Page 51 of Behind These Four Walls
“Close it,” he thundered, his voice reverberating through the hall.
She looked at the crowd that had gathered, feeling shame and indignation washing over her in equal parts. Yes, she’d broken into a private room, but it was to help the very daughter Victor clearly missed and had regrets about. Only Isla couldn’t say that. She had to wallow in Brooke’s glee and Bennett’s jubilee. She had to shoulder Mae’s disappointment and violation, because it was her Isla had stolen from. Brooke smirked a crooked, satisfied smile. She finally had something on Isla Thorne. Bennett chuckled softly, shaking his head as if the guillotine was coming for her right now, and a smattering of staff gawked at her in disbelief at her audacity.
“What is going on?” Brooke said as she glided up to them and stopped beside her husband. She slipped a hand into the crook of his arm, and when he didn’t pull her off, she relished it, squeezing in a little tighter in solidarity against Isla.
Isla turned her back on them and saw Jackson hanging way back, watching with an unreadable expression. She reinserted the key and locked Edie’s door and braced herself for what would come next. It took all Isla’s courage to face them.
“Were you in there?” Brooke asked, eyes wide with genuine shock. She’d tried for days to make Isla the enemy, and Isla had handed the opportunity to her on a silver platter.
Isla didn’t answer, seeing another familiar face through the growing crowd of staff: Dixon.
Brooke continued to Victor, “Oh, darling, I know how much you cherish that room.”
From somewhere in the group, Jackson said, “Brooke, maybe we should head to the Foundation. Things seem taken care of here.” Hisface was beet red, and his blue eyes flashed with urgency. Meanwhile, Dixon did what Jackson didn’t: He began dispersing the crowd that had gathered.
Brooke ignored him. “Our Edie would never want someone like you touching her things.”
Isla balked at Brooke’s use ofour, taking ownership of a girl she despised. Despised enough to kill? The question slipped into Isla’s thoughts like venom, and her anger blossomed. As if Brooke had ever considered Edie anything more than a thorn that had to be removed.
“‘Our Edie’?” Isla repeated in disbelief, not caring if she was about to expose herself. “Interesting you claim her as yours now that she’s been gone for years. Gone so long you’ve kept her out of your family portrait.”
“Excuse me?” Brooke asked incredulously.
The hall was icy, and any remaining staff had slunk away, sensing an explosion was about to occur.
“I found something interesting in Edie’s movie collection. She has a well-worn movie that she must have watched many, many times, about a horrid adoptive mother who abused and terrorized her innocent kids. Ever seen it? ‘No wire hangers’ and such.”
Brooke inhaled deeply, understanding Isla’s words even if no one else did. But if they thought hard enough, they’d understand Isla’s implication about what Edie thought of her stepmother.
Victor didn’t care. “I’ve given you pretty much full run of my home, property, and even offices should you choose.” His already sizable body seemed to grow even larger as he became angrier. “The one place that was off limits was that room, and you couldn’t respect that.”
It was the first Isla had heard him raise his voice, the first time he’d ever shown his true feelings. And these went beyond anger. There was the pain of a reopened wound, and Isla was the one who had opened it.
She dropped her head, regret replacing her anger toward Brooke. She was sorry for hurting him. She did not regret going in.
Brooke rebounded, attempting to ingratiate herself by pretending to plead Isla’s case. “Honey, maybe she just wanted to understand Edie better. Maybe she’s heard so many great stories about her, and they’d be around the same age. Maybe she was trying to emulate Edie for you since she knows how much you care for her. Isla was curious.”
“Curiosity killed the cat,” Bennett said, leaning casually against the wall with a leg propped up behind him. “You screwed up big this time. The old man doesn’t forgive easily and never forgets.”
Heat rose up Isla’s face and through her body.
“I would never try to be like your daughter,” she said defiantly, glaring at Brooke to back off. “I’m sorry for upsetting you. I’ll understand if you’d like me to leave. I can go pack my bags.” She walked to Mae and returned the master key. “I’m sorry for taking this. I didn’t use it for anything else. I won’t do it again.” She looked at Mae, searching for belief but finding disappointment instead.
Isla weaved through the onlookers as she heard Brooke say, loud and condescending, “I’m sure she meant well, honey. Don’t be too upset. People from where she comes from usually don’t know how to stay in their lane.”
Isla didn’t look back. She hooked her finger in her back pocket to ensure the note was securely tucked away. Her mind raced, not just about the contents of Eden’s letter but also about what the letter was referring to.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
“I’m sure you’re trying to get to the bottom of Eden’s disappearance, but you can’t afford to alienate yourself from them now,” Nat told her when Isla called her right after hightailing it to her room. She was beyond embarrassed and thinking about the judgmental eyes and gossip that would run rampant throughout the estate.
“Like a disease,” she said, voicing her thoughts.
“What?” Nat asked. “What disease?”
Isla shook her head, though Nat couldn’t see. “Nothing.” Isla sighed. “So what do I do now? I’ve lost all face with him. Back to square one. I wouldn’t be surprised if Victor was sending his people down to kick me out.”
“Doubt it,” Nat said. “I’ve never met the man, but it seems like he likes you. I mean, he didn’t let a complete stranger into his home for no reason. He may be mad now, but he’ll calm down, and then you can give him a reason to trust you again. Say it’s part of your research and you can’t know him without knowing about Eden—Edie—you know who I mean. Are you ready to tell him the real truth about your connection to Eden?”