Howard kept his eyes on the road, "Do you want me to say yes?"
"I don't know," she said quietly. "It's a bit extreme, isn't it?"
"Well, if I was involved, it was because they hired those men to attack you in that alley," he said.
"So you did it," she said.
"I did," he finally said. "I didn't want them to be around you."
"They're just teenage mean girls," Isabel said.
Howard turned to look at her, his eyes dark and stormy. He clenched his jaw and turned back to the road. His knuckles were white on the wheel.
"They're not," he said, sounding choked. "I don't know what kind of normal teenage girl hires men to attack her enemy."
"They were just supposed to scare me," she replied.
His jaw clenched, "Are you defending them?"
"No," she sighed. "I'm happy to see them gone. They were
