Page 87 of Monster Among the Roses (Fairy Tale Quartet 1)

Shards of my breaking heart stabbed into me from the inside. “She said that?”

“Not in so many words,” Henry allowed as if not certain himself, but then he straightened and said, “But the meaning was clear. So you are no longer welcome at Porter Hall.”

I ground my teeth. “You realize how messed up this is, right? You think I did something wrong, but you don’t know what. You think I hurt Isobel, but you don’t know how. So you’re just…you’re sending me away forever? Just like that? Without any proof or explanation?”

“I made myself very clear the first day you came here, Hollander.”

“And I’m making myself very clear right now!” I shouted right back, spreading my arms wide. “I didn’t hurt her. When could I have? I’ve been stuck at the hospital with my dying mother. For God’s sake, don’t…” My chest heaved as I tried to steady my breathing. The only thing that had been keeping me together these past few days was the thought of seeing Isobel again, of her being there for me. And now…now they were telling me that wasn’t going to happen?

“Don’t do this to me,” I begged. “Just let me see her. I can fix everything. I know I can.”

When he shook his head, Lewis hurried over to help him contain me in case I resisted. I stared at both men, then I glanced at the women, and I wanted to howl at the injustice of it. Why were they keeping me from her?

Shaking my head, I turned away and left the house. I started toward the truck before I remembered it was no longer mine to drive.

Stewing, I walked back to the hospital. None of this made sense, and it was even more maddening that no one felt inclined to seek answers. I alternated between anger and heartbreak.

I could only guess what had happened to Isobel, but none of the reasons I came up with added up to why she’d never want to see me again.

Determined to find out, I snuck back onto the grounds of Porter Hall at 5 a.m. on Saturday morning to catch her on the lake before she began her run. I wasn’t sure if she’d run at five or seven. She’d only adjusted the time to seven after I’d started running with her, so I had a feeling she’d move it back to her normal pre-Shaw time now that I was supposedly gone from her life. But she didn’t show up at either five or seven, and I hated being away from Mom for any longer than that. So I returned to the hospital.

My mother didn’t improve, and yet it was impossible for me to focus all my concern on her. I wanted to hate Isobel for taking that away from me, except I was too worried about her to

feel such a nasty emotion.

The next day, I was back at five. It was a Sunday. I didn’t know if she ran on Sunday mornings, but I went anyway.

She never showed up.

Alice grew pissed at me. I’d taken off two days in a row and disappeared from 3:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. But I couldn’t help it. I left again on Monday, needing to see Isobel.

Something in my life needed to go right. Sooner or later, I was going to get my answer as to why Henry had fired me.

My heart leapt at seven on Monday when I finally saw Isobel walking up the path toward the lake, wearing her jogging gear. Seven. She’d kept our running time. For some reason, that gave me hope. I stepped from the shadow of a tree I’d been waiting under and murmured her name.

She slowed to a stop, her stance turning weary. “What’re you doing here?”

It broke me to see her on guard. It confused me, and then it pissed me off. I hadn’t done anything wrong enough to deserve this.

“I need to talk to you.”

She turned right back around and started back down the trail toward the house. “Well, I don’t want to talk to you.”

“Why?” I started after her. “I’m so confused, Isobel. I have no idea what happened. Are you okay? Why did your dad kick me off the property and tell me never to come back? Why did you vandalize all your roses? Please, just tell me what’s going on here.”

“Don’t,” she warned. “Stop pretending to care. Your act won’t work on me any longer. It was a good performance; you were very convincing. But it’s over now.”

“Performance? What the hell are you talking about? I don’t understand any of this.”

She spun around to march up to me and glare into my eyes. “If you don’t already know, then you don’t deserve to understand. Now get off my father’s property. No one wants you here.”

I only shook my head. “You don’t mean that,” I said, desperate for it to be true. “You can’t mean that. We love each other. We—”

She slapped me. Hard. Right across the face. Then her finger shook as she pointed at my nose. “Don’t you ever say that to me again.”

Spinning away, she marched off.

I pressed my hand to my stinging face and gaped after her, shocked and growing more upset by the second.

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