"I managed to pull a historical archive report from the day before you left," Tracy informed them, her voice sounding breathless over the speaker. "Darius did personally order the baseline corporate financials for the Heart family properties and requested a thorough background check on their names before you even left Miami. I'm still working on getting the latest request docket from this afternoon, but the primary baseline order definitely came from his desk a week ago."
"Great work, thank you, Tracy. Keep me informed,” Penny said quietly, ending the call.
Isabel felt a blinding flash of red behind her eyelids. She unbuckled her seatbelt with a violent yank, her hands shaking with pure, unadulterated rage.
"The day before we left to come here?" Isabel seethed, turning to Penny with her eyes flashing like fire. "So not only did he lie to us about the entire purpose of this trip, but he's actively been using his sister and his great-niece as a convenient domestic cover story while he stalks his next commercial target. He's manipulating every single person on this island."
She balled her hands into fists in her lap, her breathing coming in ragged, uneven gasps.
“Isabel, let’s wait for more information,” Penny suggested, but Isabel could see the anger flicker in Penny’s eyes as well.
"No.” She shook her head, “This isn't just a business acquisition anymore, Penny. This is a personal vendetta. He's been playing this sickening long game ever since our parents' accident all those summers ago. He was twenty-one years old when they died, and he's been harboring this toxic desire for revenge against the Heart family ever since."
"Isabel..." Penny tried to dispute the claim, but her own voice lacked its usual certainty, a heavy look of doubt settling over her beautiful features. "Yes, I agree that is an incredibly long time to maintain that kind of malice. I don't believe your brother operates on revenge. I truly thought he was just misguidedly trying to fulfill your parents' original dream for Sweet Blossom Bay."
"Well, he knew exactly what they wanted because I personally phoned him at college multiple times a week before the accident and told him they'd completely changed their minds," Isabel reminded her, her chin lifting with a sharp, bitter motion. "He chose to ignore it then, and he's choosing to ignore it now. So, you tell me what else this could possibly be? Revenge is a dish best served cold, Penny." Her jaw clenched. “And he’s had this one on ice for a very long time.”
Penny let out a long, slow breath, unable to deny the terrifying logic of the timeline.
"He did wait to purchase this beach house until the previous owner passed away," Penny admitted softly, her voice dropping into a sad whisper. "He bought the property directly from the grieving daughter the moment the estate went to probate."
"See?" Isabel grated, her teeth clicking together as her fury reached a boiling point. "My brother is resorting to Baxter-style tactics to get what he wants. He's turned into the exact corporate monster our father despised."
"I..." Penny faltered, her shoulders slumping as she realized she had no defense left to offer. "Perhaps we should wait until we gather more evidence before we?—"
"I think we have plenty of evidence," Isabel interrupted, her voice trembling with an undercurrent of deep emotional pain that she fiercely tried to suppress. "And the absolute worst part of this entire nightmare is that he used Emma and me to get close to people we've genuinely grown fond of over the past few days. These are the first true friends my great-niece has made since she lost her parents, and it's the first time I've felt comfortable around anyone since... since I lost my son, daughter-in-law, and husband."
She swallowed hard against the lump rising in her throat, refusing to let the tears fall, forcing the memory of her late husband and her late son down into the dark corners of her mind so she could keep her anger fully fueled.
Penny's head dropped back against the vinyl seat, a long, exhausted sigh escaping her lips before she turned to look at Isabel with a tight, resolute expression.
"You're right, Isabel. He's crossed a line that can't be ignored. What do you want to do?" She sat up and looked at Isabel for direction.
"Well, I don't know about you," Isabel said, her voice stabilizing into a cold, clinical tone of absolute finality. "But I'm going to walk into that house, give my brother a piece of my mind, anddeliver an ultimatum. Then I'm packing our bags and moving Emma and me to the hotel down the road."
"We don't even know if they have any vacant rooms available for us on such short notice," Penny noted, though a small, supportive nod confirmed she was entirely aligned with the plan. “It is summer vacation.”
"I know they do," Isabel answered, a sharp, unyielding smile touching the corners of her lips. "Linda mentioned just yesterday that their tourist bookings are unusually low this summer. They need the guests, and they certainly need the capital."
Penny let out a short, sudden snort that broke the tension for a brief second. "Remind me to never get on your bad side, Isabel."
Isabel didn't answer, and she certainly didn't feel like laughing. She pushed the car door open, stepped out into the blinding, heavy heat of the afternoon, and marched inside and went directly toward the entrance of Darius's private home office.
The office door didn't just open. It slammed against the interior drywall with such force that the wide glass windows rattled in their frames. Darius spun around from the window, his hand instinctively gripping the edge of his mahogany desk as his face registered immediate alarm.
"Isabel?" Darius asked, his brows drawing together in complete confusion. "What on earth is the meaning of this?"
"Don't act dumb, Darius," Isabel jeered, taking a single, aggressive step into the center of the room, her fingers clenched into tight fists at her sides. "You didn't bring us to Sweet Blossom Bay for a family holiday. You dragged us out here to use us as convenient social decoys while you cased out the propertydown the road. You even used your own great-niece to crawl into their inner circle."
She didn't allow him to get a word in edgewise, her voice slicing through the quiet room like a razor. "How dare you play with people’s lives like this? You're acting just as badly as Baxter and his late father ever did."
"Isabel, calm down," Darius commanded, his voice dropping into his familiar, authoritative corporate register as he held up a hand. "Yes, I did come to this island to scout out the structural viability of the acquisition. It's a standard development play."
"Why are you even pursuing this acquisition?" Isabel demanded, her chest heaving with rage as the final shred of hope that he might deny it vanished completely. "I told you explicitly before Mom and Dad's accident that they had completely changed their minds about the entire scope of the project."
Darius’s brow knitted in genuine confusion for a moment, and Isabel paused. Then he shook his head slowly, reaching down to slide the thick, faded leather binder sitting on his blotter toward her.
"I'm not entirely sure what you're talking about, Isabel," Darius said softly. "But this master folder was retrieved directly from the highway wreckage of Mom and Dad’s car. These were their active plans."
