Chapter 3 The Garden Betrayal

After some time, they finally ripped the sack from my head. When my eyes adjusted to all the light in the room I took a good look around. Fifteen guards, some kind of factory setting, and Owen standing in front of me.

Owen Stone: “So tell me Isabella have you figured it out? Do you know who is pulling the strings?”

I shook my head. I couldn’t figure it out. None of the dots were connecting.

Owen Stone: “Aren’t you supposed to be smart? Well, why don’t I let my future mother-in-law explain it to you.”

The door behind him opened and my mom walked in the room.

Genevieve Reed: “Well. Well. Well. I wanted to reveal some fun information before we just kill you. I think it will be more fun that way. I know you have spent your life trying to figure things out. Where to begin?”

Isabella Reed: “Mom, why do you hate me so much? If this is about Sage and Owen, I told you that I didn’t want to marry him and take him from her!”

She slapped me across the face and started laughing.

Genevieve Reed: “You are no child of mine. Your father brought you home after having an affair. You mother died in childbirth like the waste that she was, too bad you couldn’t follow suit.”

Isabella Reed: “That can’t be true! You are my mom! “

Genevieve Reed: “Do you need your ears cleaned out?! I am not your mother. I have hated you since the day your idiot father brought you home. Your siblings hate you because I raised them that way. Who could love a little bastard like you?”

I sat there trying to take it in. My father cheated on her. No one she never liked me. How could Sage and Beckett know and never tell me? I never asked for this. I just wanted my family to love me. To be proud of me. Instead, all I got is hatred and abuse.

Isabella Reed: “Why keep me if you didn’t want me? Why hate me so much? I never asked for any of this!”

Genevieve started hitting me over and over. I didn’t even understand what was happening after a while. She pulled out a knife and sliced all over my body. Owen walked up and unchained me throwing me on the ground.

Genevieve: “Let’s go Owen. Sage is waiting for us. We are announcing your engagement tonight before you have your grand ceremony later. Gentlemen, make sure she suffers.”

With that they walked out. I laid there bleeding and broken watching them walk out. I thought about my life up until this point full of abuse, pain, and hatred. All I ever wanted was a family to love me, to see all the hard work that I put into everything. I wanted to spend my life helping people and fighting injustice against those who sought to use their power over the powerless.

The men in the room began walking towards me but I started feeling a heat spread through my body. I was like a fire, boiling me from the inside out. I screamed as the pain grew but suddenly a bright light exploded out of me and all the men were thrown back, slamming against the wall. No one moved but the fire inside of me had calmed. Did I finally surge?

Isn’t that ironic, surging just in time to die. As I was losing consciousness a black silhouette appeared running towards me.

I woke up in comfort. The bed surrounding me felt like a cloud. It was more comfort than I had ever experienced. I don’t even know how I would describe it. As I opened my eyes and looked around, all I could see was elegance. Deep green walls, warm lighting, a fireplace nearby, and so many other little things. This place reeked of power and money. Where the hell am I? A hand reached out and clutched mine.

Man: “You’re awake. I have been worried. It’s been a week. How are you feeling?”

Isabella Reed: “A week? I feel like I got run over by a truck still but definitely not dying. Wait, Carter. Carter Harrington. It was you who saved me?”

Carter Harrington: “You saved yourself first. I found you after your surge, everyone else in the room was gone or I would have finished them myself. I scooped you up, called Dr. White, and got you cleaned up.”

Isabella Reed: “I surged. I finally surged. I can’t believe it. My first act with power was to kill a bunch of people we were trying to kill me. Wait, how did you know what was happening?”

Carter Harrington: “I didn’t. My power led me there. I was drawn there and didn’t know why until I saw you lying there. I am just so glad that I got to you in time. You did whatever you needed to do to protect yourself, to stay alive. Care to explain how you ended up there?”

Isabella Reed: “Well my parents told me I was being forced to marry Owen Stone. Turns out that was a lie. They locked me away until a few hours before the wedding. My mother had me cleaned up and brought down where Sage and Owen were also there. They stopped speaking when I came in. Owen walked me out to the forest edge where there were men waiting to take me. My mother came once they had me in that factory to tell me that she masterminded everything so that Sage and Owen could be together and they could kill me. Apparently, my father cheated and my birth mother died in labor. They have hated me my whole life for something that happened before I was even born.”

Carter Harrington: “Well that is a lot for you to have to process. How can I help you?”

Isabella Reed: “I am not even sure how you can help. What are my injuries?”

Carter Harrington: “You had a severe concussion, multiple broken ribs, bruises and fractures throughout your body. You had severe blood loss. Dr White had to use a lot of power to heal you.”

Isabella Reed: “I must have been close to death then.”

Carter Harrington: “Let me give Dr. White a call so that he can come check you out now that you are awake. Would you like hot tea with honey?”

Isabella Reed: “Yes, that sounds perfect right now. Thank you.”

He walked out of the room, pulling out his phone. I have never felt this level of comfort and safety in my life. Carter has taken such good care of me even while I was unconscious. This was foreign territory for me. No one has ever taken care of me, other than Skye of course. Why is he helping me? Why go out of his way like this and what brought him to the warehouse to begin with?