AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Crossing my arms, I turn around and lean against the wall next to the door.
And then I wait.
At around seven-thirty, people start exiting the building. Most of them jerk back in surprise when they find me standing there, but no one dares to ask what I’m doing there. They all just glance at me while they skirt past as if silently hoping that I’m not there for them.
Twenty minutes to eight, my target at last appears.
Just like everyone else, Isabella Johnson jerks back slightly in surprise as she strides across the threshold and finds me standing there.
I push off from the wall and approach her.
“You know who I am, right?” I say without preamble.
She frowns in confusion and glances from side to side, as if to check whether this is some kind of setup, before replying, “Of course.”
I don’t stop as I reach her. Instead, I continue pressing forward, forcing her to back up against the wall. Her brown hair ripples, brushing her collarbones, as her back connects with the wall. And when I’m standing this close, I realize one more thing about her.
She is slightly taller than the average woman. Not enough that she stands out. But it somehow feels like a victory in itself. Something that isnotaverage about Isabella Johnson.
I’m moving until I’m standing barely a stride in front of her so that I’m crowding her space. Cocking my head, I study her face. The expression on her features is the same one that everyone has when they’re cornered by me. Worried and apologetic. There is no hint of recognition,realrecognition, in her eyes when she looks up at me.
“Who am I?” I press.
“You’re one of the Hunter brothers. Rico.” Her gaze flits around the area behind me again, the picture of nervous worry. “I’m really sorry for running into you like that yesterday. It was entirely my fault. Please. I’m sorry.”
She sounds so… genuine. So truthful. As if she truly believes that the only reason I’m here is because I’m angry that she bumped into me when she walked around a corner yesterday.
But those eyes.
It’s her. I know it’s her.
She starts to slip around me.
Yanking up my arm, I slam my palm against the wall next to her head, blocking her path. She flinches. The girl who held a gun to my head six years ago wouldn’t have flinched like that.
But itisher.
“Please, I’m sorry,” she repeats, looking up at me with pleading blue-gray eyes that contain none of the cold hardness that they did all those years ago. “I can’t be late for class.”
I just stare her down in silence.
Indecision twists inside me like a nest of snakes.
Before I can come to a decision, Isabella slowly tries to edge away from the wall again. This time I let her.
After ducking under my arm, she pauses and wrings her hands before once more repeating, “I’m sorry.”
Then she hurries away down the stone path that leads to the parking spaces around the back. Turning around, I watch her go.
She acts like a completely different person. And if it hadn’t been for those eyes of hers, I would have believed that she was indeed someone else.
But I know that I’m right.
And I’m going to prove it.
I’m going to force her to reveal who she really is. That she is the incredibly skilled assassin who broke into my home six years ago and put a gun to my head. That she is a part of the group that murdered my parents.
And then I am going to get the answers I want. The answers that I need. The answers that my family has desperately been trying to find for far too long now.
