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Isaac appears in the doorway and nods discreetly to Luca.
“Sure, Thanks for tonight, Luca.”
“The pleasure was all mine,” he replies with a thin smile before bumping awkwardly past Isaac and out onto the boardwalk. The door closes and the silence inside the villa is excruciating. I walk out onto the deck unable to bring myself to look at Isaac. Out the corner of my eye I can see him move around like a shadow.
After a few minutes, he appears through the sliding doors. “Did you have a good gig?”
“Yes, thanks.” I glue my eyes to my phone, reading through my lawyer’s latest update.
“Great.”
I can feel him hovering, knowing he feels like shit because I saw him exiting Paris’s villa—and no doubt bedroom. I take a deep breath. I can’t put this off. I need his help so I may as well get it over with.
“Isaac?”
“Yes?” he replies, quickly.
“Can I ask you for one more favor?” I keep my eyes on my phone.
“Of course. What do you need?”
“I need to set up a meeting.”
“Ok. Who with?”
“My record company.”
The night is so quiet I can hear him swallow. “And how can I help?”
I turn to face him, ignoring the thumping in my ribcage. “It needs to be in secret. My manager can’t know about it. And I need to meet with Amy Kissinger, the President. I need to go straight to the top. I don’t have enough time to work my way up the chain. Can you get me her direct line? Or, even better, a confidential meeting for tomorrow?”
He watches me carefully. “No problem.”
“Thank you.” I give him a thin smile, then look back at my emails.
A few minutes pass and he’s still standing there.
“Feel free to sit out here.” I don’t look at him as I speak. “I’m going to bed soon. You can have the deck to yourself.”
“Aurelia—”
I get to my feet, quickly. I don’t want to talk. I don’t want to confront what I just saw. I just want to forget I saw it.
“Night, Isaac.”
I go to walk past him but he takes hold of my arm. “Aurelia… I’m sorry.”
I fix my eyes dead ahead towards the front of the villa. “What is there to be sorry for? You’re helping me.”
His voice is a whisper. “You know what I mean. I’m sorry you had to see that. I’d planned to get here before you came back.”
“See what, Isaac?” I still can’t look at him. “You were off duty until ten minutes ago. You can do whatever the hell you like any other time.” I push past, yanking my arm free, and walk straight into my suite, closing the door firmly behind me.
* * *
I walk outof the nondescript building and open the door to the SKS truck. Amy was happy to meet somewhere neutral in the city and it was Isaac’s idea to forgo a sedan this time, figuring one of the security trucks would be less conspicuous. Still, I donned the wig and trench again just in case.
I catch Isaac’s smile as I slide in behind him and pull the itchy, sweaty mass of hair off my head.
