Closer to the Whispers

Savior

**TW mentions of drug use**

I didn't get very far before being spotted as I was walking down the road to the taxi station. A tall man in all black waved to me and then fell into pace beside me.

"So, where are you going?" He asked formally, and a bit annoyed as if he didn't want to be there.

"Buzz off. I don't need Leo or his guards. I'm flying back to school, and I will get to my own place. I just want to be left alone." I said angrily, reeling from the unexpected turn the conversation took.

I liked Leo. More than anyone else I had ever hung out with before, but he could be so clueless. I also knew I wasn't ready to give up my goals for him. I just wanted the freedom to decide what would happen in my life. Leo took that from me.

"Right, well, I'm on strict orders to stay with you. I can get you on the next airplane, actually, unless you really want to be walking around in the dark." He said gruffly, taking out his phone to make the arrangements.

"Really? Thanks a lot." I said, cooling down, realizing this nightmare was soon to be over. After only a few minutes more of walking, a black car pulled up and stopped.

"Alright, now, time to go." The guard said urgently, opening the door and ushering me in. I smiled, but I glanced up at the guard and realized I didn't recognize him. His urgency also struck me as odd since there were no other cars on the road.

"Maybe I should just walk. It's not that far," I said nervously, taking a step back. He grabbed my arm and, without warning, threw me in the car, following quickly behind me.

"Drive."

I screamed both in pain and surprise, but he put a washcloth over my face, pressing down so hard I could barely inhale.

I had never been insecure about my size until that moment, and I struggled helplessly against the man's seemingly infinite strength.

"Relax. This will all be over before you know it." I tried to fight him, but I felt the drug's effect kicking in, and my body relaxed despite my desire to gouge the man's eyes out.

I inhaled a short breath, and apparently, it was the magical one. I fell unconscious into a dreamless sleep, fading out of reality.

Leo POV:

I had been back at the mansion for a few miserable days, and all of my security guards couldn't locate Isabella. After she left, they received notification that she had flown back to the U.S., but since all of my security was on the island with us, there was no one to watch her on the other side.

I knew she wanted nothing to do with me, but she didn't grasp the danger she was in by running away from me. I tried tracking her with her necklace, but like a fool, she had taken it off.

I sat in my room, watching the fire burn slowly after spending another day out trying to locate her without success. I was sore from walking everywhere and emotionally exhausted. I would do anything to go back in time and handle things more gracefully.

I sometimes forgot how headstrong she was, and that was my downfall. I was so used to being in control every second and dealing with yes men that never questioned my decisions that I forgot how to deal with people that were not being paid by me.

My phone rang, and at last, it was her number. My heart jumped with excitement, and I answered.

"Izzy, where are you? You CANNOT do this to me. I'm coming to get you now!"

Manic man's laughter came through the phone, and my excitement evaporated in a split second.

"You destroyed my company all because of my son's idiocy. It was only fair that I destroy what is most precious to you." Triton Johnson said cruelly. I could see his smile through the phone.