Make Them Regret It Chapter 24
The day before I left the Romano family, Isabella sent word that she wanted to see me one last time.
By then, she was already in the Alaska mining district. The transport plane was stopping in New York for half an hour.
I went.
She was painfully thin, and half her hair was still white. Inhibitor cuffs were fastened around her wrists. When she saw me, she looked away before forcing her eyes back to mine.
“You won,” she said. “You have everything now. The Core, the dagger, everyone’s sympathy.”
“I have nothing.”
I looked at her and said nothing.
“I just wanted a home.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “I spent twenty years out there. I was beaten. I was sold. When I was starving, I fought dogs for scraps.”
“When I came back and saw you wearing clothes that should have been mine, calling my parents Mom and Dad, using my Core—do you have any idea what that felt like?”
“You had a home,” I said.
She stared at me.
“On your first day back, my mother stayed up all night designing three gowns for you. My grandmother had your room completely redecorated. My older brother’s wife taught you the family customs. My second brother’s wife treated your injuries.”