Protector (The Brannock Siblings Book 4) (3 page)

"Mother, I need you to listen to me."

"No. I will not. This is going to be the best thing for
you, Isabelle. Christopher can take care of you. We need this."

"What? What are you talking about?"

Her father sighed and placed his hand on her mother's
shoulder, quieting the words she was about to speak. Words Isabelle was sure
would be hurtful.

"Isabelle," he said, his voice telling her
everything she needed to know.

"You both truly think I am crazy or stupid? That I have
some sort of depression or anxiety problem? Or that I am not thinking clearly?
You both think I would act this way only if something was
wrong
with
me?"

"Why
wouldn't
we think that? You've gone along
with everything we've done in the past nineteen years and suddenly, you are
acting out and have no respect for the situation we are in. This marriage will
solidify your future."

"What situation are you in, Mother? Tell me and I will
try to understand."

Her mother frowned and Isabelle didn't miss the pointed look
given to her father. She knew there was something else going on, knew that her
parents were in a desperate situation. Desperate enough to give their only
daughter away to the most atrocious man, but the
only
man that could
possibly save them.

Christopher had told her everything. She already knew the
words that her mother and father refused to tell her. Admitting it themselves
would only prove they had turned into soulless pawns.

"This will be good for everyone," her mother said
stiffly.

"No," she snapped. "It will be good for
you
.
Not me."

She wanted to tell them right then and there that
Christopher hit her several times already. That he threatened things that would
make her regret ever being born. She wanted to tell them that she would end up
dead if she continued with this sham of a marriage.

But she didn't.

A part of her wanted to prove to them that everything she
was saying, everything she was at least
trying
to say, was true. It was
childish and irrational, but they were going to have to see it for themselves
and that terrified her even more. She just had to find a way to survive in hell
long enough to eventually crawl out. She had no way of taking care of herself. Only
a small amount of money to her name and definitely no friends that would go
against the Moore family or the Hamptons. Especially since Christopher already
pulled those things under his own control.

The little money she had, she kept hidden and she was
working on increasing the amount.

In addition to her lack of independence, she had the
knowledge that Christopher manipulated more than
her
hand. If what she
knew about him so far was correct and if she believed what she had seen and
heard, her parents were in the same boat as she was.

Up shit creek without a paddle...
or
a boat.

She turned away from her parents, hoping that one day they
would have to ask for her forgiveness. Her heart cracked at the thought of a
child of her own suffering through something like this. She would never allow
it. She would teach her children how to love and she would die before
Christopher ended up being the father of those children.

Isabelle knew she would sacrifice herself before she
negotiated her child's life and wellbeing. There wasn't a damn thing on this
earth that anyone could manipulate, blackmail, or bribe her with.

She ripped open the door to find that Christopher was waiting
for her on the other side, ready to interfere at any moment if he needed to.
Ready to manipulate.

Her parents shut the office door behind her, closing her
away from them so they could discuss the next steps to her ultimate demise.

I need to get away. I need to think.

She was planning on taking a trip out to see her Aunt Neddy,
but knowing her parents well and knowing that her mother hardly ever spoke to
her own sister in the last three years, she wouldn't be given the money to make
the trip. Especially now that a date was set.

Her Aunt Neddy would help her come up with a plan to avoid a
marriage to the evil man staring her down. She always loved the way Neddy could
get out of trouble or the way she laughed her way through life. How her mother
and Neddy were related, she had no idea. They were so different. Neddy was
crazy and outgoing and her husband, Trick, was just as crazy. Neither of them
cared much for money or things. They just wanted happiness.

Maybe that was why Isabelle always felt like Neddy would be
there for her no matter what. There was no way to get to her, though, without
Christopher finding a way to manipulate that situation, too. There was a reason
Neddy stayed away from her parents. There was a reason for everything and
Isabelle couldn't help but feel that the center of it, was Christopher.

She had to get him to agree to some kind of reprieve for
her. She had to dig deep and find a way to manipulate
him.

Tell him what he wants to hear.

It suddenly came to her. Like a light shining down from
heaven, it hit her and her entire body shuddered with excitement. Isabelle knew
it was a risk, knew it wasn't a solution, but it would be time. Time is all she
needed.

"You win," she said to Christopher, surprising him
and making him smile triumphantly. It was a disgusting smile and one she knew
she would see countless times over the years. "I will marry you,
Christopher. I won't fight it and I will give up whatever you tell me to give
up. I'll be the trophy wife you want."

He opened his mouth to speak, but Isabelle was feeling bold
today.

"Shut up and listen to me." Her fingers trembled
when she saw his face harden. She was getting him riled up and it made her
smile inwardly. "Whatever deal you have made with my father is one that
I've been forced into. One that
they
must have been forced into if I
know anything about you at all."

"You're a smart woman, Isabelle."

She ignored the bite in his words and pressed on. "I
have one condition."

"Do you really think you are in a position to
negotiate, Isabelle?"

She hated his voice, hated the way he said her name. She had
never hated anyone or anything so much in her life.

"I think I am in a position to make this agreement
harder for you. I am in a position to embarrass the hell out of you or make
your plans more difficult to carry out. So, you take my condition or I won't
make this whole fiasco or all the money in the world worth it for you
or
my parents."

He nodded, his brow raised and his expression one of
approbation. He was impressed with her boldness and that did not bode well for
her. At the same time she was getting her last bit of freedom, she was also
sealing her fate. No way he would let her go now regardless of whatever deal
was going on behind her back.

"I want a month. Away from you, from my parents, from
everyone."

The approval on his face quickly disappeared and in its
place, a ferociousness that would make the next words out of her mouth the most
important.

"I'll give you me if you give me a month. You are
making a deal with my father, I think it is an appropriate business arrangement
- and in
your
best interests - that you make this deal with me."

It was like lightning. A flash of movement and before
Isabelle's eyes could register what they were seeing, she was pressed against
the wall next to the office door and Christopher's hand was wrapped around the
delicate column of her throat, squeezing until the air was barely moving in.

"You think I can be manipulated,
darling
? You
think I am going to let you go running off to God knows where and that I
believe you will be coming back to marry me?"

She shook her head, eyes wide as saucers and stomach
revolting at his closeness. If there was one thing she hated more than
Christopher Hampton, it was his touch.

"Then tell me, Isabelle. How is letting you have a
month away in
my
best interests? You should know by now that I don't
fuck around when it comes to something I want."

He loosened the hold around her throat to let her speak, but
the pain he had already caused made her voice hoarse and shaky. The leering
gaze he ran down her body made her throat tighten even more.

"You will know where I am, you will have access to me
and will be able to come and get me at any time. If you do this, if you let me
have this, I will cooperate in every way. You won't have to make the excuse
that your wife suffers from a mental illness or immaturity because I'll be the
exact replica of what you consider perfection. I'm giving up, Christopher. I
have no other option."

He tightened his fingers once more, taking her breath away
just enough to make her dizzy, then his green eyes darkened. That wasn't good.
In fact, it told her exactly what was coming in her near future.

His lips tipped up into a sneer. "Your beauty is the
only thing you have going for you, Isabelle. If it wasn't for the promise that
those lips would be wrapped around my cock in three months time, I wouldn't
bother with your parents. It's the only condition they had and I believe in the
power of anticipation." He leaned forward until his nose brushed the
underside of her jaw. His deep inhale made the nausea she had been feeling all
day come to a peak she never experienced before.

Oh God, hold on, Isabelle. Just hold on.

"You have a deal," Christopher growled. "You
get one month, then I expect your full cooperation or you deal with the
consequences."

She nodded her head and waited for his hand to release her
throat. It didn't.

"Where will you go?" he asked, the nasty smirk on
his face clearly saying that her options would be very limited.

Isabelle thought of all the places she had wanted to go in
her life. All the things she wanted to see before she died. Only one place
stuck out in her mind. A place that she was sure he would allow because it was
remote in his eyes. Out of the country where no one could help her.

Her father had the money and so did Christopher. She never
asked for anything from them, but she might as well take advantage of the fact
that they were filthy, stinking rich.

"Ireland."

He didn't protest. In fact, she could swear she saw surprise
on his once handsome face. "You leave in a week. Be ready and prepare
yourself. There will be rules."

She nodded once more and he finally released her. Stepping
away just before the door to her father's office opened. Isabelle covered her
throat and kept her head down as she walked past all three of them and down the
hallway to her room.

She had a week before she would taste complete freedom.
Temporary
complete freedom. A month of that freedom. Her last taste of life. Sure,
she would find a way to get out of this mess. If it came down to faking her own
death... well, she didn't really like that idea, but it would accomplish what
she needed. For now, she would relish in the fact that she had finally gotten
something
out of this.

Something that would ultimately change her forever.

***

"Isn't this a little dramatic, Isabelle? I mean, a
month away from your friends and family. From your fiancé."

"Christopher agreed wholeheartedly, Mother. He said it
would be good for us. It would give me some time to realize how much I..."
Isabelle cleared her throat so she could continue the blatant lie without the
shaking in her voice being so obvious. "How much I need him."

Marjorie stared at her daughter for a few minutes, waiting
for her to crumble or tell her that she was just trying to get out of 'doing
her duty'. That or she was waiting for some sign that things were not as they
seemed. If she had been more worried about her daughter instead of a business
deal, she would have seen the signs months ago.

Isabelle never wavered. She wasn't going to ruin this
opportunity.

"Isabelle," her mother started only to pause when
Isabelle kept her eyes steady on hers. "I don't want you to think
that..."

Isabelle held her breath, the softness in her mother's voice
surprising her and giving her hope. Maybe this was the moment that everything
would be brought into the light. The moment her mother told her that the
company was failing, that her father was going to lose everything if Isabelle
didn't save them by marrying the only man who could help them. Maybe this was
the moment Marjorie Moore decided that all the money in the world wasn't worth
risking her only daughter.

Her mother dropped her head and stared at her fidgeting
hands.

Strange,
she thought. Her mother
never
felt
the need to fidget.

Marjorie took a deep breath and gave her daughter a fake
smile. She had apparently changed her mind about what she was going to say, to
Isabelle's disappointment.

"I am glad you are cooperating. This will be good for
you. This marriage will be good for everyone. Your father will be able to do so
much more once the companies are merged. You'll live a privileged life and you
will want for nothing."

"You think money will make me happy?" Isabelle
whispered, barely holding back the tears.

"You'll have everything you ever wanted, dear."

Everything except love, safety, and family. So I'll have
nothing at all.

Her shoulders sagged and she turned away before her mother
could see the disappointment on her face. "I understand, Mother. Now if
you don't mind, I need to finish packing. I don't want to be late for my
flight."

Isabelle struggled to keep the tears at bay. Her parents
would never come around and they were going to watch their only daughter die a
slow and painful death before they would ever give up a deal that would benefit
them financially.