Beautiful Disaster

Part Seventeen

"What did you say?"

Uh oh. I should've kept my mouth shut. It was too late, though. Hugh knew that he had to explain himself to Izzy before she made that bashing his head with a frying pan joke all too real. "But it was for the best. I was assigned to keep you safe, so I had to know a little bit about you."

"What did my father tell you? Answer me!" Izzy looked absolutely murderous.

Hugh sat down beside her and folded his hands.

He wasn't supposed to tell Izzy that he knew more about her than she thought. It was her father's wish that he not creep her out further than he needed to. And Hugh knew that his mere presence was already creeping her out.

"I know that your parents had to leave you with someone else when you were a baby. The agency was just starting, and they felt that they weren't ready for such a great responsibility, especially in their dangerous line of work." Hugh grit his teeth, feeling sorry for the younger version of the woman who sat beside him. "They gave you to a home that abused you. Your guardians withheld the care they were supposed to give you and instead used the money in your trust to pay for their vices. You were left to your own devices until Mario discovered what was happening out here."

Izzy's face was pale by the time he finished his speech. Hugh felt like a heel for bringing up her past. He knew how she wanted to keep every bit of that part of her life a secret.

She'd done everything in her power to take control of her life since then. Working as a waitress and getting engaged young after an endless string of boyfriends, for example. Things like partying in Ambervale City and being the most vocal audience at Towdee council meetings were part of this too, but they didn't cause nearly as much notoriety as those first two attempts.

Hugh couldn't help but wish her guardians were still around town. He really wanted to do some serious damage to them. But they were now in some other part of the country after being locked up in jail, and gods help them if they ever came back.

Izzy leaned against the couch and closed her eyes. The pain in her expression punched a hole through Hugh's heart. He wanted to take all that pain away, roll it up, and throw it as far from Izzy as he could.

"All my life, I've never felt the kind of selfless love little girls dream about," Izzy continued. "My guardians were only kind to me when they needed me to behave in front of their guests. Most times, they... threatened me... Told me that if I let anybody know about how they actually treated me... I wouldn't be able to go to school anymore.

"I loved school. My dance teacher... Miss Haber was the only one who really cared about me. She taught me all she knew. But when she had to retire... I was so devastated. Nobody wanted me... I was just there because of the money."

"But your parents rescued you, didn't they?" Hugh raised his hand and brushed a stray lock of hair from Izzy's cheek. Izzy turned her face to his palm and opened her eyes.

"I hated them. How had they done it? How could they leave me? I was a—what—a responsibility? I am that... but I'm a person too." A tear fell from her eye and trailed down her cheek.

Hugh brushed it away with his thumb. "And they know that now. So they're trying to make everything up to you. They're trying to protect you as we speak."

The tenderness of his actions bore a hole through Izzy's defensive walls. They started crumbling down, and the tears fell in earnest. "And Peter—that horrible, horrible man. I wish I'd never laid eyes on him!"

Izzy closed her eyes, embarrassed by her tirade, but she didn't lift her cheek from Hugh's comforting touch, and Hugh was happy with it.

"What else did that idiot do to you, sweetheart? You can tell me," he asked gently. But deep inside, he wanted to find Peter right now and strangle him 'til his face turned blue.

"He threw me away for another woman! Turns out he wanted only my money as well. Tell me, Hugh, am I that unlovable? What do other girls have that I don't? What does Heather have that she found Mikey? What does Ella have that she could keep Theo's attention?"

"It's not a question of what you don't have, Izzy. You have everything, and some guys are just too blinded by what you have more. They're too blinded by the money that they're not able to see the real treasure inside." Hugh smiled gently and came closer to Izzy.

He put an arm around her shoulders and tugged her to him. His hand reached inside his pocket for the handkerchief he always kept there, then applied it to Izzy's cheeks and eyes. Hugh understood that he was getting too close and personal with Miss Nacino.

Still, he reveled in the sensation of Izzy leaning into him, her soft curves pressing against his side. The softer material of her cotton blouse suited her warm body. "Cheer up now. You look pretty when you cry, but you're a lot prettier when you smile."

Izzy snatched the handkerchief from his hand and blew into it. Hugh didn't mind so much because she'd been helping him with his laundry for some days now. She was entitled to use anything he owned.

This was personal as well, but Hugh didn't care.

"Do you think that, someday, somebody might look beyond the money?" Izzy's voice quivered as she asked him. "Do you think it'll really happen, Hugh?"

Hugh lightly pecked Izzy's temple. He would've gone for the lips—he'd been aching to taste them since their dance—but it would have felt like he was taking advantage of her moment of weakness. So he did his best to restrain himself.

"Of course." It already happened, sweetheart, he continued in his head. It did to me.

♥

Continued

Please stay tuned for more parts. And please tell a friend if you think they might enjoy this type of story. Thank you for reading!

Thank you, Valerievoyse, for checking out some of the chapters! I hope you enjoy the rest of what happens to Hugh and Izzy.