Chapter Forty-Three

Chapter Forty-Three
Isabelle sat in the backseat of the SUV as it drove through the gates of her father’s pack, the place where she had grown up, the same place where she had experienced nothing but anger and cruelty. The same place where she had once called home.  
As the car drove past, she could not help but notice the respect and acknowledgement being given to the car she drove in. Or rather, the coat of arms that was proudly inscribed on the door of the SUV. Respect that she had never been accorded. She had not even had to roll down her window to pass through the borders. Such was the respect being accorded to the inanimate object she drove in.  
She placed her head against the tinted window, noting to herself how nothing had changed. Not even the people. The only mall the pack boasted of still stood proudly, and so did the people who walked around with their feeling of self-importance.  
Isabelle sighed heavily and scoffed. She hadn’t been there long, but she was ready to leave. So much so that she had to physically stop herself from instructing the driver to turn the car around. 
“We’re here already...” she whispered to herself. “Might as well complete what it is I came here for.”  
She had it all planned out in her mind. She would march into the house, she would demand answers of her father, and should he refuse to give them to her, she would remind him of the man he had sold her to, and the fact that he would hate to have him as an enemy. She would do whatever it was she needed to do, but one thing was certain: she would not be leaving without answers. 
“We’re here, ma’am...” the driver said as he met her gaze in the rearview mirror.  
Isabelle forced a smile to her face. “Thank you...” she whispered and slowly exited the vehicle, sighing heavily as her heeled feet hit the concrete driveway.  
She stood in the driveway and stared up at the building in front of her, a frown forming on her face as she remembered her time there and how terribly she had been treated. She hated how she had no good memories of her childhood home. The place had brought her nothing but pain and suffering. And even now, she wondered how she had survived through the years of pain and torture.  
Sadness and pain settled in the pit of her stomach, and she blinked back the tears that threatened to roll down her cheeks. In that moment, she wanted to leave. In that moment, finding out the truth was not so important anymore. A part of her warned her to flee, to turn around and dive into the Range Rover and drive back to the comfort of her husband’s house.  
But she couldn’t, and even if she could, she would not. This house that she had grown up in held too many secrets and lies. Secrets that she needed to know, secrets that were beginning to seem like they had the capacity to ruin her life. Secrets about her mother and the strange man from her dream.  
She needed to know it all.  
“Ma’am..” The driver came to stand behind her, leaning down as he spoke to her in hushed tones. “Would you be alright?” he asked.  
Isabelle turned to him and smiled reassuringly, “Yes, Sean. I will be alright.” 
Sean sighed. “Alpha Khalil would not like this...” he whispered, as though the mere mention of his name was enough to conjure him.  
Isabelle’s smile widened. “You do not have to worry about him. Besides, who is going to tell him?” 
“But...” 
“Your name is Sean, isn’t it?” Isabelle asked, as she turned to face him.  
The driver bowed his head and nodded. “Yes, ma’am.” 
“If I hear a word of this from anybody, I promise you that I do not care where they heard it from, I will find you and cut your tongue out. Is that clear?”  
Sean swallows loudly and nods. Isabelle turned back towards the house as he entered the SUV and left her to her devices.  
Isabelle continued to look up at the building, trying to build up the mental courage to go in. She sighed heavily, deciding to herself that she had better things to do than stand outside, and that she was now more important than the torture they had inflicted on her.  
Just as she took a step forward, deciding to get it over and done with, an annoying voice echoed from behind her.  
“Well, look what the cat dragged in!”  
Isabelle’s eyes closed in umbrage and said a prayer under her breath, hoping that the voice didn’t belong to whom she thought it did. But her prayers would go unanswered.  
Isabelle stood deathly still as Annabelle came to stand in front of her with two girls standing behind her. Her eyes sparkled as she looked at her, the pleasure she felt at seeing her precious sister, whom she had bullied all her life, standing before her shining in her eyes.  
“Annabelle...I had forgotten you existed...” 
Isabelle smiled at the spark of rage she saw in her sister’s eyes and the way her eye twitched. She enjoyed being able to say these things without fear of getting beaten half to death.   
Annabelle continued to smile. “You’re back here...has your husband finally taken out the trash?” 
Isabelle smiled wider as the image of Khalil jumped into her mind. “No. These days, he seems to be smitten with me. I could not have asked for a better husband.” 
“It won’t last,” Annabelle stated.  
Isabelle cocked her head to the side. “And why do you think that?” 
“You’re nothing but a dirty rat,” Annabelle spat. “No one can ever love you. No one can ever be taken with you. You can only be tolerated...just the way we did all the years you lived with us.” 
Isabelle’s jaw clenched at her sister’s words. She hated that it had affected her more than she would like to admit. She hated that even after all these years, she could not get over the pain and mental torture she had been forced to endure in that house with people who were meant to protect and love her.  
“You must be truly miserable,” Annabelle continued, enjoying the pain in her sister’s silence. “I still remember the day when your husband came for your hand.” 
Isabelle was immediately transported back in time to her father’s office, to when she had begged her father for mercy and he had looked down at her with beady eyes filled with indifference. She closed her eyes against the memory and sighed heavily.  
“I’m happy that our father didn’t listen...” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “He treats me very well. I could not have asked for a better husband. I know that it was done to spite me, but in doing so, you all led me to the man who has now led me to my fated mate.” 
Annabelle gasped loudly, and so did the girls behind her. Isabelle smiled; it would be the first time she mentioned Lucien in ages. In fact, it would be the first time in a very long while since she thought about him. Her brows furrowed as she wondered what it meant for her...for them. Did it mean that she was beginning to love Khalil? That she didn’t care for the fated bond anymore? That she would rather disregard the will of the moon goddess for her?  
“And who is your fated mate?” Annabelle asked, her blood beginning to boil in her veins. She hated that her sister looked well and seemed to have a perfect life.  
That life was meant for only one sister...her. And she hated that Isabelle seemingly had everything while she was still stuck in her father’s pack. In that moment, she wished that she had been the one to marry Khalil in place of her sister. Maybe that would be her cruising around in expensive cars and dressed in expensive designers.  
Anger and envy warred in Annabelle’s head, and in that moment, she began to plot Isabelle’s total destruction. The goddess forbade Isabelle from living a better life than her. She would not allow it.  
Isabelle smiled mockingly and cocked her head to the side. “Not quite the outcome you expected, right?” 
That question was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Annabelle growled and lunged at Isabelle, claws drawn and aiming for her neck. After all, it would be easier to destroy her life if she were dead.  
Isabelle smiled wider and sidestepped her. Annabelle was fast, but she was faster. She drew her claws and caught Annabelle by the neck. Her claws dug into her neck, and her blood trickled slowly down her wrist and into her sleeve.  
Isabelle smiled up at her sister as she watched her struggle against her hold, her eyes held hers, enjoying the suffering in Annabelle’s eyes, enjoying the way she desperately tried to hold on to consciousness. The girls behind her screamed and screeched, hands flailing as their combined brain cells tried to figure out what to do.  
“Isabelle. Drop her.” 
Isabelle gasped at the sound of her father’s voice and immediately dropped her sister to the ground with a dull thud. She turned to see her father staring at her in bewilderment, as though he could not believe what he had just witnessed.  
Isabelle smiled. “Hello, father. It’s been a while...did you miss me?”