I nod. “He’s a little stressed.”
“Aren’t we all?”
Hugo would never say it, but I know his “we” reference was more about me than him. Isaac is in the dark about my previous interactions with the man trying to take him down, but Hugo is well-informed.
It is terrible of me to do, but hating the focus on me, I shift it to Hugo. “Should you be here, Hugo? A courthouse isn’t an ideal location to hide a ghost.”
He grins at my attempt to badger him. “It’s better than haunting a graveyard for real.”
“True,” I reply through twisted lips.
He curls his thick arm around my shoulders before dragging me toward the room Isabelle is waiting in. “I appreciate your concern, Ms. Prim and Proper, but you don’t need to worry about me. I canhandlemyself.”
I loudly gag. The sexual innuendo in his voice is way too much for me to handle right now. I’m hormonal and tired, an extremely lethal combination when you add my exchange with Alex last night into the mix.
Even more so when I spot him accosting Isabelle in the interrogation room. “What the hell is he doing here?”
“Who’s that?” Hugo asks, revealing I said my comment out loud instead of in my head as I was planning.
I downplay Alex’s role in my life. “He’s Isabelle’s boss.”
“Oh.” That’s all Hugo says, but I hear so much more. Hugo may be handsome, but he’s also smart. That’s not rare for Isaac’s innermost circle.
Hoping to avoid an awkward confrontation, I break away from Hugo’s side, spin on my heels, then nudge my head to the front doors of the courthouse. “Bring your car around front.” When he attempts to protest, I quickly add on, “The faster we get Isabelle out of here, the better it will be forallinvolved.”
He rolls his eyes, but thankfully that is the beginning and end of his gripe.
I wait until Hugo disappears down the hall before entering the interrogation room. My strong strides don’t reveal the faint wobble in my thighs I’m ashamed to admit is there. Although the creak of the door I’m entering drowns out what Alex is saying, I get the gist of it from Isabelle’s wide gaze. She looks panicked, a little peeved, but mostly panicked.
“Your bail has been paid; you’re free to go, Isabelle.”
She nods, acknowledging she has heard me before she focuses her attention back on Alex. “Be the agent you say I could be, Alex. Dig deeper, look harder, and unravel the truth instead of running with speculations. I’m not just talking about my case. I’m talking about Isaac’s as well.”
My heart thumps harder when Isabelle steps closer to Alex. I’m torn. I want to protect Alex from the anger reducing Isabelle’s beauty from that of an angel to a mere mortal, but I’m morally obligated to protect my client.
My fears are unfounded when Isabelle maintains her dignity by delivering her scorn to Alex with words instead of her hand. “And do it without the underhanded and illegal activities like tapping your agents’ phones and paying exorbitant airfares.”
Her admission shocks both Alex and me, but she fails to see that when she darts out of the room. I wait until she is out of earshot before returning my focus to Alex. I’m about to tell him that she’s right. If he would just dig a little deeper, he’d see Isaac as Isabelle and I do, but Alex’s questions cut me off.
“What is she talking about? What bug?”
His confusion seems genuine, but I’ve been burned before so I must act cautiously. “Before her arrest, Isabelle located a tracking device in her cell phone. It was the second one uncovered within a matter of days.”
Isabelle didn’t find the tracking device in her cell, but Isaac’s security team did, which is practically the same thing. What Hugo said months ago is true: if it affects one of us, it affects all of us. Isabelle is now one of us.
I can see Alex wants to switch our conversation from business to personal, but the seriousness of Isabelle’s charges stops him. “Were the devices logged into evidence?”
I shake my head. After several run-ins with corrupt members of law enforcement, Isaac is hesitant to trust them. I don’t blame him.
Alex steps closer to me, engulfing me with his schmexy scent. “Can the devices be logged into evidence?”
My molars grind when I spot his game plan. He thinks a lack of distance and a roughish grin will have me panting at his side, begging for his scraps.
I have news for him.
“When you bring me a credible warrant, I’ll have my men hand them over. Until then. . .”
I allow my exit of the room to finalize my dramatic statement.
