로그인«Discipline.»
The word cut through her fear, leaving something resembling disbelief in its wake.
“What the hell is wrong with you?”
Thomas began unfastening his belt.
That was when Isabella understood, and her fear took on an entirely different shape.
“No.”
Thomas continued.
“Thomas, no.”
She struggled to free her wrists and draw her legs up to push him away, but he used his weight
The days went by, and just when Isabella was beginning to believe that the worst of the chaos was finally behind them, Maison Bell received an unexpected visit.The boutique no longer bore much resemblance to the empty space she'd christened with Harvey. After endless days spent unpacking boxes, sorting fabrics, and making adjustments until ungodly hours of the night, the window displays were finally complete, and four dresses proudly occupied the space Isabella had envisioned for them from the moment she'd first set foot inside.There were still a few things left to take care of, but that was precisely what they were now: minor details. Maison Bell was ready to open its doors.And that morning, it finally had.So when two men walked in, Isabella looked up from the counter and greeted them with the same smile she would have offered any potential customer, although something about them suggested they were hardly there to shop for evening gowns.One
Harvey waited until the following day before going to Maison Bell.He'd told himself repeatedly that he had no reason to go. Isabella was a grown woman who owed him no explanations, and the fact that her phone was disconnected didn't necessarily mean something had happened. She might have changed her number, needed some distance after everything that had happened with Thomas, or simply decided that whatever had taken place between them was exactly what they'd agreed upon from the beginning.Sex. Nothing more.Even so, he eventually found himself driving toward the boutique.He had no intention of going inside, he assured himself as he parked across the street. He simply wanted to make sure Maison Bell was still there and, with a little luck, catch a glimpse of Isabella through the windows so he'd know she was all right. Once he'd reassured himself, he would leave without bothering her.The curtains were partially open, and he could make out some mo
Thomas knew a detective had been asking questions long before the detective himself decided to contact him.His mother called first, followed shortly afterward by Kaley, and both told him practically the same thing: a detective named Marcus Reed wanted to know what had happened during Friday night's dinner, what he and Isabella had argued about, and what condition she'd been in when they left the house.Thomas listened to both women with growing irritation, although neither seemed particularly concerned. His mother assured him that she'd described the incident as a marital disagreement brought on by the discovery of an affair, and Kaley had done the same, carefully avoiding anything that might reflect badly on him.Neither had mentioned Isabella's disappearance because Thomas simply hadn't told them about it, and they'd assumed she was still at home.He found that rather convenient.What he couldn't understand was why a detective would be intereste
Thomas opened his front door, and the look of irritation that crossed his face when he found Theresa standing on the other side immediately told her that something was wrong.“What are you doing here?”It wasn't exactly the welcome she'd imagined.“I need to talk to you.”“Now isn't a good time.”He tried to close the door, but Theresa put her hand against it before he could shut her out.“Harvey kicked me out.”Thomas regarded her without displaying the reaction she'd expected.“Then you'll have to find somewhere else to live.”It took Theresa a moment to process his response.“Excuse me?”“You heard me. I've got enough problems right now without having to deal with your divorce, too.”“My divorce?” Theresa pushed past him and stepped inside. “My marriage ended because of us.”Thomas cl
Margaret Vaughn offered a considerably less dramatic version of that dinner when Reed spoke with her.According to Thomas's mother, little more than a marital argument had taken place, brought on by some unpleasant news. She acknowledged that Isabella had discovered her husband was seeing another woman and even admitted that the woman had announced over the phone that she was pregnant. Yet every time Reed tried to move the conversation toward what had happened afterward, Margaret returned to the same explanation.“Isabella was upset. Understandably so, given the circumstances, but it was an argument between a husband and wife.”“What exactly do you mean when you say she was upset?”Margaret made a dismissive gesture with one hand.“She cried, raised her voice, said a few things in the heat of the moment… Nothing that doesn't happen during a marital disagreement.”“Did she ask for a divorce?&rd
On Monday morning, Isabella discovered that two nights of sleep weren't enough to put a life back together, although at least they'd allowed her to function without feeling as though her body might collapse at any moment.Matt had contributed considerably to that improvement by turning it into something of a personal mission to make sure she ate, even on Sunday, when he was supposed to have the day off. He would show up with coffee and breakfast, immediately find some unfinished task at Maison Bell, and get to work without asking questions, as though it were perfectly normal for his boss to be sleeping in the little room at the back of the boutique and emerging each morning with the same dark bruise spreading across her cheek.Isabella appreciated that sense of normalcy, especially because, for a few hours at a time, she could concentrate on fabrics, seams, and boxes that still needed unpacking and pretend her life revolved entirely around getting a boutique ready to o







