by Katie Reus
If the situation had been any different, Evan might have snorted or laughed. Viktor Ivanov had a ruthless reputation but he did whatever his wife wanted. “Thank you for telling me. What did the police say?”
“They will be looking into it, but there was something obscuring the license plate, and the man had on a mask.”
Evan frowned, a lead ball settling in his gut. “Was she targeted specifically?”
“It looks very specific to me. The police wanted to know about her different business deals, and considering what happened to her father and you, I hope they take this seriously.”
“Thank you.”
They made no small talk after that, just quickly disengaged, something Evan was grateful for. On the best of days, he had no energy for small talk and this was not a good day. Not now that he knew Isla had been mugged.
As he set his phone down he grabbed another towel and rubbed it over his head. He needed to shower and he had to fight the deeply instinctive urge to rush right over to Isla’s condo. She wasn’t his. And never would be again. He’d made sure of it.
He wasn’t going to tie her to a broken man—not when it was his fault her father was dead.
When talking to Ivanov it hadn’t occurred to him to question who had been with Isla at the restaurant, so he quickly texted the question. He wanted to know if there had been another witness.
A moment later, he found himself glaring at his cell phone screen. Isla had been with Geno Conti. A pretty boy who slept with any willing woman, it seemed. He’d heard from a source that Conti and Isla were working on a deal together, but this could have just as easily been a date.
Annoyed, he scrubbed a hand over his face and left his gym. Once he was in the shower, letting the hot jets blast over him, he found himself consumed with thoughts of Isla.
As always.
He used to love running his hands through her thick, auburn tresses—while they’d showered together. Hell, they’d spent every free second they’d had together. He would sneak away for lunches even though he should have been working, usually meeting her at one of the local food trucks. He would have done anything for just a few extra minutes a day with her.
He’d even taken up running so he’d get to spend more time in the mornings with her—and he’d found that he enjoyed it. Isla had always pretended not to be competitive, but then at the end of their runs she would sprint ahead and pump her fists in the air like Rocky.
Then she would laugh, the most beautiful sound in the world, her bright green eyes sparkling as she did—
No. He had to stop thinking about her. That was impossible, however, because when he closed his eyes, he saw her. He had every curve, every line of her body memorized, including the way her full breasts felt in his palms as he cupped them, teased them.
She was petite, barely hitting five feet two, and she’d fit perfectly against him in every way.
When he realized he was stroking himself to thoughts of her, he stopped, grinding his teeth together. No.
He turned the shower to cold and quickly finished, hurrying to the office in his condo. He wasn’t good company today and didn’t think he would make it to the main office of Bishop Enterprises. The building itself had been completely renovated since the bombing and there hadn’t been any real structural damage. It was as if it had never happened. But nothing could erase the past.
Shaking those thoughts off, he focused on the day at hand. He had no meetings that he couldn’t simply Skype. And his assistant Ricardo was more than capable of dealing with any issues.
He flipped on two of his televisions, watching the stocks in the background as he pulled up one of his many email accounts.
He frowned as an image of Isla and Geno flashed on-screen, clearly taken with someone’s cell phone. Stupid gossip. That was the problem with living in Miami—celebrities were everywhere, and Isla’s family was well-known and wealthy. But Conti was the real reason they were on the news. Gossip rags loved anything to do with troublemaker Conti. Though in the past year Evan didn’t remember reading anything negative about the man. Apparently he was cleaning up his act.
His annoyance surging, Evan changed the channel but found himself doing an online search.
When he saw another story about Isla and Conti with the writer speculating if the two were now an item, he resisted the urge to smash his laptop. Feeling his mood grow darker, he turned it off.
But he couldn’t get the image of Isla smiling at Conti out of his head no matter how hard he tried. At twenty-eight, she was a decade younger than Evan, something that had never mattered between them. But seeing that picture with Conti, a man the same age as her who looked as if he fit perfectly with her? Yep, he definitely needed to hit something.
Chapter 3
Isla had just stepped out of her private executive bathroom when she heard a knock on her office door. She was fairly certain she knew who it was. “Come in.”
“Hey, it’s just me.” Madeleine, one of her senior-level executives—who she was seriously considering moving up to the CFO position—stepped in. Her brown hair was pulled back into a twist and she was wearing her standard pantsuit.
“Hey.” She smiled at the other woman. “Mind helping me with the zipper?” Her dress was a mix of sparkles and lace, with a scalloped V-neck and delicate flutter sleeves.
Madeleine let out a low whistle. “Your dress is gorgeous. And so are you. Now I’m almost jealous I’m not going tonight.”
Isla snorted and turned around, lifting her hair so Madeleine could pull the zipper up the rest of the way. Months ago she would have been excited to go to a big gala because she would have had Evan by her side. Now? She’d rather be at home, away from all people. Healthy? Nope. But it was the truth. Madeleine, however, had no interest in stuff like this. “You are such a liar. You’re going to go home to Alena and the two of you are going to enjoy an amazing night, not wearing stupid heels and making pointless chitchat with tons of strangers.”
“Aren’t you just a ray of sunshine? And you’re also completely correct. I wouldn’t mind getting dressed up though. It feels like it’s been forever since Alena and I have gone on a date.”
“I have two extra tickets to the Cirque show. It’s actually why I called you up here. I was going to see if you wanted them. It’s for next weekend, so it’s a little last minute. One of the vendors gave them to me.” And since she and Evan had gone in the past, it made her feel crappy to go without him. Which was beyond stupid, but there it was.
She was currently at the stage where she was avoiding many of the places she’d gone with Evan, so that covered a whole lot of the city. Eventually she would get out of this funk but it wasn’t going to be today. And she was pragmatic enough to realize that. So she was embracing being in this ostrich mode where she simply buried her head in the sand regarding all things Evan.
“Are you serious?” Madeleine said.
She strode to her desk and pulled out the tickets. “They’re actual physical tickets. How cute is that?” she said, handing them over. Almost everything was electronic now but her vendor was kind of old-school.
“Thank you. Alena was talking about this weeks ago but it was already sold out.”
“I’m glad you’ll be able to enjoy them. So is there anything new to report other than the email recap you sent?”
“Nothing other than I let Rodney Wood go today. I waited until the end of the day and called him in. We’re going to give him a severance.” Her tone was dry because she didn’t think Rodney deserved one.
Isla nodded, glad that was one more thing taken care of. Rodney had been with the company a decade and she wasn’t sure how he’d slipped through the cracks. The man was a mediocre engineer whose credentials weren’t nearly as impressive as he’d led the company to believe. Top that off with atrocious soft skills and he’d been seriously harming his division, creating a toxic atmosphere. She wanted to grow her father’s business—well, her business, technically—not stifle true talent. She’d
discovered that they’d already lost a few people because of Rodney after she reviewed some of the exit interviews, and she wasn’t going to lose any more good people because of a bad apple. “Thanks for handling that.”
“Just doing my job.”
“Well, you are doing a damn good job.” Isla almost told Madeleine that she wanted to talk to her about the CFO position, but held back. She wasn’t ready to finalize anything yet. Soon though.
“So…I know this is not work-related and kind of gossipy,” Madeleine said, “but I saw the news today.”
She stared blankly at Madeleine. “About the upcoming deal?” She’d scanned online this morning, but hadn’t seen anything interesting.
“No. About you and Geno Conti…in the gossip section. I was wondering if you guys were dating?”
She snorted, some of the tension inside her easing. As long as there wasn’t any speculation about any of her upcoming deals—that she desperately wanted to wrap up—she didn’t care. “There’s not enough money in the world.”
Madeleine let out a startled laugh. “He is pretty though.”
“True enough. And he’s a hell of a lot smarter than people give him credit for. Most people assume he got his job because of his father, and I know there is a lot of truth in that. But he’s kind of a math nerd if you can believe it, and he’s fantastic with people in a way that his brother and father aren’t. He’s a good asset.” And she had a feeling his family didn’t appreciate it, probably because of the reputation Geno had created for himself.
Madeleine lifted an eyebrow. “Thinking of poaching him from his dad?”
Isla grinned, lifting a shoulder. “Nah. So what did the gossip column say, anyway?”
“Nothing really. There was just a picture of you two at a restaurant, and the writer was speculating whether you’d finally moved on from—” Madeleine’s eyes widened and she cleared her throat. “Anyway, it was just trash with nothing to back it up.”
Isla ignored the near comment on Evan, burying thoughts of him down deep. They had no place in her head. Not tonight, anyway. “Thank you for letting me know about it. Seriously. If you see anything else like that, let me know.” Isla was bad about checking stuff online, especially lately. She’d been so consumed with her father’s projects. Heck, she couldn’t even remember the last time she’d checked her only social media account. It was too much of a time suck and she had far too much to do lately. And if she was being completely honest with herself, she didn’t want to stumble across anything that might mention Evan.
“Will do. And I know tonight is work, but I hope you have fun. You deserve it.”
She doubted she’d have fun for a long time yet, but she kept that negativity to herself. “Thanks. I’m hoping to get the ball rolling with Sara Rodriguez.” If she and Geno could just get Rodriguez to sign off on a few things, they’d be that much closer to wrapping up this business and Isla could focus on other projects.
“Just let me know if you need anything on my end.”
“I will.”
Now she just had to get through the rest of the night. One thing she was grateful for: it was almost guaranteed Evan wouldn’t be at the gala. He’d given up on all social events lately. The reasoning for it broke her heart, but the man himself had broken it more.
She was glad not to have to worry about seeing him tonight.
* * *
Since Geno had run behind with some of his meetings, Isla had agreed to meet him at the gala and was grateful for it. Her hired car pulled up front where photographers were already waiting. She definitely wasn’t famous enough to warrant tons of pictures, but she was sure they would snap a few of her. If only because she was the daughter of a former beauty queen and a man who had recently been killed in a bombing that had rocked the city.
She mentally prepped herself as the door was opened for her. Lifting up the hem of her long dress slightly to avoid snagging it on her heels, she stepped out and plastered on a smile. She’d learned that it was much better to be always smiling than to have no facial expressions. Because if someone caught you in the picture looking like you were frowning, people speculated that a million different things were wrong. It was obnoxious. But it was just the way it was. As she moved forward, she ignored the twinge of discomfort from her mugging. She knew it could have been a lot worse than some uncomfortable soreness and she was grateful for that.
To her surprise Geno stepped out of the car right behind hers.
Laughing lightly, she waited until he joined her. “That’s some great timing,” she said as they headed up the red carpet together, ignoring the flash of cameras—and people calling out Geno’s name.
“You look fantastic.” His smile was easy and affable.
“You look pretty good yourself.”
“I’m sure you saw the garbage article about us,” he said, taking her elbow as they moved up the stairs leading to the door.
“Yes. Hopefully it won’t have a dampening effect on your social life,” she teased. He really was easy to be around.
He simply snorted and held out their invitations as they reached the door. “There are far worse things than people thinking you and I are dating.”
She gave a forced laugh because she wasn’t sure how to respond.
“Can I be blunt?” he asked as they stepped past the entrance.
People were everywhere, many faces she recognized. She waved at a woman she’d gone to college with, but kept up with the flow of people as she and Geno made their way to the ballroom entrance. So far it didn’t seem to be crushing, just a steady flow of women and men in elegant dresses and tuxes. “Sure.”
“Would you like to go on a date with me after this deal is closed?”
She froze and stared at him, trying to find her voice—trying to figure out how to politely reject him. She wasn’t sure what her expression looked like but he actually winced.
“All right, then. I’ve got my answer.” Laughter filled his voice, thankfully. “You’re hell on my ego—which is probably good,” he continued. “At least according to my sister. She said I need to be knocked down a few pegs. Mission accomplished.”
Despite the awkwardness, Isla found herself laughing out loud at his bluntness. “You took me off guard. The answer is definitely no, but—”
He laughed again, the sound drawing looks from a few people around them. “You really don’t hold back. I think that’s why I find you so refreshing. And I’ve got to say Evan Bishop is a dumbass.”
“Hey,” she snapped. Even if she was angry at Evan, she didn’t want anyone else talking like that about him. It made her claws come out—and that surprised her.
Still holding on to her elbow, he continued guiding them through the throng of people. “I like the guy, a lot. I’m just saying he’s a dumbass for letting you go. That’s it.”
Despite herself, her mouth curved up into a smile. “Sometimes you’re nothing like I expected… And others, a little bit what I expected.” It was clear he was a playboy, but the man was a hell of a lot smarter than people gave him credit for. She’d learned that in the short time they’d been working together. Now she understood why her father had teamed up with him to close this deal instead of Geno’s father or brother. The man was easy to work with and her father had likely figured that his charm would go a long way in closing things with Sara Rodriguez.
He full-on grinned and she suppressed a laugh when a nearby woman did a double take, staring at him. “Yeah, I get that a lot. People are always surprised to find out I’m not just a pretty face.” Again with that charming smile.
She rolled her eyes and started to tell him that they needed to find Sara Rodriguez when they very nearly ran into Evie Bishop and Dylan Blackwood. Well, she guessed it was Evie Blackwood now. Still, she would always think of Evie as a Bishop.
“Isla.” Evie stepped forward and pulled her into a tight hug. “You are absolutely stunning. I don’t even want to stand next to you, you’re so gorgeous.”
Isla
made a scoffing sound, even as her cheeks flushed. Evie was always so nice and Isla never knew what was going to come out of the woman’s mouth. She’d been looking forward to getting Evie as a sister-in-law, to gaining all of the Bishops as family because they were just so wonderful. “You’re out of your mind.”
Dylan stepped up and gave her a quick hug, his smile genuine. None of the brooding from him she’d seen for the few months that he and Evie had been broken up. Now he just looked…happy. Settled. And the two of them deserved it.
“You look incredible,” she added to Evie, because it was the truth. Though Isla was pretty sure everything looked good on her. Her long, black, one-shoulder gown was slightly ruched around her middle, but other than that it was simple and shimmery and fit Evie like it had been custom tailored for her. Which it probably had been. “I hope to see your parents here tonight too. Your mom sent me a text letting me know she would be here.” Even with everything that had happened with Evan, she simply couldn’t cut his parents out of her life. They’d been a lifeline as the three of them had been holed up in the hospital waiting for news on Evan. Even though he’d cut Isla out of his life, she still loved his parents, and they her.
“Oh, they’re around here somewhere. Ah, and here’s Evan.” Evie motioned over Isla’s shoulder.
Ice coated her veins as Evie’s words sank in. He couldn’t be here. No. No, no, no. He’d been avoiding events since he’d gotten out of the hospital, and avoiding her at every turn. But tonight, when she wasn’t prepared, he showed up?
Come on! she mentally shouted at the universe. Cut me some slack.
Even as she felt that ice spread outward at a slow crawl, she kept a pleasant smile plastered on her face and found herself leaning a little closer to Geno, who still held on to her elbow. If she was being honest, she was grateful for Geno’s presence.
At one time she’d wanted nothing more than to see Evan, to demand answers, but she wasn’t in the right mental headspace tonight. She felt like she was free-falling, hurtling through the air with the ground rushing up at her. And now she had to face the man who’d broken her heart with absolutely no warning. The universe was clearly pissed at her for something.
