Page 32 of Isabelle’s Forbidden Love

For the first time in her life, she understood what it felt like to have found one’s mate. She knew it in her heart. Orlando was the man she was supposed to be with.

18

Isabelle’s pleading look went through him like a lance, piercing his skin, burying itself in his flesh. There was no escaping those eyes that pinned him, captured him as if he were shackled with silver chains, a metal not even the strongest of vampires could break. She imprisoned him with this look and the sound of her voice that penetrated his body in search of his soul. But what if she didn’t like what she would find there? What if she discovered the unspeakable deeds of his past? What if she condemned him for it? Then he would lose everything. It would all be over.

He fought with himself about how much to tell her, how much to reveal. He knew he had to answer her question one way or another. She was willing to help him. Hell, she’d already helped him. If she hadn’t hidden the letter she’d found in Hong’s home, they would have already carted him off to the vampire council for sentencing, no matter how long and how fervently he professed his innocence. Nobody would listen to him then. And once he was imprisoned, waiting for the death sentence to be carried out, who would look out for Isabelle? Who would protect her?

He couldn’t let that happen.

Orlando took a steadying breath. “I was blood-bonded to a human woman a long time ago. Margarite.”

Isabelle’s eyes widened. She hadn’t expected this. And why should she? He’d never told anybody at Scanguards about his past.

“Bad things happened in my past, things that I’m not proud of, things I’m responsible for. Margarite is dead, and it’s my fault. That’s why somebody wants to settle a score with me. I’ve been on the run for over four decades. I hid for a long time, never staying long anywhere, never drawing attention to myself. And I thought I’d succeeded. But on Tuesday night, I received a letter. That’s how I know he’s found me. That’s why I installed the security system. And that’s why I don’t want anybody to know about us.”

He noticed her nod, her eyes shining with compassion now. “I’m so sorry, Orlando. I should have never—”

He lifted his hand and gave a gentle shake of his head. “It doesn’t matter now. He wants to destroy me. I can feel it. It’s no coincidence that Hong was killed the night before I got the letter. He’s playing with me. He’s planted evidence to slowly destroy me.”

“Who is he?”

“I don’t know.”

“But you said, he wants to take revenge on you. Don’t you know who he is?”

He shook his head. “No. I don’t know who wants to destroy me. Most of the humans from back then are dead by now. It’s been over four decades. The person hunting me has to be a vampire, of that I’m sure. But I don’t know who. Back then, there was no vampire that had any connection to me or her. At least, I wasn’t aware of any.”

“Can you tell me where all this took place… I mean, which place you were running from?”

He’d never told anybody before. “You can’t tell anybody, promise me that.”

“I promise.”

“Montreal.”

“And you think somebody may have been tracking you all the way from Canada?”

“Looks that way.”

“What did the letter say?” she asked, and he realized that she was in investigator mode now.

“It wasn’t as much a letter as it was an anonymous note. It said I know about Montreal.”

“Give me the note, and I’ll have it checked for fingerprints at Scanguards. I can do it on the sly.”

He shook his head. “I already have a guy who’s checking for me.”

“At Scanguards? Who?”

“Not at Scanguards. I have another contact. He’s found prints on the inside of the envelope: a partial thumb print and an index finger. He’s running them through AFIS. I should know sometime today.”

“That’s not good enough. If that person is from Montreal, most likely there won’t be any fingerprints on file in California. We’ll have to at least run them through the FBI’s database, and if that doesn’t yield a result, then maybe Thomas can hack into the Canadian database or contact Interpol.”

“I can’t use Thomas. Nobody at Scanguards can know. Your father would have never given me this job if he knew what went down in Montreal. His ethics—”

“But—”

“You know your father,” he interrupted. “He’s a good man. I don’t want him to be conflicted between his ethics and what he promised me.”