16. Knight

16

KNIGHT

“What the fuck did you do?” Michael hissed after I laid Isabelle down in her bed to sleep off the medicine. I shut the door and scowled at him.

“I did what was necessary. She was out of her fucking mind.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about,” he snapped. “Why the fuck would you take her out of the compound like that? She’s been traumatized enough.”

My gaze snapped to my so-called father and I snarled at him, ready to beat the shit out of him if I had to. “And you think locking her up like that asshole did is the way to go?”

“I think keeping her safe until she’s comfortable is the way to go.”

“You don’t have a fucking say in this,” I snapped. “I’ve taken over.”

He grabbed me by the shirt and slammed me against the wall, but I quickly countered, kicking my boot into his knee and forcing him to the ground.

“Don’t you ever fucking put your hands on me.”

The man rose, but it wasn’t my father I was staring at. No, this was Shadow, the man I had heard so much about. The lethal look on his face would scare me if I was anyone else. But I had his blood running through my veins, and I’d already dealt with too much shit to let the glare on his face scare me.

“She’s my daughter.”

“And you fucked that up for thirteen years. It’s time to let the big boys take over.”

Before I knew it, his hands were around my throat and he was squeezing like he wanted to kill me.

“Do it,” I snarled, sick of this twisted game we were playing where he pretended to give a fuck about me. “Go ahead and fucking squeeze. I know you’ve always wanted to.”

His hands tightened for only a moment before he suddenly stepped back and dropped his hands. They were shaking furiously, and as he shoved them in his pockets, he closed his eyes, sucking in a breath to gain control.

“You’re too fucking raw to deal with this shit. Rafe is dead, and from what Fox tells me, Cash has fucking lost it. Go deal with him before he fucks up everything in his life. I’ll deal with Isabelle.”

He took another step back, scrubbing his hand down his face. “She needs someone gentle?—”

“She needs someone to get her out of her head. Sticking around this fucking compound may be safe, but it’s not doing anything to help her move on.”

“That fucking asshole screwed with her head,” he sighed. “The sooner we can make her forget?—”

“That’s not going to happen anytime soon. She doesn’t see him the same way we do.”

His eyes narrowed on me. “She needs to see the truth.”

“Her truth or our truth?” I countered. “If you shove this down her throat, she’s only going to pull back from us.”

“So, you’re going to let her continue to think that the twisted fuck that called himself her husband was a good guy?”

“I’m not saying a damn word. When she needs to talk, I fucking let her,” I snarled. “She spent thirteen years with him. Screaming at her that what she knew was all a fucked up lie isn’t going to help.”

“Christ,” he muttered, sliding his fingers through his hair. “Rafe would beat the shit out of me if he saw the state Isabelle is in.”

“About that…she knows.”

His body tensed as he took in my words. “And I suppose you’re the one who told her.”

It may have been a mistake since she reacted so poorly to it, but it didn’t feel right to hide it from her. What Rafe did to her was eating her up inside. If I could end that, I had to do it.

“I did what had to be done.”

“It wasn’t your place?—”

“Yeah, I get that a lot from you. Nothing is my place. It’s not my right to know that I had two brothers or that I had a sister. It wasn’t my place to know that she was being held captive on an island for thirteen years. Or that you had two other wives…Yeah, nothing is my fucking place. I didn’t choose to have you in my life again. Come or go, I don’t give a shit, but that’s my sister and I will protect her and do what’s best for her. And that includes being the adult in the room and telling her what she needs to know so she can heal and move on. If you don’t like it, I really don’t give a fuck.”

He gritted his teeth and stormed from the room. Yeah, I fucking pissed him off with my attitude, but I didn’t give a shit. Ever since I enlisted, I hadn’t heard a word from him, and now he was back in my life and fucking everything up. He moved on to his other families, but so had I. And now that included Isabelle.

A half-hour later, I was taking on Lola in the ring, working out my frustrations as best I could. The problem was, every time I tossed a punch, I saw Isabelle flinching back in horror. The only time a woman had looked at me that way was when I was about to end their lives, and that hadn’t happened since I took out those responsible for taking Kate.

Now, it was all I could see. The fear, coupled with the need to protect. Deep inside, there was a strong woman struggling to break free. But she’d been so buried by all the garbage Zavala beat into her that she didn’t know how to emerge.

A sharp hit to my temple sent me to the mat. Getting up wasn’t as easy as it used to be, and not because I was weak, but because I was older. Fuck, I never thought I would see the day where taking a hit laid me out. But here I was, a second slower and getting my ass handed to me for it.

“You’re getting sloppy,” Lola panted.

“Thanks,” I grumbled. She offered her hand, but I refused. The last thing I needed was to be babied. I had to get up and fight the way I used to.

“You want to talk about it?”

I strolled over to the edge of the ring, fighting back a wince as my hip twinged. I just needed a soak in the hot tub. “Nothing to talk about.”

“I heard about what happened with Isabelle.”

I shot her a look. She knew my family was off-limits.

“What are you going to do?”

“None of your goddamn business.” I’d already fought over this once today. I wasn’t about to do it again.

But as I stepped out of the ring, she followed me, refusing to leave me the fuck alone. “You know what you have to do.”

I grunted, not liking the direction she was going with this.

“Ignore me all you want, but I’ve been through this. I know?—”

I spun and glared at her. “Do you think holding a knife on her will help the way it did with you?”

If I was hoping for a shocked reaction, I was sorely mistaken. Instead, Lola pursed her lips, throwing off tons of attitude. She was immune to anything I had to say.

“It won’t work for her.”

“It will. You just have to give it time.”

“She’s not you,” I snarled. “She’s not as strong as you are. And frankly, she’s been through more.”

“Yes, that’s possible, but survival isn’t about what you’ve been through or how traumatic your experiences were. It’s what you’re mentally able to handle.”

“She still thinks Zavala is the most wonderful man in the world. Tell me how the fuck I’m supposed to help her past that.”

“You’re already doing it. You’re getting her out of the house and helping her day by day.”

“That’s fucking great. But in the meantime, she still wishes Zavala was here.”

“You can’t do anything about that, but you can keep pushing her out of her comfort zone.”

I sighed, not sure I could do it. “And what if I break her? Lola, it fucking killed me when I did that to you.”

“I survived and came out stronger for it.”

“But you were already trained by the military.”

“It doesn’t fucking matter,” she snapped. “What that fucker did to me fucked with my head. That’s the same fucking thing Zavala did. Get her out and start breaking those habits. Build her up and make her stronger. You know what the fuck to do, so do it!”

I shook my head. She just didn’t understand. “I can’t lose her. If I fuck her up?—”

“You won’t.”

I swiped a towel down my face and glowered at her. “You’re a pain in the ass.”

“Yeah, well, you’re becoming an old lady. If this is the way you’re going to fight from now on, I’ll find another sparring partner. Maybe Axel would be up for the challenge. He beat you once, didn’t he?” she smirked at me.

I slapped the towel against the ropes and got in my corner, cracking my neck. Axel may have beaten me once, but that wouldn’t happen twice. It was time to get my head back in the game.