respectful relationship will get Grayson off my back for a few hours. “I just wanted you to know I understand you not being able to come to the gala with me. With everything going on, you’ve got more pressing matters to handle than being my date for a night.”
Shock is the first thing to register on Isabelle’s face. It’s closely followed by remorse. “The gala is this weekend?”
When I nod, she stomps her foot down.
“It’s Friday night, but you don’t have to come.”
“I told you, she’s as rogue as they come,” Grayson mutters in disappointment when he spots the guilt on Isabelle’s face not even the world’s shonkiest camera could hide. “She’s Leesa 2.0.”
I’m about to step into phase two of my plan when assistance comes from the last person I expected. “You should go,” Regan says, walking out from the hallway. “Having you out in public with another man will help make the jury believe you have no association with Isaac.” A sugary smell similar to the one you get when you enter a bakery filters in the air when she reaches us. “It will also aid in your innocent plea. Only people with something to hide are concerned about prosecution.”
“You don’t think it will be distasteful for me to go to a fancy gala with a death hanging over my head?” Isabelle asks at the same time Grayson murmurs, “Smart and beautiful. Alex got lucky.”
Regan shakes her head. “No. You knew of Megan from an FBI agent perspective, but you have no personal connection to her whatsoever. You don’t mourn the death of a stranger.” She looks like she’s dying to bump her hip against Isabelle’s, but since she’s unsure if that’s a normal thing for one woman to do to another, she adds a chirpy tone to her words instead. “And with you being out of Ravenshoe for a few nights, I won’t have to check your room every ten minutes to make sure Isaac hasn’t snuck in.”
Have you ever felt like the odd man out? That’s what I’m experiencing right now. Regan looks like she’d rather wrestle a tiger than continue with our conversation, and Isabelle is concentrating so hard, you’d swear I was asking her to divulge national secrets. And I’m just standing here like a dork, unsure if I’m coming or going. Even Grayson is quiet.
After what feels like an eternity, Isabelle locks her eyes with mine and asks, “What time are you picking me up?”
I almost fist bump the air, but since Regan is watching every expression crossing my face, I keep my euphoria on the down-low. “How does eight sound?”
Isabelle cringes like she didn’t wake before the sparrows every day the past eight months. “Eight sounds great. I’ll see you then.”
“Great, see you then.” Not thinking, I swoop in to plant a kiss on her cheek before pivoting on my feet and high-tailing it to the door.
“Don’t forget your jacket, dipshit,” Grayson reminds me, redirecting the course of my steps.
Once I have my coat in my hand and a good amount of distance between Regan’s apartment door and the elevator car, I say, “Let phase two begin.”
This one will be trickier than the one we just undertook. It isn’t every day you endeavor to steer a mafia prince onto the right side of the law.
“This isn’t what I meant by phase two,” I mumble, shoving the printout Melody emailed me yesterday morning back into Grayson’s hand.
Once the account number Melody unearthed was linked with the intel the Bureau’s mainframe automatically uploaded from Regan’s laptop when I helped Alex with a log-in issue, an avalanche of revelations were exposed. The down payment Isaac made to the Popovs two weeks ago was only a smidgen of the icing on the cake. Whatever he’s buying is substantially more than a mail-order bride because its ticketed price came in at a little over 2.4 million dollars.
Although I’m curious to discover what Isaac is purchasing, I can’t forget my exchange with Alex yesterday morning. “Your brother fired me after hitting me. I’m not on his team anymore.”
“So a little misunderstanding means he doesn’t deserve to know the man he’s chasing is a criminal?” Grayson asks, glaring at me. “Those payments add up to over two million dollars—”
“I know what they add up to. I can count. Doesn’t change my mindset, though.” I’m pissed as fuck Alex retaliated with violence. I get he thinks I saw Regan in a compromising position, but if he had given me the