my heart turns crippling. Not giving her the chance to protest, I seize her wrist and pull her toward me until she sits side-straddled on my lap. She fights my hold, but I maintain my grip, refusing to let her go as easily as I did two weeks ago.
After several long minutes of painful sobs and vicious claws at my chest, her body turns lax, and she molds into my torso.
“I’ve got you,” I whisper in a soothing purr. “Let it all out.”
If her submissiveness is the only way I can get her to express her true feelings, I’ll use it. I hate when she cries, but she needs this. If she expels all the hurt tainting her beautiful face, then maybe she can find a way to forgive me.
By the time her sobs lessen, my dress shirt is clinging to my chest, and we’re three-quarters the way home. I collect my scattered composure and exert some of the control I use daily. I need to tether us down before we spiral out of control. Isabelle is the only person who can so gravely falter my composure. Only she rocks my core so hard it hurts.
After peeling her off my chest, I gather her hair off her face, then slant her chin so I can see her beautiful eyes. Her lips quiver when our eyes collide, but she keeps her tears at bay—barely.
“I’m sorry for everything I did. I made a foolish, drunken mistake. If I could go back and change it, I would, but I can’t. All I can do is say I’m sorry and hope one day you’ll forgive me.”
“I don’t know if I can,” she whimpers as her pained eyes stare into mine.
The honesty in her words brutally twisted the knife in my chest, but even being cut open and exposed won’t have me giving her up. I can’t quell the desire to make her mine.
“I won’t give up, Isabelle. I’ll fight every day until you’re mine again. You belong to me. You’re mine.”
Her quivering lips harden into a snarl. “Is this what that was all about? Jealousy? Did you only show up tonight because another guy attempted to mow your turf? I should have realized that’s why you suddenly showed up! Am I not on your mind until another man starts sniffing around?”
“What?” My tone harshens as my agitation rises. “I gave you the space youwanted. Youneeded,but I never gave up on you. I never gave up onus. You’re in my thoughts all the time. How can you not see that? Everything I’ve done is foryou.Every meeting, every exchange, it’s all been foryou.You’ve never left my fucking mind—”
“Except that one time.”
