Chapter 71 – Burn the Past
**** Isabelle’s POV ****
The room was so quiet that I could hear my own heartbeat — heavy, measured, and unrelenting — like the ticking of a clock counting down to the inevitable.
Victor stood before me, his figure framed in the dim, flickering light of the single overhead bulb. The shadows clung to his features, deepening the lines at the corners of his mouth, making his smirk look more like a wound than a smile.
I could smell him before I spoke — that faint blend of expensive cologne and something more metallic, darker. The scent of blood, both literal and metaphorical, clung to him like a second skin.
He didn’t move. Didn’t plead. Didn’t even raise a hand in defense.
That was the thing about Victor Raze — he was arrogant enough to believe the world would
