“I can take myself home,” Isabelle injects, her tone as low as my mood is now sitting.
Since I’m not in the right headspace to argue, I nod before striding to the double wooden doors of the master suite. My plan is to exit without so much of a backward glance, but my neck cranks back at the request of my heart before my head can demand it not to.
The evil, vindictive woman I’m imagining isn’t close to the remorseful one on my bed. She’s panicked about my abrupt departure, but since she believes the words she muttered, she also believes it is for the best.
The innocence in her eyes has my naturally engrained dominance rearing its ugly head...or perhaps it’s the organ I sometimes wish I was without.“If you go out drinking with your friends again, only go to my clubs.”
Anger is sluicing through my veins, blinding my astuteness even more than Isabelle’s beautiful face, but that doesn’t mean I want to see her get hurt. That would kill me more than her belief I’m the evil man my competitors want her to see.
Some of the heat roaring through my veins cools when Isabelle dips her chin, agreeing with my request without thought. I show her my thanks with a smile before I exit the room with the drama I was aiming for only seconds ago.
My brisk pace slows when I spot Hugo standing near the entryway table. I requested that he wait for me outside.
“Hey.” His Adam’s apple bobs up and down before he nudges his head to the refrigerator. “I thought I might grab a bottle of water before we head out. My throat is dry from the smoky conditions last night.” That will be the first thing I change when the deeds for the nightclub I purchased last night are placed into my hands. All my clubs have a no-smoking policy. “Do you want one?”
When I shake my head, Hugo lifts his chin before he moves into the kitchen to secure the bottle he mentioned. While he does that, I gather my cell phone and keys from the entryway table. My brows pull together when I notice a handful of unopened envelopes next to Isabelle’s phone. They’re all addressed to me,and they weren’t there earlier.
With the confrontation with Isabelle still in the forefront of my mind, I stuff my phone and keys into my pocket, then head for the front door. “Let’s go. You can test Hunter’s hospitality when we arrive at his home unannounced.”
I enter the hallway, but I don’t head for the elevator at the end. I stop by the door before pulling out my phone. Although I appear to be returning one of the countless emails I received overnight, my eyes are locked on the entryway table’s shadowed legs. It’s clear Hugo arrived with the envelopes addressed to me, so I’m eager to see if he plans to leave with them as well.
My already hostile temperament nosedives to an all-time low when Hugo’s shadow veers by the entryway table, but it doesn’t stop to ensure the discretion I pay out the eye for is maintained. I’ve spent the last five years doing everything in my power to guarantee his safety, so why can’t he do the same for me?
I trust him.
I thought he had my back.
Obviously, I’m the only fool standing in this hallway.
I’ve barely ruminated over how to handle Hugo’s indiscretion when it dawns on me what he’s doing. He does have my back. He just doesn’t want me to know he does since he’s an old romantic at heart.
“What’s in the envelopes?”
Hugo splatters, coughs, and almost chokes before he follows me into the elevator car. If he thinks a near coronary will stop my interrogation, I’ve clearly not been hard enough on him.
“And why are you testing Isabelle? You wouldn’t do that unless you had something substantial on her.”
He rubs at a knot in the back of his neck while muttering, “Hunter found a license this morning. It gave him a new direction to look.”
I’m pleased they’re still seeking information on Isabelle, but his response raises more questions than it gives me answers. “And the envelopes?”
Hugo breathes out harshly. “Old bank statements from a couple of years ago. There’s nothing incriminating in them. We just wantto seeexactlywhere Izzy’s interests lie.”
“We?”
I know who he’s referencing, but I want him to spell it out for me.
“Regan, Hunter, and me.”
Regan is unexpected. I wasn’t anticipating her name to be thrown into the mix.
“We’ve never seen you like this with anyone, boss. We’re just looking out for you as you would us.”
I hit him with a stern sidewaysglare, warning him no amount of butteringup will lessen the burn of my scorn. I can take care of myself. I have for years, and I will continue for many more to come—most likely alone since the one person I trusted on sight hasn’t awarded me the same courtesy.
“Boss,” Hunter greets me with a brutal swallow when I spot him in the driver’s seat of my town car. “You told him about the envelope, didn’t you?” he whispers to Hugo when my slide into the back seat is quickly mimicked by Hugo’s slotting into the front passenger seat.
Hugo socks him in the arm before whispering, “I didn’t have much choice. Nothing gets by him.”
