“Then what do you call this?” She throws the prenup I asked her to draw up onto my desk.
“It’s called showing Isabelle what she means to me.” My voice is hoarse as my anger waivers. “She’s been to hell and back because of me, yet, she still stands by my side.”
When I made love to Isabelle in front of the town I once wanted to dominate, I realized I'd give it all away in an instant for her. Everything I have, everything I achieved, meant nothing when she kneeled in front of me to offer me comfort me when I was haunted by my past. I’ve shared so many horrid things with her the past several months, yet she still looks at me with nothing but admiration and devotion in her eyes. She understands my remorse for what happened to Ophelia, but she doesn’t add to my guilt or wish I'd forget. She gets me.
She completes me.
I may not be able to articulate to her what she means to me, but I can show her. That’s why I had Regan draw up this prenuptial agreement. The agreement states if Isabelle remains married to me for five years, she gets everything I had coming into the marriage. This will make me sound conceited, but that is millions upon millions of dollars—way more than even Isabelle realizes.
Regan’s eyes drop to the prenup document for a second before she returns to my face. “You're giving her everything, Isaac. She could financially destroy you. Everything you’ve worked so hard for will be gone. Years of hard work—”
“That could have been destroyed because of your inability to keep your mouth shut during pillow talk.”
Regan balks, and her pupils widen as remorse floods her eyes.
My abrupt change in topic is to reflect the focus off me, but I don’t want nor need Regan’s opinion on what I choose to do withmyassets. I fought and bled for everything I have, so any decisions involving its distribution will be made solely by me. If I want to give it all away to Isabelle today, so be it—that's my choice to make. It’s not up for discussion or compromise. It’smychoice.
“How long did you know the FBI was investigating me before I worked it out for myself?” I glare into her glistening green eyes, my anger tapering so much from her tears. “Days? Weeks? Months? Years?”
She clutches her chest while taking a step closer to me. “Isaac… I—”
“Answer the question, Regan.”
“I didn’t know he was here—”
“Answer the question.”
Her chest thrusts up and down as she tries to maintain a cool, calm demeanor. “Five months.”
“Five months from the start or five months before me?”
My teeth crunching together fills the silence teeming between us. It also increases my anger.
“Regan—”
“Five months before you.”
My eyes snap to hers. “And when did you share confidential client/lawyer information with him?”
I try to simmer the harshness in my tone when she brushes a tear off her cheek. In the years I’ve known her, I’ve only seen her cry twice, and that was a long time ago. The fact she’s getting upset proves what Isabelle said is true. She cares deeply for Alex.
After sucking in a big breath, she shakes her head. “I didn’t.”
“Don’t lie to me, Regan.”
Her tear welling eyes lock with mine. “I made a mistake I regret every day, but Ineverdeceived you.”
“What type of mistake?” My harsh tone lowers as the truthfulness in her eyes diminishes my anger.
When a sob breaks through the tight clench of her jaw, I prop my hip on my desk next to her. Regan is my lawyer, but she is also my friend.
When I pull a couple of tissues out from a box on my safe and hand them to her, she twists them around her fingers. “My mistake was trusting him.”
I remain quiet, waiting for her to continue.
Mercifully, she doesn’t leave me hanging for long. “I fought my attraction to him. You know me, Isaac. After everything I’d been through, I never let anyone get close.” She lifts her eyes to me, her lips tugging into an apprehensive smile. “Except you.”
A small smirk etches on my mouth. It took a lot of work for me to get her walls to crumble, but I’m a fighter, and I never give up on a challenge.
