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Men are not allowed in the house.
Men are not allowed anywhere near my room.
I belong to Ebarardo.
No one else will ever touch me.
You will not look at another man ever again.
12
JASON
I looked back at the house as I walked away with Carli. I knew she was disappointed that we were leaving, but the way Isabelle freaked out, there was no way we were staying. I couldn’t figure out what the hell was wrong. She was like another person when she walked downstairs. Every step, she seemed frazzled and wrecked. I didn’t get what was happening.
And what was with the way she kept looking upstairs? I could have sworn someone else was up there with her, but when I ran up there, not a soul was in sight. She was terrified of something. That look in her eyes, the panic and fear were clear. I’d seen it too many times to brush it off. But Vira wanted us out of there.
But I couldn’t walk away. Not when I knew there was something wrong. I could feel it in my gut.
I stopped suddenly, getting down on my haunches to look at my daughter. “Baby, how would you like to visit Aunt Tahlia for a little bit?”
Her eyes lit up with excitement. “Really?”
“Yeah. I have a few things I need to take care of. You don’t mind?”
She shook her head. “I love Aunt Tahlia!”
“Good. That’s good.” I thanked my lucky stars that Carli was so excited to go to her house, and I really hoped Tahlia had nothing else going on because the longer I was away from Isabelle, the worse the feeling grew. I needed to get back there, and fast.
We arrived just minutes later, and the moment Johnny opened the door, he knew something was wrong. “Is Tahlia home?”
He stepped aside and called out for her. “Babe!”
She came out of the kitchen, her smile disappearing the moment she saw my face. “Hey, what’s going on?”
“Aunt Tahlia!” Carli screamed, running for her with her arms spread wide.
Tahlia got down on her knees and caught her, smiling wide, but her eyes were on me. I nodded in thanks, and then I was out the door with Johnny hot on my heels.
“What’s going on?”
“Bad feeling.”
“About what?”
“Isabelle. I was just there and she was acting off.”
“Shit. In what way?”
“She was freaking out. She kept looking upstairs like someone was there. I checked it out and no one was there, but… I don’t know how to explain it. She was terrified. There’s something going on.”
I was practically running now, my feet eating up the distance between Johnny’s house and Isabelle’s. I could hear him behind me on the phone with Jack. We made a promise to Knight, and we weren’t about to break it. My boots hit the steps and I burst through the door, scaring the shit out of Vira.
“Where is she?”
“Upstairs. What’s going on?” she asked as I raced up the stairs.
I flung the door open to her room and stopped in my tracks for just a moment, my heart lodged in my throat at what I saw.