Chapter 160

ISABELLA

The drive home with Jax was exactly what I needed—a light, carefree escape. We sang along to the radio, laughing as he hit all the wrong notes and made up his own lyrics. For the first time in a while, I felt relaxed, the tension I’d been carrying around with me fading, at least for now. It was a brief bubble of peace, just the two of us, like the past few months of chaos and mistrust hadn’t happened.

But the closer we got to home, the more that familiar weight crept back in. I loved Jax, that much was certain, but Asher… I wasn’t sure how to feel about him anymore.

When we finally pulled into the driveway, the sun was starting to dip low in the sky. Jax parked the car, and I smiled at him as we got out, feeling lighter after our trip. We grabbed our bags and headed inside, the scent of home immediately grounding me.

In the kitchen, Asher was sitting with Luca in his lap, feeding him a snack. Luca’s bright eyes lit up when he saw me, and I couldn’t help but rush over to kiss him, leaving everything else in the background.

“Hi, my little love,” I cooed, kissing the top of his head and brushing the crumbs from his cheeks. My heart swelled as he babbled happily at me, oblivious to everything else. I wrapped my arms around him, feeling the warmth of his tiny body against mine.

Asher’s voice broke through the moment. "And where’s my welcome kiss?"

I stiffened, choosing to ignore the question. He didn’t deserve it, not after the way he left—cold, distant, like everything between us didn’t matter. Not after what he had done, what he refused to take responsibility for.

I picked Luca up from his high chair, holding him close as I walked away, leaving Asher behind without a second glance. Jax watched the scene quietly, but he didn’t intervene. I could feel the unspoken tension in the air, but I wasn’t ready to deal with it, not yet.

The rest of the day passed in a blur of caring for Luca—feeding him, playing with him, doing everything I could to stay busy. I avoided Asher at every turn, keeping my focus on our son. There was a comfort in the routine, even if it felt like a temporary distraction from everything that was wrong between us.

By the time dinner rolled around, I had decided to cook for everyone. Jax, Knox, and even Asher deserved to eat, regardless of how I felt about them. I was in the kitchen, chopping vegetables, when Asher joined me. He stood next to me at the counter, wordlessly picking up a knife and starting to help.

I kept my focus on the task at hand, refusing to acknowledge his presence. The silence between us was thick, almost unbearable, but I wasn’t ready to give in. Not yet.

Finally, after a few moments, he broke the silence. “We need to talk.”

I sighed, setting the knife down and turning to face him. “What is there to talk about, Asher? You did what you did. I still don’t know how to feel about it.”

His jaw tightened. “I did what I had to do. Dominic was a threat. He hurt you.”

“He didn’t hurt me the way you think,” I said, my voice sharper than I intended. “He was manipulative, yes, but that doesn’t mean you had to kill him. Torture him.”

Asher’s eyes darkened, a flash of frustration crossing his features. “I was protecting you. Protecting our family.”

I shook my head, disbelief and anger swirling inside me. “You’re not listening. I didn’t ask for that. You took it into your own hands, and now… I don’t know how to forgive you for it.”

“Forgive me?” he repeated, his voice rising. “I’m not sorry for what I did. I did what was necessary.”

“That’s the problem, Asher,” I snapped. “You don’t think you did anything wrong. You refuse to see how this has affected me. You’ve always been about control, about making the decisions for everyone, and this… this is too much.”

He stared at me, his expression hard, as if he couldn’t understand why I was so upset. But that was the issue, wasn’t it? He couldn’t see it. He didn’t want to.

The conversation hit a wall. Neither of us was willing to budge, both stuck in our positions. I could feel the gulf between us widening, and as much as I wanted to fix things, I couldn’t see how we’d ever get past this. Not unless he could admit what he’d done. Not unless he was willing to change.

Without another word, I turned back to the vegetables, my hands shaking slightly as I resumed chopping. Asher stayed there for a moment longer before walking away, leaving me with nothing but the sound of the knife against the cutting board and the weight of everything we couldn’t fix.

Knox stepped into the kitchen quietly, his presence filling the room with a softer kind of energy. I didn’t notice him at first, too caught up in the whirlwind of frustration that still churned inside me after my conversation with Asher. But then I felt his arms slide gently around my waist, pulling me into his warmth, his chin resting on my shoulder.

“You okay?” he murmured, his voice low, full of concern.

I exhaled a shaky breath, leaning into him for just a moment. The steadiness of his embrace was comforting, familiar, but it didn’t fix what was broken. I still felt raw inside, the argument with Asher replaying over and over in my mind.

Knox held me a little tighter, his breath warm against my neck. “He’s struggling, Isa,” he said softly, trying to tread carefully. “Asher doesn’t know how to handle this. He thinks he’s protecting you. He loves you more than anything, you know that.”

“I know he loves me,” I replied, my voice barely above a whisper. “But love doesn’t excuse what he did. He went too far, Knox.”

Knox’s grip on me tightened slightly, as if he could hold me together when I felt like I might fall apart. “He’s not perfect,” he admitted. “None of us are. But Asher… he’s always taken the weight of everything on his shoulders. He’s trying to make things right in the only way he knows how, even if it’s not the way you need him to.”

I could hear the plea in Knox’s voice. He wanted me to see Asher’s side, to understand why his brother had made the choices he had. But the wound was too fresh, too deep. I shook my head, pulling away just enough to look at Knox.

“It has to come from him,” I said quietly, meeting his gaze. “I can’t keep pretending everything is fine when it’s not. If he can’t admit that what he did was wrong, then how are we supposed to move forward?”

Knox’s eyes softened, a flicker of sadness passing through them. “He’s stubborn, Isa. You know that. But he’ll come around. He just needs time.”

I sighed, stepping out of Knox’s embrace completely and turning back to the counter, where half-chopped vegetables still sat in front of me. My hands trembled slightly as I reached for the knife again, the weight of it feeling almost too much in that moment.

“I don’t have all the time in the world, Knox,” I said, my voice quiet but firm. “I love him, but I need him to understand. And that’s something only Asher can do.”

Knox didn’t say anything for a long moment, just standing there beside me, his presence still comforting even as the silence stretched between us. He wasn’t the one who needed to fix this, and we both knew it.

After a beat, he pressed a soft kiss to my temple, a silent gesture of support, before stepping away. "We’re here if you need us,” he said quietly, leaving me with the unspoken promise that, no matter what happened, I wasn’t alone.

But as the kitchen fell silent again, I couldn’t shake the feeling that Asher and I were standing on opposite sides of a chasm neither of us knew how to cross.