Page 31 of Savage Proposal

“They left you for dead,” I guessed after a long pause.

“Yeah,” she said. “I nearly did die; they’d nicked my renal artery, and I almost bled out. They told me I coded twice in the ambulance and then once in the operating room. I have no idea how I’m still alive.”

Anger boiled in my guts. “Did they catch who did this to you?”

Isabella made an ugly sound. “Do you mean, did the cops even try to investigate?” she countered. “Because the answer is no either way.”

I bunched my hands in her dress. “They need to die.”

Isabella shook her head. “I don’t even know who ‘they’ are,” she said, soothing her hands up and down my chest. “There’s no point in getting angry about it now. It’s been years at this point; everything is healed.”

Except the way she assumed that no one would ever want her again. Except for the nightmares that plagued her sleep.

No, whoever did this to her would fucking pay. I would make sure of it. “I’ll find them,” I promised her. “I’ll make them hurt.”

She leaned in and pressed her mouth to mine. A soft, barely there kind of kiss. “There’s no need to do that,” she said. “Where would you even begin?”

“You have no idea the kind of things I can find out.”

“You’re wasting your time.” Isabella shuffled up, and I slipped from her body. I helped her back over the consul, and she settled back into her seat. My jeans, as I predicted, were wet from her, and the sight of it was enough to get me going again.

She noticed and giggled. “Take us home now,” she said. “Think about that later.”

I started the car and very carefully pulled out of the alley. I hadn’t missed the way she called the estate home, but I chose not to comment on it. The drive back to Scarsdale didn’t seem to take long, but by the time we were pulling in, Amalia was settingthe table. “I need to shower,” Isabella whined when she noticed the time.

We climbed out of the car at the same time. “Go,” I told her. “I’ll make sure she sets some food aside for you.”

Isabella stared at me for a split-second, and then leaned in and kissed me. She then hurried into the house through the kitchen door. I stood there for a moment, and then followed after. Amalia smiled at me when I walked in, so I was back in her good graces for now.

Damian was at the table, putting fried chicken onto his plate. “After dinner, meet me in my office, yeah?” I said as I sat down.

“Sure. The warehouse was just fine.”

“We’ll talk about that later,” I said, waving him off. “You’re going to help me find some information.”

“About what?”

I gave him a brief rundown about what happened to Isabella. Damian frowned. “They nicked her renal artery? Were they going after her kidney?”

It was what I had thought, but it was good that I wasn’t the only one who had come to that conclusion. “I don’t know for sure.”

“But you think they were harvesters?”

I nodded. “We’re going to figure out who they were, and who sent them.”

“And then?” I looked at him, flat and expressionless, and Damian dipped his head in acknowledgment. “Understood.”

CHAPTER 20

Isabella

Amalia was laying out a spread for breakfast the next morning when I came into the dining room. “What’s all this?” While she went all-out for dinner, Amalia generally kept breakfast small since she could never be sure who would actually be around to eat.

She shrugged. “Just felt like cooking, I suppose,” she said. “I get like that around my period. I like to make a lot of rich?—”

Amalia kept talking, but I couldn’t hear what she was saying. My mind was already trying to figure out dates and how long it had been since my last period.Three days late. I nearly choked.

“Isabella? Are you okay?” Amalia put her hand on my arm, and I jerked, an involuntary reaction.

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