Page 63 of Entangled
As I massaged the shampoo into my hair for the second time, I began trying to piece my memory together of what had happened.
I knew Isaac had driven me home, and I had just walked through the door when I was taken, but that’s all I really remember. The next thing I knew I was waking up in the warehouse today, and realized how long I’d truly been gone. It made me laugh to think Vincent could be so stupid, and think he could hide right under Kade’s nose.
But then another thought made my stomach almost bottom out.
What happened to Isaac? Is he okay?
I had no idea where my phone was, having lost itagain,so I had no way to know if Vanessa had texted me or to know ifher father was okay. I didn’t want to wish losing a parent on my worst enemy.
“Everything okay in there?” A soft voice came through the bathroom door after an even softer knock.
“I’m alright, Astrid, thank you,” I replied, grateful for this woman and her caring feelings towards me even though she didn’t really know me.
Maybe Astrid knows what happened to Issac?
“Actually Astrid, I have a question,” I yelled, hoping she could hear me through the door. “You can come in if it helps you hear me better.”
I heard the door creak open, and Astrid’s timid foot steps against the tile of the bathroom.
“Yes, my dear?” she questioned sweetly, too kind for her own good. What was a woman like her working for a Mafia family?
“Do you know what happened to Isaac?” I asked as I rinsed out my hair. The beat of silence that followed my question did nothing to make me feel better.
“He’s at the hospital,” Astrid said in her quiet tone. “But he’s expected to make a full recovery, so there’s no need to worry.”
“Fuck Astrid, you could have led with that!” I scolded, trying to recover from the heart attack she gave me when she said he was in the hospital.
“I’m sorry, Soren,” she apologized, before seeing herself out of the bathroom without me even having to say a word.
I didn’t know where life was going to take me next, or what my plans were, but all I knew is I was going to miss Astrid.
Even though our interactions felt few and far between, Astrid was the definition of someone who had a quiet love. She did things for me without expecting anything in return and made me feel like I was finally worthy of a motherly kind of love.
She treated me like I was one of her own and it was something I had never gotten to experience since my mother passed away and I had been stuck with Lilah against my will.
If I was on fire and there was only a glass of water to save me, Lilah would drink the glass and laugh in my face as I perished.
Now, because of Astrid and her unspoken kindness, I would never have to wonder what the love of a mother was like again. I just wish I could take her with me wherever I went. I never would have thought she would have been one of my hardest goodbyes.
But the hardest goodbye went to the man who I loved more than I ever thought possible, and I have no idea how I was going to leave him behind.
I didn’t know what had happened or how we’d fallen so fast from where we were.
We hadn’t talked about it or even stopped to discuss if this was truly what either of us wanted or if he wanted to come with me.
He just shut me out and gave me the cold shoulder with no hesitation.
I guess I’d never know what was running through his mind about us and somehow, with my heart breaking all over again, I walked away.
28
KADE
The same daythat Isaac was released from the hospital was the same day that Soren left town. It was one of the most bittersweet days I’d had in a while.
She had barely looked my way when she walked out the door, and I didn’t know what to do, or say. Because I had no idea what the fuck happened, and she didn’t seem to be inclined to talk it out.
Had Jude’s torture been too much? Had I turned her away and ruined everything we had?
