Page 72 of Isabelle’s Forbidden Love

Yes, that was the solution.

He was already stalking toward the door, when his cell phone chimed with a text message. Had Isabelle picked up the voicemail and was letting him know that she would take precautions against Sarduni?

He tapped on the screen, but instead of a text message from Isabelle, he stared at a photo of a blond man. Below it was a short line of text.

This is Dennis LaRuson. Be careful, Ines.

Relieved that Ines had found a photo of LaRuson, which would make it easy to confirm that his suspicion was correct, he typed a quick thank you to Ines, when the door was ripped open.

38

“That’s Nelson,” Isabelle said with a motion to the display of her cell phone. She clicked on accept and put the call on speaker phone, so Cooper could listen in.

They were in Isabelle’s office, waiting for Samson and the men he’d taken with him to return to HQ with Orlando.

“Hey, Nelson, I’m here with Cooper. Do you have anything for us?” Isabelle asked eagerly, knowing her time for finding evidence to exonerate Orlando of the murders of Hong and Jessica and find the real killer was running out. Once they brought Orlando back here and locked him up, Scanguards would stop searching for the real killer.

“I do,” Nelson said.

The sound of a car’s engine could be heard through the line.

“What have you found?” she asked, while she looked at Cooper who listened with interest.

“I’ll have to show you, then it’ll all become clear. You’re not gonna believe this.”

Nelson sounded excited, and Isabelle’s heart began to beat faster.

“You were right,” Nelson continued, “Orlando is being framed. And I nearly didn’t see it. If you hadn’t gotten me the info on this Dennis LaRuson, I would have never known where to look. Can you meet me outside of Scanguards’ garage in two minutes? We have to hurry.”

“Yeah, Cooper and I will meet you down there.”

“No,” Nelson said quickly. “Just you. We need somebody we trust to stay at headquarters. Once I’ve shown you what I’ve found, we’ll need Cooper to back us up from there.”

“But—” Cooper protested.

“Please, Cooper,” Nelson interrupted. “We need you at Scanguards. I don’t know whom else to trust. Somebody at headquarters is leaking information that’s enabling LaRuson to remain a step ahead of us. And I don’t know yet who is leaking this information. That person might not even know that they are giving information to the wrong person. This has to stay between the three of us. That’s the only way we can make sure to catch this guy before he has any time to destroy the evidence that’ll clear Orlando and implicate LaRuson instead.”

Isabelle exchanged a look with Cooper. “I’ll go with Nelson. You stay here and wait for our call.”

Cooper nodded reluctantly. “All right, but as soon as you guys need help, you call me. And Nelson, you’d better keep Isabelle safe.”

“I promise.”

Isabelle grabbed her handbag, and shoved her cell phone into it. “I’ll keep you posted.”

Cooper nodded, and she left the office. Finally, they were getting somewhere. Maybe by the end of the night, Hong’s and Jessica’s killer would be locked up in one of Scanguards’ underground cells. Not that this changed anything for Orlando. Clearing him of these two murders didn’t change anything about the fact that he’d killed his blood-bonded mate and her family.

As she took the elevator down to the garage level, Isabelle recalled Orlando’s words once again. He’d looked as if he’d been resigned to his fate, and had confessed to Margarite’s murder without trying to make any excuses, but she was certain he hadn’t confessed to the killing of his in-laws. That gave her pause once more. For her own peace of mind, she needed to know the whole truth. She needed to understand why she’d fallen for a man who’d killed his wife. And she had fallen for him, hard and fast. And even the revelation that he was a wife killer, hadn’t wiped out the feelings she had for him. She still loved him. She wished she didn’t. Maybe once she found out the whole truth about Orlando’s past, she would be able to find closure and stop loving him.

Once LaRuson was apprehended, she could visit Ines on her own. If Orlando didn’t want to elaborate on his deeds of the past, then Ines was the only other source who could shed more light on the killings.

Isabelle exited the elevator and walked to the pedestrian exit that led to the street. The security gate fell shut behind her, and she let her eyes roam, when she saw Nelson wave to her. He was standing behind his car, the trunk open, and he was strapping a weapon to his belt and putting on gloves.

“Hey, Isabelle, thanks for coming so quickly.”

She stopped next to him. “We’re going in armed?” She looked into the trunk but there weren’t any other weapons inside.

“No, we’re not. I am.”