67- Taking Baby Steps

Third Person

It’s officially been a couple of days since Isabella and Sophia had their morning chat within one of the lounges and since then Isabella has carefully taken much into consideration. The men each giving her the space that she needed as she took it upon herself to think.

Isabella now currently scanning around the eerie breakfast table. No one saying a single word as Isabella continued to watch as Lucus, Grant, Tony and Alex sat before her. Each of the guys having wanted to talk to her in private, thus leaving the room partially empty to only the five of them, the other men currently not present at the moment.

Lucus’s mother and father opting to have breakfast within their room while Isabella’s parents opted to staying within a guest room, not wanting to leave their daughter just yet. During which, Isabella and Sophia had slowly used that time to begin bonding in a mother-daughter kind of way, giving her that feeling of having another mother besides her own. Sophia always watching the young girl before her as she slowly began to bloom into that very special young lady that she was. For not many people could successfully say that they awoke a beast buried deep within four of the worlds most ruthless men and still lived to tell the tale.

Yet here they were. Each of them now sitting before their very own Queen. Having finally decided to make amends with Isabella and for the way they had been acting around her lately. Words that Sophia had longed to hear from each of her boys, knowing that they had let their inner beasts take full control of Isabella and what should have been love and devotion turned into lust and obsession which blinded them into pain and fear that they slowly began to inflict upon her instead.

So, with eyes still silently focused on her men, does Isabella continue with slowly enjoying her meal. Enjoying the way the tables had turned when the guys remained silent. Having known that they wanted to speak with her but didn’t. Lucus silently sweating at the collar while Grant silently bounced his leg just beneath the table. Alex slowly picking at his food while Tony kept shifting his focus to everywhere other than her, his body consuming his fourth cup of coffee since they had all sat down to eat.

Smirking to herself does Isabella move to finally speak up, clearing her throat as she did. “Is something the matter?” Releasing a breath does Lucus move to speak up, words he had not used in years because he never had to but now knew that he would have to or risk losing the one thing that finally mattered the most to them. To him.

“I’m… No… We’re sorry. What we did to you Isabella was completely unacceptable. I’m… I’m so, so sorry. I… No… We should have never let it get that far and for that we’re completely sorry.” Taking in his words do the other guys each move to nod their heads in agreement to what Lucus had just said. Knowing that each of them were utter douche bags and didn’t deserve a woman like Isabella ever.

Sensing the sincerity in his words all Isabella can do is smile before letting a tiny little giggle rise up from between her lips, the others slowly joining her as she moves to speak up. “Finally, that was truly hard for me to watch you just now as you struggled with your words.”

Unable to stop her eyes from watching Lucus, does Isabella finally move to speak yet again her voice a bit more firmer. “But thank you. Your apology means alot to me. Yet… I can’t find it within myself to fully forgive you for what you’ve done to me just yet.”

Shocked by her words, do each of them move to give her their full blown attention, unable to process her response when they flat out admitted to her that they were wrong and here she was basically rejecting them for trying to make amends.

Amused by their shocked faces, Isabella moves to elaborate further before they got the wrong impression of her. “But….. Your mother has given me much to take into consideration and while I truly want to forgive and forget I still need that time to process it all.”

Nodding, Lucus quickly speaks up yet again, “Ya, my mother has that unique way with words. It’s something my father has always loved about her.”

Clearing his throat, Tony decides to take his chance by finally speaking up as well. “Look… Isabella. I know what we did to you was wrong, wrong on so many levels and for that we’re sorry. I know we can never undo all the things that we did to you, but please give us a chance to make it as close to right as possible. I promise you won’t be disappointed.”

Hearing those words does Isabella move onto the defensive side of things. “And why should I?! You four basically murdered two of my best friends in the entire world! They were like family to me.” blurts out Isabella, tears now threatening to fall as she finally confronts the men in front of her.

“And out of everything, EVERYTHING that you four could have done to me, between the spanking, to the chains and cuffs to hell, even that dark awful room, I could have taken it with a grain of salt and not cared. But when you flat out murdered two people that I loved and cared for, you all crossed that line! So tell me, Why? Why should I forgive you when it’s me who broke all your rules, me who decided to run away from you, not once, but twice and me, your sole target in all of this? So again, I ask you why? Why?! Would you do that to someone you claim to love and cherish?” screams Isabella finally, tears now falling freely as she lets it all go, unleashing emotion after emotion up her four men.

At the sound of sobs now bouncing around the room does Alex move to slowly rise from his chair before ever slowly moving to kneel down next to his Queen. Taking her hands with his before moving to kiss each of them softly his hand then moving to cup her face gently as he moves to wipe away her tears as they fell his voice surprisingly gentle yet firm when he spoke.

“Then don’t. For I would rather have you not forgive us then to act like what we did to you was remotely okay to begin with. Because I can assure you now that I will spend every last second of my day trying to make things up to you. That we’ll make it up to you. Because what we did was wrong. We let our rage blind us. Hell, I even went as far as to let my animalistic urges take over me the moment I laid eyes on you. I still do and it takes all of my will power to hold it back. But I’m by far not a very good person. I’ve done things that even the devil himself wouldn’t dream of doing and for that I’m undeserving, undeserving of you and of your love and attention yet I’m selfish. We all are. And because of that reason alone we can’t ever let you go. You're our light, Our joy, Our beacon of hope in this vast circle of darkness and for that I’ll always want you no matter what.”

With the force of Alex’s confession hitting Isabella hard does Isabella move to second guess her decision while doing so. For Alex had just admitted that he was wrong in every way possible and for some small part of her she was grateful, because she knew how hard it was for him to be the most dangerous man around. Except towards her and be able to admit when you were wrong.

Then as if God was taking a stand does Grant move to clear his throat, making himself known to those within the room as he moves to speak up, snapping Alex and Isabella out of their tiny bubble that they were in.

“Excuse me if I’m being a little too far forward in the matter but… would you maybe do us the honor of going out on a date with us? Too let us show you the kind of men we truly are. The ones deserving of you and your love?”

With eyes hopeful does Isabella move to look around at each and everyone of her men. Each of their eyes held onto willingness and desire as well as unrequited love that each of them held for her and only her.

Sighing, Isabella takes everything into careful consideration before speaking. As the men who now stood before her were not the Big Bad Dom’s that she had once witnessed before, no, they were four men who were at their most vulnerable state, letting her see their emotions raw and for what it was worth, a tiny voice now whispering within the back of her mind telling her to take the chance, the risk for after all what did she truly have left to lose?

“Okay” whispers Isabella, loud enough for them to hear. Knowing that a part of her was now curious, curious about the men who stood before her. Wanting to use that time to know them and only them.

“Thank you. Thank you Principessa (Princess).”

Kissing the top of her head does Alex move to stand back up. A smile now gracing each of their faces, their breakfast long since over with before each of them move to escort Isabella to her favorite spot in all of the house. The Library. Each of them then moving to plan out their date with Isabella, a date that would take place the very next day once they had given her a soft kiss goodbye.

Watching them leave, Isabella can’t help but feel her lips shift into a huge smile, her men slowly turning over a new leaf just for her.

“Baby steps” whispers Isabella before moving to enter her library to read her vast collection of books.

*Author’s Note: Thank you everyone who is patient with me on updating this book, I don’t mean to let it go so long without updates but it’s a tad hard when writing 5 other books as well and for all of last month I had to kind of shift focus towards my one book Our Luna, Our Mate. But hopefully moving forward I can have at least 1 chapter a day posted for all of you to enjoy, thanks. *