I open the planner on my desk, groaning when I see how hectic it is. Nearly every weekend for the next twelve months is blacked out with an event or an important business endeavor I can’t set aside for longer than I already have. My capital has taken a hit since Isabelle entered my life, but I’m not the least bit worried. She’s worth more than all the billions I have in my bank.
Regan chuckles at the groan I release when she says, “You do know most weddings take months to plan? This isn’t something that will happen within the next month or two.”
I give her a look as if to say,like hell it willtake months. I’ve waited months already. I’m not delaying this for a second longer.
“We just need an hour or two to sit and work out all the details…”
I stop listening to Regan’s snickers about how ridiculous I’m being when I stumble across a handwritten note I scribbled in my planner weeks ago. Usually, Catherine handles my business matters, but since this was personal, I penciled it in myself.
I check my watch, noting I still have enough time to make my appointment if I leave now. Regan watches me with wide, panicked eyes when I make my way to the coat rack in the corner of my office to snag my jacket.
“Please don’t tell me you’re rushing her to the courthouse now. Izzy deserves better than a quickie wedding—”
I cut her off with a stern glare. “I’d never be so heinous.” When her brow becomes lost in her platinum blonde locks, I snicker, “After I wed her in the City Clerk’s Office, I’d throw her the best afterparty money could buy.” I wait for her face to finish morphing into shock before hitting her with a frisky wink. It’s closely followed by honesty. “Isabelle is at work. If she weren’t, I wouldn’t be here. I have an appointment I forgot about.”
“You,theIsaac Holt, forgot an appointment?” While clutching her necklace, she scoffs. “Surely, not.”
I’d take a moment to relish in the humor in her tone if I had time. I’m also eager to leave before she discovers it isn’t just forgetfulness instigating the shake of my hands. It’s wondering if I’m on the verge of breaking a promise I made to Isabelle. One that will expose why I wanted our prenup drafted as it was.
After putting on my suit jacket, I pivot to face Regan. “As it stands now, will our prenup hold up in court if we were never to marry?”
She appears stumped by my question, but she has her game face on. “We altered the wording a little, so your relationship became a codified status upon signing. It would be hard for anyone to challenge it, but why does that matter, Isaac? This is a prenuptial agreement, not a will.”
Since this is Regan, and she’s bound by a code of ethics, I speak freely, “Because this isn’t about the division of my assets if I were to die. It’s if I’m forced to leave Isabelle while I’m still breathing.”
Shocked and frozen in place, she watches me stride out of my office door, aware that death and not being with Isabelle is the same thing to me.
Upon spotting my brisk strides across the mahogany dance floor of my club, Tina darts out from behind the bar. “Boss, I wanted to check numbers with you for Fourth of July celebrations.”
“Can it wait? I have an important meeting to attend.”
She takes my curt tone in stride. It’s nothing out of the ordinary for her as of late. I’ve always been a bit brutish with my staff, but Tina has my usually serene demeanor faltering the past few months. No matter how influential Isabelle has been to my life, Tina still treats her as an outsider.
I wonder if her disdain will change when she discovers Isabelle will have more stake in the Dungeon than me when Regan files the documents I just handed her? I won’t have long to find out. Once the forms are processed, Regan will commence altering all formal documentation, including the proprietor name above the door of the very club we’re standing in.
Tina’s firm stance withers like a picked flower on a hot summer’s day when she’s subjected to my rueful glare. “I guess it can wait.”
I dip my chin in thanks. “Good. I’ll be with Roger if you need me, but I’d prefer you not contact me unless it’s urgent.”
“Unless it’s regarding Isabelle, right?”
She whispered her comment, but it isn’t quiet enough to leash my retaliation. When I turn to face her, she rolls her shoulders, revealing inches of the smooth skin on her stomach her midriff top and micro denim shorts have no chance of hiding.
Tina has the right to act barefaced. Before Isabelle came into my life, no woman bar her was capable of keeping up with me in the bedroom. That’s a thing of the past now, though. I had no clue of the full strength of my sexual proficiencies until Isabelle unleashed it.
She not only brought out a side of me no other woman had ever seen, she unearthed parts of me I didn’t know existed. She completes me in a way I never knew I needed but crave more than anything, so I refuse to stand by and watch her be disrespected by anyone, much less someone I pay to work for me.
Tina’s eagerness to please me pops a brilliant idea into my head.
“With Hugo returning to his role in Ravenshoe, I’m without an operations manager for my New York clubs. With the cost of living higher in New York, the salary offered for the position will reflect that, so keep that in mind when you go over the offer Regan sends you later today. It comes with an apartment close by, including services.”
Excitement blisters across Tina’s features until the entirety of my offer crashes into her. “We’ll still work together as we do now, right? You monitor your interstate companies as regularly as you do your home-based ones.”
The panic in her eyes implodes when I shake my head. “Not anymore, I won’t be. With Isabelle’s recent placement at Ravenshoe PD hogging her time and Callie preparing to commence school next year, I’d prefer to stay close to Ravenshoe. That’s why I need someone at the helm capable of running things how I like. That could be you—ifyou can remember your place.”
“Myplace?”
I don’t reply to her question. I don’t need to. The anger lining her face reveals she heard the words I can’t speak unless I want to face a workplace harassment claim.
