Chapter 21

Alec heard the door slam with finality. He closed his eyes, it was over. Relief swept over him. It was finally over...anything would be better than the in-between state he had suffered through. And with the echoing through the house came the loss of a sister. He rested his head against the banister, not knowing whether he believed what just happened was real or not. He could see her lone figure in the darkness, disappearing and leaving herself to chance.

"Do you think we did the right thing dear?" Maryse whispered.

"We did what we had to," Robert said firmly though he was still shaking from the scene, "our obligation is to our children. Alec can handle it, he's older and he's seen the world. But Izzy-" He cleared his throat, "Isabelle is too young and she only knows of this house, this world. She must be protected from that monster." Maryse grasped his arm.

"But we left her in the world with nothing!"

"I deposited 9,000 dollars into her trust fund. She'll figure that out in no time." Alec wasn't so sure however. Isabelle was the most stubborn person on Earth. If he knew her as well as he though he did, she would not want anything else from them. They had abandoned her...

"And so have I..." He thought.

Isabelle waited until she heard the front door faintly shut. He was gone. She wasn't sure how to feel about that. Her hand clutched the trash bag as she walked down the steps- not bothering for the elevator. She settled into the routine of taking out the trash when she and Clary first moved in. Just get through this, she thought, Just put it in the trashcan and everything will be fine.

Except it wasn't. Because she couldn't but picture the look of utter brokenness on his face. They say cruelty is a cycle and Isabelle couldn't help but recognize that look and Isabelle thought that it was too common in her life. It was on Clary's when she had come back from seeing Jace, on Jace when she saw him for that brief moment at the club, even on her parents when they were throwing her out. It was everywhere and Isabelle couldn't help the jump in her hear as she saw it form upon Simon's face. It was better for him this way anyway- he didn't need someone like her in his life. She was too brash, too impulsive and too broken. He needed a whole girl, a happy and foolish one to make him whole again as well. It wasn't going to be her. It was never going to be her.

"So you didn't use the money." Isabelle froze. "I always knew you were so stubborn."

"Don't pretend you know me Alec...not now. Not ever." It was freezing but Isabelle didn't seem to feel the cold. All she could see was her brother standing in front of her after all these years. "You let them to that to me. You just stood there and didn't say anything." Isabelle felt the ice break and out came the rush of red that lay inside of her, anger she didn't know she still had after all these years.

"I'm sorry-"

"No! Shut the fuck up! I don't want to hear how hard it was for you. You don't know what it was like for me...what's its like now. How the hell you do think it felt Alec? Mom and Dad telling me that I was worthless and I wasn't good enough to be their daughter! I was kicked out of my home with nothing. Do you know how that felt? The first few days I waited at the street corner for you guys. I was hoping and praying that this was some sort of cosmic joke and you guys would come back and bring me up into my room. Do you know how terrifying it is, knowing that you don't have anywhere to go? I thought about you guys every day! How do you think I was supposed to forget the day that my family left me out to die?!" Isabelle was breathing hard as Alec just stood there- stoic.

"Answer me!" She screamed. She yanked the trash bag and chucked it at him, allowing the tiny bits of Chinese from last night stain his suit.

"I didn't want you to forget." He said quietly. "That would be the worse thing because it would change what I thought...remember who my little sister was."

"I'm not anymore." Isabelle said firmly.

"No you aren't." Alec confessed, "But as sad as I am that I wasn't able to see you grow, I am so proud of you for getting this far, for being who you are-"

"Me? You're proud of me?" Isabelle laughed bitterly. "I am one fucked up person Alec. I just stomped on this boy's heart. This sweet, nerdy, geeky boy told me that he loved me and I crushed him and I liked him...I really liked him. I met his mother for fucks sake! Why? Because that's what the world is, Alec. That's how I see it. Do you know what I do? I tread through human pain and broken hearts and I realize how ugly the world is. How ruthless it is to you and how it always lets you see the most horrible side of people. So don't say that you're proud of me because you made me like this."

"Didn't you ever hear about us too?" Alec snapped, "Mom and dad had to give up a daughter, I lost a sister-"

"Of your own violation! You kicked me out. I didn't want to go!"

"We didn't want you to either!" Alec shouted. The sentence hung in the conversation, glimmering like a thread and carefully, Isabelle started to grab onto that hope.

"Then why?"

"Mom and dad were in some...lucrative business with the Herondales-"

"What does this have to do with me?" Isabelle snapped.

"Just be quiet and you'll find out." They both smiled, reminiscing about the bickering they had when they were young.

"The deal fell though due to...outside influences. You know how powerful they are Iz. They can wipe someone off the face of the Earth. This deal led them to lose about 15 percent of their profits. It was clear that our entire family was in danger. And mom and dad did what they thought was best in that situation."

"They...got rid of me to hide me?" Alec nodded.

"They wiped everything. You had never met the Herondales as you never bothered to attend the dinner parities- a habit that we are now grateful for. So they didn't know what you looked like. Mom and dad gathered up the rest of the resources to wipe you off the map- school records, financials everything. He got a friend from the banks to set up a new account with the same password and everything for you. You would just be one of those girls out there who just happened to have the same name."

"What happened?"

"Mom and Dad went into hiding as well but me- well I wasn't as lucky."

"They caught you." It wasn't a question.

"Stephan thought that I was 'useful'. So he put me to work. It gave him a certain joy to watch the fruits of his enemies' labor work the graveyard shifts at the warehouse." He smiled wryly.

"What's he going to do to Mom and Dad?" Isabelle felt like she had dry swallowed a pill.

"Kill them probably," Alec shrugged. "The world will never know of their murder."

"Oh crap! Clary!" Isabelle whipped out her phone, dialling as fast as she could. It was only two rings.

"Clary? What the hell? Are you okay?"

"Isabelle?" Clary's voice sounded raw. she had been sobbing. "I need you to pick me up."

Preview of Chapter 22

Jace shifted in his suit. His father had always told him to remain calm under pressure and he refused to look to the left. He remembered the way their rough hands had grabbed her, dragging her off of him and her pleas that he wasn't going to hurt them if they just gave him the chance. Jace had to stop himself from smirking. She didn't know as much about him as she thought. He wouldn't have known what would've happened if the hadn't restrained him.

The judge banged his gavel.

His father was right: love is to destroy.

A/N: Next chapter is probably going to be wrap up and epilogue as I am really excited to start my new project! It's going to be diferent from anything I've ever written so far.

What did you guys think about the previews? I don't usually do that but now I think I'm going to start.

Chewie4370- as for fics I recommend, anything from my favs list is great but I'd really say Ddpjclaf because her work is really what got me into writing The Mortal Instruments fics and they're really fluffy so that's always a plus!

Thanks to everyone who took the time to read and review, it really means a lot to me.

As always, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter.