AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’s a warning.”
“You won’t win this fight, Octavius. Sooner or later, you will break. I just hope you do it before you make irreversible choices.”
Not bothering to reply, I hang up on him and rest my arm on the glass. I force all the indifference I can muster to withstand the next couple of months Isla will be in my city.
She will search for answers relentlessly, and when she doesn’t find them, she’ll leave for New York and finally accept her fate, living her boring existence.
And I’ll do what I’ve done ever since my eyes landed on her.
Watch and protect her from afar because my touch alone would scare her.
I can handle a lot of things.
Disgust on her face, though, is not one of them.
CHAPTER TEN
“Indifference never bothered me.
Until I met Octavius Reed.
Now I hate it with a passion.”
Isla
From Isla's mother's diaries…
My greatest nightmare came true today, and I haven’t even told my husband yet.
They are out on a fishing trip with Grayson, enjoying the last days of summer.
Ever since we…adopted our little girl, I’ve been the luckiest and happiest person alive.
She’s a little angel, always curious and kind to those around her while studying the world. Her beautiful gray eyes are almost exactly like my husband’s, which always surprises me considering they are so rare.
She’s gentle with everyone and people adore her for always giving them her toothless smiles, a ray of sunshine that casts her loving light wherever she goes.
Which brings me back to today.
We decided to picnic in the park with Grayson’s wife, who also happens to be my friend, Amanda, and our kids are close in age, so they can play together.
Isla was running around with her ice cream when she smacked into someone’s knees and smeared the said chocolate ice cream all over the woman’s white jumpsuit.
Since my eyes were always on my daughter, I got up swiftly and darted toward them, ready to apologize right away, when the woman kneeled and just laughed. “Are you all right, kiddo?” she asked, her melodic voice oddly familiar. She took out a tissue from her bag, wiping the ice cream from her hand. “You need to be careful.”
Isla hung her head. “I’m sorry for staining your clothes.”
“It’s all right.”
I sped up my pace and spoke up, breaking their eye contact. “My apologies. I’ll happily pay for the dry cleaning.” Both heads swung to me in unison and rendered me speechless.
Because the woman staring at me was…Isla’s biological mother.
Even though I had no chance to study her features when we stole Isla, she was still this young and vibrant woman, just healthier-looking.
Gone were her earlier bruises. Her long hair that had been patchy in a few places cascaded down her spine in heavy dark locks while her skin glowed, and her slender form just emphasized her beauty.
A stunning woman in her early twenties gazed at me in shock and swallowed hard, rising up quickly and stepping away from Isla. “Hi,” I greeted her, everything in me screaming to shield my daughter from her so she wouldn’t notice any resemblance even though she was unconscious when we took her baby. “How are you?” Isla came closer to me, and I grabbed her, pressing her to my hip. “I’m sorry for the stain.” I couldn’t believe the words spilling from my mouth because they seemed too shallow and pointless in this awkwardness between us, overpowered by my guilt and probably her confusion. “I’m so sorry.”
