Her chocolate eyes lift to glare into mine when I say, “I didn’t plant the bugs in your phone, Isabelle.”
My comment is loud enough that both she and Regan can hear. I need them to know whose team I’m on. This fight is not about Isaac or myself. It’s about an innocent being framed for a murder she didn’t commit.
“The first time I heard about your phone being tapped was when you mentioned it at the courthouse last week.”
After seeking the truth from my eyes, Isabelle asks, “Then how did you find out about Isaac’s private residence?”
I’m about to reply, but the quickest shift of a shadow steals my attention. Recognizing his cover has been blown, Hugo, Isaac’s righthand man/bodyguard breaks away from the dark corner he was attempting to conceal himself in. My chest swells with smugness from the stern gaze he gives me, but the strokes to my ego aren’t enough for me to forget why I’m here.
“I followed you there.”
Isabelle’s eyes snap to mine faster than a fired bullet. “Me?” she asks when she spots the direction of my gaze.
I nod. “You and Isaac. I lost your tail for nearly fifteen minutes when I followed you from his apartment one night. So you can imagine my surprise when I found Isaac’s Bugatti pulled over on the side of the highway on my way home.” I cough to clear my throat. “I put a tracker on his car when the windows got a little foggy.”
Isabelle’s face whitens as her pupils dilate.Just as quickly as her shock arrived, it is replaced with curiosity. “Then why did you take so long to get a search warrant?”
My high chest deflates. “Because back then, we had nothing on Isaac.”
Isabelle’s lips curl. She looks as smug as a cat staring at an empty fishbowl.
“I saidback then, Isabelle.” I keep my tone high, hoping it will conceal my deceit. “The search we conducted on Isaac’s residence was a valid search warrant with a very valid reason.”
Regan is too smart not to see through my lie. “You were not invited into my home under the pretense of discussing matters pertaining to Isaac Holt.”
She moves to stand next to Isabelle, engulfing me with her delicious scent. “You said you had information that would assist my client. If that statement is false, I suggest you leave my premises immediately before I file an injunction against you.”
I remind myself time and time again that my visit this morning is not about my relationship with Regan. I am here to help Isabelle, but it still takes a mammoth effort to shift my eyes away from Regan. Regan’s beauty is perfect, but she is ten times more attractive when she’s riled up. I just wish it was me she had her fists up and ready to fight for.
Getting back to the task at hand, I smile at Isabelle, hoping to ease the lines in her forehead. She’s utterly blind to my charm. Regan is nowhere near as lucky. Her strong stance doesn’t falter, but her loud gulp gives away her true self. She’s still not immune to me, which means I still have a chance. I didn’t fuck up everything last week. . .except perhaps my heart.
“I do have credible information that will be of benefit to your client,” I inform Regan, my tone both professional and friendly.
She doesn’t hear it that way. All she hears is a man hoping to slay one dragon before subduing another. Although I wish it were that easy, nothing has ever been simple for me. I work for everything I have—just the mammoth effort it took for Regan to let me speak with Isabelle is proof of this.
“Then let’s get this over and done with.” Regan gestures for me to enter her living room before grumbling, “I wouldn’t want to take up too much of yourvaluabletime.”
Over the next twenty minutes, I update Regan and Isabelle on the information Grayson’s team unearthed. Most of it is mumbo-jumbo technical stuff I’m not overly familiar with, but for the most part, Regan and Isabelle follow, only stopping to ask the occasional question.
Such as, “So the request for me to join your team was filed before I graduated from the academy?” Isabelle’s high brow reveals her confusion.
I nod. “Yes. The original paperwork was dated a month before I was assigned to my position.”
I hand her the form that proves her request to join my department was dated months before I began my interim leader role at Ravenshoe.
“But that doesn’t make any sense,” Isabelle murmurs as her eyes dart between mine. “Yousaid youbrought me in as a piece of eye candy for Isaac.”
Regan’s eyes snap to Isabelle’s so fast, I’m sure she’ll feel their strain for weeks to come. She glares at Isabelle so fiercely, the vein in her neck beats as speedily as Isabelle’s pulse thrums in her slim wrists. Although I hate that Isabelle is being subjected to her anger, I’m glad it’s not directed at me.
“I didn’t know that until after I joined Alex’s team,” Isabelle explains to Regan, her tone low and reserved. “And I also refused to become a commodity for the FBI. My refusal got me on coffee and filing duties for the past seven months.”
Now it’s my turn to be subjected to Regan’s furious glare. Unfortunately for her, it doesn’t have the same effect on me as it does Isabelle. I’m more turned on by her anger than scared of it.
Mostly.
“The decision to bring Isabelle onto my team as a decoy for Isaac was decided after attending a conference in San Francisco in April.”
I hate the way she is looking at me right now. I fucking hate it.
