After taking a step closer to me, she splays her hands across her cocked hips. “We’ve worked together for years, Isaac. I was here years before Isabelle, and I’ll be here years after she leaves.”
My ticking jaw echoes in my reply. “Even if Isabelle hadn’t agreed to become my wife, she’s not going anywhere.”
Tina balks as if this is the first time she’s heard about my wish to marry Isabelle. It isn’t. She’s just a good actor.
“You have until close of business Friday to make your decision.” While pacing to the exit, I text Regan a message to forward Tina an offer for the position of operations manager for the New York division of my clubs.
My brisk pace slows when Tina asks, “What if I refuse your offer?”
When I crank my neck back to peer at her, her attitude takes a step back. She’s not in a position to instigate ultimatums. Those, just like the appendage between my legs, solely belong to Isabelle.
Her mouth falls open when I state matter-of-factly, “Then I’ll forward you a severance package instead of a counterbid.”
With that, I leave. I’ve never felt the need to explain any business decisions I make, so I won’t start now. It was stupid for me to sleep with an employee, but with Tina’s claws hidden by eagerness, I thought she understood our arrangement.
In the two years she worked for me before we visited my ‘fuck pad,’ Tina saw me with many women, so I assumed she understood how I operated. I guess even the most confident person has trouble swallowing rejection. It most certainly singed my throat the night Isabelle failed to return to her apartment when I was endeavoring to keep Col off her tail.
I’ve never wanted to kill a man as much as I did when I heard a raspy male voice sound down the line when Isabelle called Harlow’s bakery. It was the voice of an exhausted man, similar to the one I had this morning after taking Isabelle to the brink at three o’clock to ensure we weren’t disturbed by Callie before I had my fill.
Roger’s eyes pop up from the paper he’s reading when he notices my approach. An average man would accuse him of slacking off while on the job. I’m not an ordinary man. Even with him doing the left to right sweep Isabelle is trained to look for, he was monitoring his surroundings. It’s a habit he had long before he joined my empire.
Once I’m buckled in, I request Roger to take me to Ravenshoe Private Hospital. When my Bentley fails to emerge into the traffic that always impedes the streets of Ravenshoe shortly after, I seek his gaze in the rearview mirror. He’s watching me with concerned, watering eyes.
“Is everything okay, boss?”
The dip in his tone exposes he knows I hate being questioned by my staff. If I request you to do something, you do it, no questions asked, but he must be feeling the sentiment pumping out of me. I rarely grow worried. My reputation is as fierce as it is because nothing daunts me—except this.
“Everything is fine.” I nudge my head, telling him to go, refusing to answer to a member of my staff for a second longer.
Twenty minutes later, we’ve traveled the five miles between my nightclub and Ravenshoe Private Hospital. I haven’t been here at this time of the day since I confronted Jacob about the fight he demanded I organize with the Constrictor. I acted like an egotistical asshole that afternoon. I hadn’t had Isabelle beneath me for over a week because of Clara’s claim we had slept together, and the hospital corridor Jacob and I were arguing in was oddly similar to the one I paced the night of Ophelia’s supposed ‘accident.’ Add that mess to Emily’s uncanny resemblance to Ophelia, and the entire situation was unprecedented.
In the end, it all worked out okay. I fought the Constrictor and won, and Clara’s claims were found to be untrue. Even finding out Ophelia was alive barely created a bump in my relationship with Isabelle. It’s been full speed ahead since day one. I’m not surprised. I operate on instincts, and nothing could quell my urge to have her beneath me. If she hadn’t been on her period in that washroom thirty thousand feet in the air, I would have claimed her as mine then.
Alas, fate had other plans.
When we arrive at Ravenshoe Private Hospital, I shift my eyes to Roger. “Circle the block. I won’t be long.”
There’s a multistory parking lot next to the hospital, but I’d rather Roger stay close in case I need to leave quickly. Although homicide was marked on Megan’s death certificate months ago, until a body is found, I’ll forever remain on alert. Just like Isabelle and Callie’s protection is my utmost priority, so is Nick’s. He saved my life, so the least I could do is ensure his is never in jeopardy.
Several pairs of eyes track me as I move through the lobby of the hospital. The attention doesn’t bother me. I’ve grown accustomed to the admired glances I get, but it’s grown more tenacious since Isabelle became a part of my life. Now I don’t just get the venerated eyes of women vying to warm my sheets and men who’d do anything to be me, I have to contend with ones wary on the lengths I’ll go to protect those I love.
They’ve read the reports, so theythinkthey know me. Little do they know, just like the FBI’s file on the supposed man I am is false, so are the myths on the cleanliness of my hands. For now, they’re clean, but they won’t be if I’m forced to prove how far I’ll go to protect those I love.
Jae’s receptionist greets me with a friendly smile when she notices my entrance to the doctors’ offices at the back of the lobby. Although this is an official visit, I refuse to sit in the chair Jae’s regular patients do. She rarely sees patients anymore. She’s too busy being the head of surgery, and doesn’t have time for finicky issues.
“Hey there, doll face.”
I smirk at her infamous nickname before entering her office and closing the door behind me. “Can we make this quick? Catherine collected Callie from preschool, but I promised to be home before dinner. Considering she thinks seven is late, I’m burning the candle at both ends.”
“You and me both,” she agrees, sounding exhausted.
After putting down a patient’s file she was in the process of reading, she gestures for me to sit in the seat across from her. I’m not as big as my fighters or the men who guard the doors of my clubs, but I feel like a giant sitting across from Jae. With her height coming from her mother, she’s both petite and short.
“Did you commence the vitamin regime as I suggested?”
I jerk up my chin.
Her thin brow quirks in defiance. “Then why do you look so tired?”
