Chapter 63|Confessions.

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**Isabelle's P O V.

I was pretty sure that the old man was satisfied with the sullen look that plastered over her face. He knew she'd heard his lowly spoken words of degradation, hence his expression.

"How is your grandfather?" Christopher Knight asked, adopting a haughty look.

Arabella looked about ready to disappear into thin air. I was sure she wasn't apprised of the full details of the story that caused my grandfather's health decline or Alexander's grandfather's death and her grandfather's alleged and claimed death. Only the Lord knows what lies he infiltrated into her head.

"He.. He's.. I don't know." She stammered.

An image of the two of us as toddlers rose in my head, the affection that used to exist between my grandfather and my former closest friend was nonexistent. Unlike before, it was nearly the same as what he and I shared.

"Alive and healthy huh?" My grandfather asked with a purse of his lips.

Arabella replied him with a nod.

"I take it you know that everyone else thought he was dead, still is dead. But only a very few know better. Arabella, your grandfather is not a good man. You played alongside his games for so long that you've tainted your own name and image I find it very hard to believe in your acclaimed redemption." His voice was harsh and serious.

Arabella moved further into the room, taking position opposite of me on his other side, "My life has been filled with lies. I was too young to understand the reality of what was truly happening around me when it all started. I had no one but my grandpa to explain things to me because of what happened after my grandmother's death and subsequently my mother's. I lost the two most important women in my life within the span of a few months. I had no one but my grandfather, he told me we had enemies, he told me my grandmother and mother were killed for crimes they did not commit. He made me believe injustice was done to us. He instilled in me a strong vying for revenge at a very young age and all my life he trained me for that in secret." She turned her eyes to me.

"Isabelle, my grandpa told me you took away what was rightfully mine and made sure I hated you with all I had way before I made it to my teens, he told me about my betrothal to Alexander and Christopher Knight's insistence that the betrothal is intended for his own granddaughter, Isabelle and not me. He made me truly believe my grandmother was executed for a crime she did not commit. I'm still lost as to the reality of the situation. Ten years ago, he sent assassins into London to haunt you and kill you, they returned with news of success and we never heard about you again. We celebrated your death."  I understood that she was bordering on hysteria from her rapid speech.

"What do you mean assassins were sent to kill me?" I asked, my eyes darting to my grandfather's.

He nodded, "She speaks the truth, the assassins were under the impression that they were successful. It was one of the reasons why we chose that time to send you away. Arabella, your grandfather's boys failed their mission. They made you believe in lies. I cannot imagine the level of shock you and your grandfather went through at the thought of my Isabelle returning in the arms of her beloved after you sent the man to her yourself."

Bewildered, I stared with my mouth agape at the both of them. "How did you know that grandpa?"

Every revelation was proving to be more shocking than the last.

"I am a wise man Ysa, I know my ways. I might be bedridden but I know what's going on in several places at the same time. I have eyes and ears everywhere." He surmised with a grin. "Why did you go on with his plans then?" He asked, getting back to the topic at hand.

Arabella shifted on her feet.

"I did not know any better than what he told me. I took his words as facts, I took them as the reason for my existence. I took it to heart deeper than you'll ever understand because he was the only kin of mine I knew who loved me. He made me treat my Aunt Julie, his own daughter as a stranger even though I grew up alongside her son who isn't older than me by much. Even my Aunt Julie has no idea that my grandfather is alive. To her, I'm in NYU studying right now. She took me to college herself and the next day Grandpa had his people take me to the De Luca Pack manor knowing the Alpha wasn't there. You know how he knew it?" She asked, now that the words have started flowing past her lips she made no effort to stop them.

"That is because my grandfather himself breached the De Luca territory, he had people from within closely guarding the Alpha's moves and he chose the perfect spot to strike when Alpha Alexander went to the spot he uses to breathe fresh air and unclog his throat of the stress in his life. He met with the Alpha and spoke to him about the betrothal. He gave him an ultimatum to mate with his counterfeit intended or to face the wrath of the Blood oath and the Alpha proved relentless. Knowing the Alpha's cantankerous and unyielding nature had him using his backup plan." She paused for breathe and we listened attentively.

"When the Alpha proved hard to defeat, he had one of his strongest soldiers slice the Alpha's face with a knife made from silver and doused in blazing fire, its tip was thin but highly effective. Going to him in a large number prove to be an advantage to them because they used it against him and their weapon choice had him at their disposal. They used the nepenthe and obsidian coal powder on him and had him slipping to the forest of the unknown without knowing that you were there and not dead. They deliberately chose not to kill him. Martin knew Lucas could be controlled but Alexander could not ever be hence his decision." She explained rapidly.
Allah