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This neorld she was part of terrified her

Thrown to the ground, she curled up in a ball, and she heard hih,” as Randy hit her in the stomach

Immediately, the man stepped back, and her father was there

“We’ll go to sparring” He pulled her up to her feet, even as her stomach repelled the action

This was all too much She couldn’t take it “Daddy, please”

“I’ I promise”

And so, it continued, her torture She had no choice but to learn and try to defend herself

If not, she truly believed her father would kill her

Later that night, nursing her wounds, wanting to do nothing more than cry, Isabella tensed when her bedroom door opened up and her father stepped inside

All day, he’d looked ht that very second, he looked anything but

He was broken

He cleared his throat “I know you’re not asleep”

She didn’t say a word as he moved toward the bed He knelt down on the floor and ran his fingers through his hair, resting his elbows on the bed

“I know you’re confused right now You’re in pain, and I’ you half to death That’s not my intention and I hope you know that”

She licked her dry lips, feeling the tears as they slipped from her eyes

“I promised your mother, the love of my life, that you would have a better one That you would find a man you loved and I’d protect you frohed “You know I disobey the Family each time I don’t take a woman?”

She nodded It was an issue with many of the capos as well as the Boss, that he continued to mourn his dead wife, her mother, the love of his life “I could keep my promise to her When your brother died…” He stopped and even she had to gasp

Her brother, Philip, had died at twenty-one, in a shoot-out with a rival MC He’d been killed instantly, a single bullet to the head No pain Nothing

“Philip’s passing changes everything, Isabella” Her father never shortened her name He didn’t do it for anyone, it was always their full name