Isabella's point of view

That man called my father was smart, I underestimated him this time; he managed to crack down my hideout.

All my weapons were confiscated and destroyed and now, I was weaponless, but that was not a huge problem.

If push comes to shove, I'll just make another deal with Annabelle - but Pedro would not be used as our medium of exchange again; he belongs to me.

Pedro was back from school already, he was keeping me company since his mother was out again. Cecil was a very rich and busy woman, so our house had become Pedro's second home.

Cecil could hire a nanny to look after him but she wouldn't and there was a story behind it.

According to what I heard, the last nanny collided with some men to kidnap Pedro and get huge money from his mother. Unfortunately, their plan got busted and Pedro was rescued on time but the bad experience made him nanny less to date.

For some strange reasons Cecil trusted Maya at first sight, said she didn't have the greedy look in her eyes, not to talk of her innocent face.

Besides, this was a rich neighborhood with lots of security. It was mission impossible abducting anyone here; there were cameras everywhere.

Now Maya was gone, she had no choice than to trust Amanda with her son.

Right now, Pedro and I were in the living room watching some Asian television drama with subtitles.

Thanks to the quality treatment given to me the past days, the blisters on my body from the chickenpox infection were all dried and crusted.

Pedro was so immersed in the movie that he didn't notice me watching him. His skin was almost without pores, how could a boy be this handsome?

I reached out and poked his cheek with a finger, he turned and smiled sheepishly at me. Pedro was not shy, more like a quiet kid, he just didn't like speaking much.

But I felt strange, his smile made my heart begin to beat so fast, was I having a heart attack?

I withdrew my hand at once while his attention moved back to the movie and though I wasn't interested - more focused on his face - I decided to find out what's so interesting about it.

In the movie, the leading characters were in a sauna, the male was hearing a set of blue shirts and shorts with the female wearing the same- hers was in the color pink.

With a brown towel wrapped around their heads, the boy was chewing bubble gum while the girl was speaking to him about something I couldn't understand since I was following the movie from the very start.

Suddenly, the boy blew bubbles with the gum, drew closer to the girl, tilted his head, and pressed the bubble against the girl's lips as it popped and kissed her.

Did I stiffen, why?

I was chewing bubblegum.

My eyes connected with Pedro's who looked away with a flush while my throat dried up. Why was this place suddenly hot? Who put this movie in the first place?

Contrary to what people think, I'm a good kid. Why was Amanda trying to taint my innocent mind? I spat the gum away with a silent prayer, "Lead me not into temptation"

"I'm going to get a glass of water, " I said to Pedro who clearly looked uncomfortable, and ran out of the sitting room.

I took a deep breath - in and out, slowly- why was I so flustered? I've seen that man and Maya literally suck faces most times but I wasn't disturbed, then why was this one different?

I shut the fridge but was scared out of my mind when I saw my father standing before me.

"Christ, what was that for!"

Nicklaus gave me a dubious look,

"Why are you so jumpy? What sin did you commit this time?"

"The only sin I committed was being careless to get my tools discovered," I told him, pouring myself a glass of water.

"I trusted you "

"Your bad " I lowered my glass and smirked at him, "You shouldn't have. Blame God for giving you a smart daughter"

He threw his head exasperatedly," Isabella, you f*cking spiked my coffee"

"I gave you the option of pouring it down the sink if you didn't want it " I clarified.

"Because you told me it wasn't poisoned, " He pointed out.

I closed the refrigerator "Clearly, there's a big difference between poison and laxative"

"Who knows? The next time I might really get poisoned by my daughter"

"Oh don't worry, it's not yet time for you to die" I assured him, "Moreover, what's the fun if you die quickly?"

He blocked my way, "I'm trying my best here to be a good father to you Isabella, but you're not making things any easier"

I scoffed derisively, "Nobody asked you to. It's too late unless you can turn back the time to when I needed you the most; when I needed you with mommy "

"Isabella, don't yet get it? Your mother and I divorced, we couldn't get back together!" He said with anger.

"You could have visited! " I retorted.

"I did but she wouldn't let me see set my eyes on you, your mother threatened me with your life "

"You're a liar!"

"You're mother was slowly losing it. I'm not a saint, I admit that, but your mother purposely manipulated you from the very start. Since she couldn't have it, she wanted you to be her weapon against me, to turn out the way you're becoming now - "

"Stop it, I don't want to hear your lies anymore" I ordered him but he continued to press forward.

"Why do you think we had to lock her away? Force her away from you? Because she was slowly feeding your mind with - "

"Stop it !" I screamed, picked the nearest tumbler, and hurled at him out of anger.

He dodged it and it crashed to the wall behind him.

My face was livid with anger, my brain felt like it would burst from thinking too much -I was trying to process all of the information being fed to my brain all at once.

Why was everyone confusing me? I didn't know who to believe anymore, but I was afraid to learn that whatever he said against mommy was true.

Mommy was my best friend, she wouldn't lie to me, right? Yet, I couldn't rid the anxiety washing over me when I discovered a lot of that man's words were making sense.

I was nothing but a little kid then but still couldn't forget mommy's obsession with Nicklaus. She talked about nothing but him, her world centered around him.

Told me he had abandoned the both of us, but I was her only hope to get him back.

I was her only hope to return our family to the way it was.

But when things didn't go as she planned, I became her only hope to punish him for what he had done to us.

Those times it was hard to understand but it was clear now I thought about it; doctors giving her shots.

I was homeschooled before her death due to the fact she wouldn't let me out of our sight.

Evan's manor was large, if I wandered in the garden or got lost in the numerous rooms, my mother Kay Evan would go ballistic looking for me, thinking I had abandoned her the way my father did.

To an extent we were inseparable, my mother was my only teacher and friend, she impacted me most of the things I knew today.

Every day was just the same with her until one day, Nicklaus visited. She was different, the look on her face was the most joyous thing I've ever seen.

She went to see him while I waited, but she didn't return. For the first time in a long time, we didn't spend the night together and the next morning, the news came - mommy was dead.

"Don't you dare try to evade the blame, you made her that way! " I spat at him.

"Your mother was sick in the head Isabelle, it was my mistake leaving you with her "

"Better you keep on regretting that for the rest of your life " I stormed out of the kitchen while he called after me.

I flew past the living room, noticing the startled look on Pedro's face when he saw the tears on my face - Yeah, these annoying salty water keep falling off my eyes.

"Isabella?"

I ignored him and rushed into my room but Pedro was hot on my chase, entering my room before I could slam the door closed.

"Get away from me, I don't want any of you in my room! " I yelled at him hoping he would take that as a clue to leave me alone.

I disliked crying, hated people seeing me cry, it was a sign of weakness.

"My mother says it's not good to cry alone, I could cry with you " Said Pedro.

As if his words were a magic word, I began to cry harder just as he hugged me, my head on his shoulder.

I hated them both - mom? Dad? Who do I believe anymore? They both made a fool of me.