Harlow’s lips form an ‘O’ before she skedaddles back behind the counter. “I haven’t seen her yet, but I can call you when she arrives if you’d like?”
After sending a quick message, she hands her cell phone to me to place in my number. I shake my head, confident I’ll sniff out Isabelle long before both Hunter and Harlow.
And she better hope like hell she is alone.
Harlow’s throat works through a hard swallow when the phone attached to the wall behind her starts hollering. No one uses ancient services like landline phones anymore—except a woman who doesn’t even have a Facebook account.
Harlow tries to brush off my glare with a friendly tone. “Harlow’s Scrumptious Haven, how can I help you?” As she twirls the cord of the ancient phone around her index finger, she murmurs, “Oh, hi, Mom, how are you? I heard you and the ladies from the bowling alley got into a little mischief last night.Dadisn’t happy with you this morning.” The vein in her neck works overtime when I storm her way. Harlow’s father is deceased. It was the first thing Cormack told me when he second-guessed his decision to run her business to the ground three years ago. “How many times have you been told if you’re going to spend all night out with yourfriends,you should inform someone?”
When I snatch the phone out of Harlow’s grasp, the singsong voice I’m anticipating sounds down the line. “What the hell are you talking about, Harlow?”
Ignoring Harlow’s demand for me to return her phone, I snarl out, “Where are you, Isabelle? And don’t you dare say your apartment as I know you haven’t been back there all night.”
Isabelle’s short, quick breaths fascinate me until I unearth a possible reason for her breathless state.
She isn’t alone.
“Good morning, Isabelle,” greets a husky, male voice.
My growl gains me the attention of every set of eyes in the bakery, but it is my threat that has them wishing they were Isabelle. “If he touched you, I’ll break every fucking bone in his body.”
I grip the phone hard enough to crack the frail cream plasterboard when Isabelle replies, “I’m sorry, I’m indisposed right now, but be sure to say hello to Tatiana for me.”
Then she hangs up on me.
She. Hangs. Up. On. Me.
“Jesus,” Harlow murmurs when I return the phone’s receiver to the base so firmly I push it through the drywall.
She watches me more in awe than panic when I yank my cell phone out of my pocket and dial Hunter’s number. “Trace the location of the last call received by Harlow’s bakery.” When Hunterummsandahhsinstead of jumping on cue as I pay him to do, I repeat my request, louder this time around. “Trace the last call received by Harlow’s bakery.”
I get the answer I’m seeking, but it isn’t from whom I am anticipating. “It will be from the same location Isabelle has been all night. Her workplace.” Hugo stuffs his hands into the pockets of his dress pants before confessing, “She isn’t the only one putting in overtime.” He scrubs at his tired eyes. “I didn’t tell you she didn’t go home because I had a lock on her the entire time.”
He says his comment with jest, but I’m not in the mood for tomfoolery.
When I sidestep Hugo, worked up enough to demand Isabelle hand in her notice immediately, I’m blocked from exiting the bakery by the only man stupid enough to go against me. Cormack.
“You need to think about this, Isaac. Running around like a chicken with its head cut off won’t achieve anything.”
The hot air my words are delivered with fan Cormack’s face when I growl out, “There is a man with her.”
“Who could be a work colleague.”
“There… is… a… man… with… her,” I repeat, my words separated by big, deliberate breaths. “She mentioned Tatiana, and…” When I can’t make sense of the words jumbled in my head, I go for profanity. “Fuck!” After pushing past Cormack for some much-needed fresh air, I run my fingers through my still damp-with-sweat hair. “I shouldn’t have listened to anyone. I should have trusted my intuition. If I had, she would still be here.” Hating that my angst has me muddling my past and present, I lock my eyes with Cormack and say matter-of-factly, “I can protect Isabelle from Col.”
“You can,” he agrees. “And that’s why you know the best thing to do right now is walk away.” When I brush off his suggestion with apfft, he gets up in my face like he did weeks ago. “Prove this…” he whacks my thrusting chest with the back of his hand, “… has nothing to do with the chase. That this…” he taps my temple, “… is smarter and wiser now.” After shifting on his feet to face the office building Hugo has been stalking for weeks on end, he mutters, “Let her come to you for a change.” He returns his eyes to mine. They’re not a pair I recognize. “You once said to me you wish I had stepped in sooner. That I didn’t let it reach the level it did.”
No one around us knows that he’s referencing the time Ophelia slapped me over and over again. Our conversation six years ago was private, so it will stay that way until the day we die.
“I’m not giving you the chance to let me fail again, Isaac. I’m stepping in and asking you to walk away.” When my less aggressive stance exposes that he’s getting through to me, he says with a smile, “She will choose you. You’re too fucking stubborn to let her decide otherwise, and she is too smart not to see through the ruse you pulled on her two weeks ago. She knows it’s for a reason. You just need to explain why.” When I look set to recommence my march to Isabelle’s office building, Cormack quickly adds, “Onceyou’ve settled down.”
When my eyes drift to Hugo, he bobs his head, wordlessly agreeing with Cormack. “Hasty decisions—”
“Make unforgiving mistakes,” I interrupt before scrubbing a hand down my tired face. I ran for miles this morning, yet my blood is craving another hit of adrenaline. I know the best person I could disperse it on, but since the people around me are making more sense than the jumbled mess of confusion in my head, I walk away as per Cormack’s request.
It’s no easy feat for a man as dominant as me, but if I had done the same six years ago, perhaps Ophelia would still be alive, and the guilt of her death wouldn’t have me making needless mistakes with Isabelle.
As much as this will double my remorse, nothing would have stopped me from pursuing Isabelle once she entered my realm—not even a devoted girlfriend.
