Hammer & Anvil (Steel Rebels MC #2) [Ongoing]

ONE - Olive branch

Present day

Isabella

Isabella was having a good day. Not in the sense that she was happy and good things had happened. But so far she hadn't seen any member of her family and it was already past midday and she also hadn't had any of her crying sprees. While that might sound like nothing special to other people, to her it meant that for once she had the mental and emotional clarity to actually think.

Like really think.

About what had happened a couple of months ago and how everything had gone so wrong and how she could make it right again. She refused to let her mind worry over Knux, because that would cause once again one of her breakdowns. She told herself that he was strong enough to survive prison for a little while. He had to be.

He was surviving. Like she was surviving currently.

But while Isabella wasn't sure if she could really do something about her own situation, she wanted to believe she could do something about Knux's situation. She had to try at least.

With a deep sigh, Isabella looked out of the window in her room. She was sitting curled up on the window sill. This has been her refuge spot since coming back to her parents' mansion. Her room hadn't changed in the weeks that she had been away - as if her parents knew that she would have to move back sooner or later.

Her stomach was making a gurgling sound and Isabella tried to ignore the slight discomfort that being hungry brought on. She's been almost constantly hungry ever since moving back, but by now she was able to deal with it better. She had gotten used to it. Food, or rather lack of it, had always been her mother's favorite punishment for her. The last two days, her mother had put Isabella on a juice detox - which meant that all Isabella was allowed to consume besides water was a horrible tasting vegetable juice for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Already the smell of it made Isabella want to puke but since this was all she would get, she drank it and sucked up her protests. It anyways didn't matter what she thought about the food. Her options were eat it or don't eat at all. And she didn't want to starve. She had already lost a lot of weight unintentionally.

Her mother was of course was for once pleased that all her hard work was finally showing. But Isabella hated it. Not that she minded losing a few kilograms but it wasn't natural anymore. She felt so tired almost all the time, because she was lacking proper nutrition. And this morning, she started to notice that she could see her ribs rather clearly. Her clothes were all starting to look baggy. And she was feeling constantly cold - even though it was a hot summer this year. But even with all the lost weight, she still had a rather big chest and hips and in her opinion, she looked now very awkward.

But she went along with it, because it wasn't her main worry.

She would be able to gain weight back at some point.

But Knux's wrong imprisonment couldn't be made undone as easily. That was why she had to do something. She needed to find out what had really happened.

Who had ordered the killing shot?

Isabella knew she couldn't do this by herself, but currently she had no possibility to contact any of the Steel Rebels. Her phone was still AWOL. She also hadn't gotten the chance to speak to Roman in private ever since moving back.

Maybe she should start calling it being held against her own will. That was a more accurate description of her situation. This hadn't been her choice. And she couldn't leave because of all the security around the estate. She even had the feeling that there were cameras in her room or even in the house because her mother suspiciously seemed to always know what Isabella had done the whole day. Not that it was anything special because Isabella slept, cried, stared out of the window and sometimes went to the garden. The garden was one of the few places that she was allowed to go alone during the day, the other being the gym and the pool.