I Will Gut You Like a Fish

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So I reworked "you and your knives" because it was cringy af. It's got a bit more flavor now. I also went back to places and made Isabelle's accent more apparent in her grammar. I debated if i should go back and make her russian parts in non cyrillic form so you'd have an idea of how the word is pronounced but some of the translations just looked like misspelled english so i'm gonna leave it cyrillic and you can just make up a russian sounding word.
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Isabelle laid awake in her quiet apartment. Holding her left arm, rubbing circles on the J shaped scar with her thumb, thinking about Xander. She hadn't gotten the chance to enter his room again to finish reading that letter under his bed. It was the only hint she had about Xander's personal life. He kept no photos of relatives anywhere, no mail other than from work, nothing. Nothing to help her figure out who the hell Xander Wilde is and how she could know him.

Trying to figure these things out was sending her deeper into a hole of rage and confusion. She was getting nowhere. The thought of just dropping all of it came into her mind. Just letting go of the past, and focusing on now, sounded relieving. She had gotten away from her toxic life in Russia, and now she was here. With food to eat and a roof over her head, working for someone who seemed to care about at least her well being.

Work. Meyers. 

'Meyers' grumbled a whisper.

Isabelle's circles on her wrist stopped. That was a lot louder than her other thoughts. Real enough to almost make her think someone was in the room with her.

______________

Xander took his time with the model requested by Hayes in order to display his work's perfection.

It still snowed. With the windshield wipers on and the heater warming the vehicle, Xander waited for Isabelle to come out to the car. It didn't take long. On her way down the icy steps the girl slipped, but her reflexes allowed her to catch herself. Xander saw this and chuckled. When Isabelle opened the door she saw a box sat on the passenger seat. With a puzzled look, she put it in her lap and closed the car door.

"Is this the plaza model?" Isabelle asked.

"No," Xander said, pulling onto a street, beginning the drive to the Meyer and Hayes building. "It's for you."

Still confused, Isabelle opened the box. Inside was a flip cell phone resting on top of a brown, folded piece of clothing.

"I got us cellphones to keep in touch just in case..." he paused. "Something was to happen."

Isabelle nodded, then removed the items to put the box on the floor. With the phone in her hand, Isabelle raised the brown material and realised it was a leather jacket.

"I also got you a heavier coat if that isn't warm enough. I figured you'd already be wearing a sweater today."

"The cold doesn't bother me much."  she said.

"Maybe not but still, allowing your body temperature to reach such low levels could put you at risk of illness."

Isabelle smiled at his concern and put the jacket on. "Thank you"

"Of course" 

Xander wanted to say it was more less an apology for last week's outburst rather than a random gesture. But it happened a week ago, he was hoping she had forgotten.

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"Good morning Ms Ecco" Meyer greeted Isabelle, holding the glass door of the meeting room open for her.

"Good morning" Isabelle mumbled under her breath. She had a bad feeling about today.

Isabelle set the case on the table and opened the case, revealing Xander's fine work. Someone has gotten her a seat this time. As she sat down Hayes and the rest of the room admired the model.

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