Isabella
“Isabella,” a familiar, deep, male voice called my name. I blinked, shaking my hair nervously.
“Who’s there?”
“You don’t recognize the sound of my voice?” A man stepped out of the shadows. When I saw it was Kyle, I gasped. It had been almost two years since I’d seen him. In that time, his dark blond hair had grown a bit longer. There were some soft lines around his mouth and eyes I didn’t recognize, and with a heavy heart I realized he was wearing a wedding band around his finger.
“I do now,” I admitted softly. I struggled to sit up. “Where am I?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Kyle replied. He stepped forward and sat down close to me. Instinctively, I wriggled away. His face showed a wounded expression. “Isabella, I never got to apologize for everything that happened,” he said softly. “You wouldn’t take my calls. I had no idea how to contact you; you disappeared. You stopped coming into the city, and I couldn’t find you.”
At the memory of what had happened between us, my eyes teared up. “I didn’t want you to find me,” I said softly. “I wanted to hide from you. You hurt me, Kyle. You broke my heart. I never wanted to see you again.”
He narrowed his eyes at me before sighing heavily and looking away. “I know,” he said after a long pause. “I know I hurt you. But you wouldn’t have ever listened to the truth, Isabella.”
I stood up, putting my hands on my hips and angrily staring him down. “What are you talking about? What truth?”
Kyle shook his head. “I know you don’t want to hear this,” he said in a low voice. “But marriage isn’t a fairy tale, Isabella. Marriage isn’t something that just fixes itself. There are always complications.”
“So?” I glared at him. “I don’t give a shit if things weren’t going well with your wife. You didn’t have to fucking cheat on her with me! Didn’t that hurt her? Didn’t you care about that?”
“Like I said,” Kyle said, in the calm way that always infuriated me. Whenever we argued, I felt like he was talking down to me. “It gets complicated. My wife and I have an arrangement.”
“Bullshit,” I spat. “I’ve heard that before. The arrangement is that your wife never knows you’re fucking around on her!” I turned away, tapping my toe angrily. We were in a dark room, and I couldn’t see any exits. There was a dim light overhead that barely reflected on me; I could barely see my hands in front of my face unless I held them up. My left finger sparkled heavily from the diamond ring that Zane had given me. Zane! Where was he! What had happened to Zane?
“Isabella,” Kyle said in the same soothing, patronizing voice. “It isn’t like that. All married people have an understanding, an arrangement.”
“Not me,” I said hotly. “I’m married, and I won’t ever cheat on my husband. It wasn’t even that I wanted to marry him! But I honor that agreement, and I’d never want to hurt him the way you hurt me. Or the way you hurt your wife!”
Kyle chuckled under his breath. “You are so young,” he said, shaking his head. “And so naïve, Isabella. You just think things work out naturally, that love is enough to keep things going.” He shook his head and I felt the rage inside of me build until I could have spit on his face. “You just don’t see it.”
“Fuck you. I hate you. I don’t ever want to see you again. I don’t even know what you’re doing here!”
“I’m here to teach you a lesson. You got married because you got pregnant. You really think your husband isn’t going to look the other way if you decide you want to sleep with me again?” He stepped closer and winked at me. “I don’t think Zane would have a problem fucking some hot number who stepped in front of him.” Kyle raised his eyebrows at me and waited for me to argue.
Deep down inside, a seed of doubt had been planted in my head. I blinked. “What do you mean? You think he’ll cheat on me?”
Kyle laughed. “It wouldn’t be the hardest thing to imagine,” he said softly. “You’re pregnant. He’s not going to be able to fuck you for a few weeks after you have that baby. He could just go out and pick up a girl. You wouldn’t even know; you’d be at home, taking care of the kid.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and turned away. “You’re lying,” I said softly.
“Isabella, come on, he didn’t even want to marry you. He just married you because you’re pregnant.”
I turned to Kyle and pointed an angry finger in his direction. “Fuck you! You don’t know anything! You lied to me! You broke my heart! You don’t get to tell me how to live my life anymore, got it?”
Kyle laughed again. “I’m just trying to help you be an adult,” he said softly. “Come here, Isabella. I know you miss me.” He winked at me suggestively. “I know you miss when I do that thing with my tongue on your stomach.”
I glared at him. “I don’t miss you. I don’t want to be with you anymore. I love Zane.” Having said the words, I blinked. Did I love Zane? I wasn’t sure. I liked Zane a lot, even if I was frustrated with him nearly all the time.
“So, you love him?” Kyle raised an eyebrow at me. “I thought I was going to be the only man you ever loved.”
I shook my head. “I don’t want to argue with you anymore, Kyle. I’m exhausted. I want to go to sleep.”
He shook his head. “I want to make love to you, Isabella.” He stepped towards me and wrapped his hand around my arm. Back when we were together, the very words would have made me melt. But now I felt sick, wrong. I felt like I was betraying Zane just by talking to Kyle, and it didn’t make me feel good inside.
“I don’t want to have sex with you,” I said, trying to twist away.
Kyle was stronger, and he grabbed me with his other arm, bringing me close and sticking his tongue in my mouth before I could duck my head. I tried to move back but his grip was firm. “You’re mine, Isabella,” Kyle whispered. “You’re mine forever, and you know that. You’re all mine.”
I tried to cry out but he was too forceful. He smashed his lips against mine and yanked down my pants before I could even fight him away. Alarm bells were sounding in my head and I managed to finally bite his lip, making him recoil in horror and pain.
“You bitch!” he cried out loudly. “You fuckin’ bitch! You bit me! God damn you!”
I screamed as he backhanded me. It stung and I saw stars behind my closed eyes. I was barely aware of my body losing balance and falling over. The floor felt hard and I winced as my body splayed out. Kyle stood over me. He looked down at me with a menacing expression on his face as he pulled his belt through the loops and whipped it over my head.
“You know what happens to bad girls, right?” Kyle’s voice was laced with menace and he was breathing hard.
I realized he was actually enjoying this, and I shuddered and cried out as he whipped the belt back over his head. It soared through the air and made contact with my bare skin. The pain bloomed in my body like I’d been shot, and I screamed loudly, trying to twist away from him.
“Leave her alone.” Zane’s voice was commanding and strong.
“Zane! Save me, Zane! He’s going to hurt me!”
Zane stepped into the room. He was shorter than Kyle but much more muscular, and he grabbed him by the shoulder and easily tossed him to the side.
Zane rushed over to me and grabbed my hands. “Isabella, are you all right? Did he hurt you?”
I managed to shake my head and cover my exposed chest.
Zane got to his feet and walked over to Kyle. I watched in horror as he pulled a gun from the waistband of his jeans and pointed it at Kyle’s face. “You leave her alone, or you’re gonna get it,” Zane threatened. The safety on the gun clicked and he spat on Kyle’s frame. “She’s my wife, and the mother of my children.”
“I didn’t mean to hurt her!” Kyle whined in a high-pitched voice that made me think of a little kid. “I didn’t mean to do anything wrong!”
I woke up, breathing hard and covered in sweat. For a moment, I could have sworn I was still in the room with Kyle and Zane. It took me a few heart-stopping seconds to realize that I was alone, in Zane’s bed. Safe.
My heart was pounding and I closed my eyes and leaned back on the pillows. What a horrible dream. Even now it was like a bad taste in my mouth that I couldn’t get rid of. With a sigh, I sat up and rubbed my temples. There was a glass of water on the nightstand and I grabbed it and sucked down the cold, clear liquid in greedy swallows. By the time the glass was empty, I had to pee but I was still thirsty.
Frowning, I climbed of bed and stretched. A smile came over my face as I remembered the frantic way Zane had fucked me when we’d come home as husband and wife. I loved the way he played my body, I loved the way he made me feel. With a slightly guilty feeling, I looked down at my belly.
“And I love you, too,” I said to the tiny bump in my lower belly. “Let’s get you some water. “I’m so thirsty.”
Grabbing the glass, I walked into the bathroom and filled it with the sink faucet. Looking at my reflection, I was almost pleased with what I saw. For once, I actually looked rested. My face was starting to fill out, too, the angles and planes softening. I looked womanly, a little older than I normally did. Naked, I could tell how big my breasts had really become. I decided that later, I’d have to ask Zane for some money so we could go shopping. I was in desperate need of new clothes and a new bra.
The locket around my throat gleamed in the low light of the bathroom. I stared at it for a few seconds and was less than thrilled to find myself tearing up. Dad, I wish you could be here to see this, I thought. I wish you could be here to meet your first grandchild. You, too, Mom. I closed my eyes and hot tears leaked down my cheeks. I’d been crying so much lately I was pretty sure I needed salt pills, and today was no exception.
With a heavy sigh, I let myself out of the bathroom and walked across Zane’s bedroom to dress myself. I was hungry again, and feeling like I could tear through a whole pizza. But a second glance in the mirror made me change my mind; I was only a few weeks pregnant and gaining weight like crazy. Nah, should definitely get a salad. Maybe some fruit. No carbs, I thought to myself in a strict voice. I have to take care of my body, or else Zane isn’t going to find me attractive. Zane. My husband, Zane. I said the words out loud, as if practicing for introducing him to friends or family.
I laughed. What family? That was a joke. The only family I really had in the world was Zane.
Headlights flashed over the window, making something on the dresser gleam. My heart caught in my throat. Did Zane have jewelry up there? I looked down at the giant diamond on my finger, wondering if maybe he’d bought something else for me as a surprise. But from where I stood, I could already tell the thing on his dresser looked familiar.
My stomach worked itself into knots as I stepped closer, holding my breath and fingering the locket around my neck. What I saw knocked the wind out of me: it was the exact same necklace that I was wearing. I gasped. “Oh, my God,” I breathed, reaching over and picking it up. Alarm bells started ringing inside my head and my whole body went cold. It was like a carbon copy of the locket I wore around my neck, the locket my mother had given me years ago. The locket my father always wore. I picked it up and studied it. It was much less worn than my copy, which was covered with tarnish and scratches. But no doubt about it, it was the same piece of jewelry.
My blood ran cold. Why did Zane have this? What had he done to my father?
Balling my hands into fists at my sides, I quickly threw Zane’s robe over my naked body and stalked downstairs. Zane knew something I didn’t, and I was going to find out what exactly it was.