by Katie Reus
“Your favorite,” he murmured, setting it on the desk.
Once again she was struck by how normal this felt, how very “them” this was. She’d missed him so much. “Thank you… I’ve missed you, Evan. I’ve missed us.”
His eyes flared slightly, heat simmering in them. “I’ve missed us too.” Then he cleared his throat. “Everything good with Lizzy?”
“Yes. She’s actually going to start her audit early so I’m going to let the security crew know that she’ll be given full access to everything when she gets here.”
“You’re telling them now?”
She shook her head as she picked up the drink. “I’m going to spring this on them.”
“Good idea. Look, I know we’re going out tomorrow, but can I take you out to dinner tonight?”
She winced slightly. “I can’t. I want to say yes, but Geno wanted to meet up about something.”
“A date?” His tone was dry.
She snorted softly. “No. He said he wanted to run something by me.”
His body language was tense. “All right then, tomorrow it is.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re being awfully calm about this.”
“I might not like the guy, but it’s only because I’m a jealous asshole. I know there’s nothing going on between the two of you.”
“That’s a good answer. And you’re not an asshole.”
He lifted a shoulder. “According to some people I am.”
“Not according to me.” Not too long ago she’d have lumped him into the asshole category easily. But now?
Now was all about second chances.
Chapter 23
“Thanks for meeting me here.” Geno stood as Isla reached the little round table outside the hole-in-the-wall tapas place.
“No problem. I’ve heard this place is incredible.” She shed her coat and sat across from him.
“It is. I’ve only been here once, but I plan to change that.”
The exterior patio had a dozen small mosaic-tile-covered tables. Since it was chilly out, heating lamps had been placed strategically throughout the outdoor seating. Instrumental guitar music played softly from the speakers and before she’d settled in a server appeared, taking her drink order and an order of empanadas for the table.
“So what’s up?” She settled back in the small metal chair, glad it had a cushion on the seat. “You said you had something to talk to me about.”
“Yeah. I know our project is over. What you said about selling your father’s company, about doing what you want, kinda hit me in a good way. I’m thinking of leaving my family’s company and breaking out on my own.”
Her eyebrows lifted in surprise.
“I’m not sure if your surprise is a good reaction or not,” he said lightly as the server dropped their drinks off and promised their empanadas would be out shortly.
“It’s just a reaction, not good or bad, I promise. So…why are you telling me this?”
He lifted a shoulder and gone was the smooth, charming Geno with the quick smile. “Truthfully, because I respect your opinion. You’re selling your dad’s company and going out on your own to do…whatever it is you’re planning. That’s huge. We’ve worked together and I’ve seen how driven and smart you are. I wanted to get your opinion.”
“Oh,” she said, surprised.
“I have no one else to talk to about this. Lately I’ve realized that I have lived a very shallow life, and that kind of self-evaluation is not pretty.” There was more than a touch of self-loathing in his voice.
All right, then. “So what are you planning on doing?”
“That’s the problem. I don’t know. I know I’m good with money and I’m good with numbers. I also know that I have a reputation—an earned one—but I got into college with my grades. And I didn’t skate by, for the record. I graduated with honors, to the surprise of my family.” He shrugged. “Math makes sense to me and I like it when numbers make sense. I like…fixing things. What I don’t like is working crazy hours, wearing suits, and not feeling like I’m making a difference.”
“I actually understand that.”
“So what are you doing when you leave?” he asked.
“To start, I’m expanding a current community center and I’m planning on building a new one on the west side of town. The state and federal funding is complete crap and there aren’t nearly enough local services, especially for a city this size. I’d already started planning everything before my dad…” She cleared her throat. “Anyway, I think we can do a lot of good and create some fantastic after-school programs. I’ve got a lot of experience in dealing with commercial construction. I’ve got more plans after, but for now, this will be my immediate focus.”
“That’s right,” he murmured. “You were a project manager in that division before the bombing…” Now he was the one who cleared his throat. “Well, that’s really cool.”
“Thanks. I kinda think so.” She was ready to put her business and construction management degrees to use, ready to really jump into projects she was passionate about. And this was where she wanted to start.
They talked all throughout dinner and she was glad that she hadn’t judged him too harshly. There was a lot more to Geno than most people realized.
“I’m still not sure what I want to do,” he said as he picked up the bill from the table. “But I feel more focused now. Maybe you should think about consulting or therapy for shallow partiers.”
She laughed at his assessment and pulled out a couple twenties, tossing them onto the table to leave a nice tip. “That’s one thing to consider.”
For the first time in ages, she felt as if a weight had been lifted. Her father was gone and the hurt from that would never go away. But she could finally see an end in sight to all the work she’d been doing.
And Evan was back in her life. That, more than anything, changed her entire world again. In a good way. It terrified her, but she wanted to take a chance on them.
Chapter 24
Even though Evan was agitated that Isla was out with Conti tonight, he wasn’t going to be an asshole about it. With Rodney dead and Lizzy running full diagnostics on Isla’s company, he felt nominally better. Still, when Nic Bentley sent him some video feeds from the party, he’d jumped on them.
The asshole had felt bad—or said he did—about Isla getting hurt on his property. Evan was pretty sure Bentley was just worried about her suing him, so he was bending over backward to be accommodating. At least this gave Evan something to do tonight instead of obsessing about her out with Conti.
After the last couple days he felt like they were headed in the right direction but he had a long way to go in making things right with Isla. And it was going to be one step at a time, he’d realized. There wasn’t a magic wand he could wave to make things better. He was still going to have to eventually be comfortable enough to reveal his scars. Otherwise, they’d never be able to move on.
Leaning forward in his desk chair, he sped up the feeds, glancing over a lot of familiar faces. Frowning as he got a flash of someone surprising, he rewound then paused when he saw a familiar face on-screen.
A face he was surprised to see at Nic Bentley’s party. Grabbing his cell phone, he dialed Bentley, already cursing the guy out. If he didn’t answer—
To his surprise the man answered on the second ring and sounded sober. “Hey Bishop, what’s up?”
“I’m looking at the security feed you sent me.”
“Yeah, look, really sorry about your lady. I wish I’d gotten a chance to talk to her at the party.”
“You had a chance but you blew us off multiple times.”
There was a pause. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that. I’d been drinking a lot. Anyway, I hope you can use the security feeds for something. And if she’s going to sue me, hopefully she gives me a heads-up.”
Evan tempered his annoyance and decided not to even comment. “Listen, I see someone on-screen I’m surprised was at the party. Oliver
Mulaney. Did you invite him?”
“Oh yeah, that guy is all right. I’ve used him to hack—” He cleared his throat. “Ah, I use him to do some off-the-books work for me. A friend of mine recommended him. He’s wicked good with computers.”
Ice slid through Evan’s veins. “Did you know he works for Isla’s company?”
“Yeah, he mentioned it. In security or something. But he’s leaving for another job or something. Look, I’m not using him for anything pertaining to her!” Panic coated his words as he seemed to understand where Evan was going with this, and he could practically see the guy sweating out the whiskey he seemed to favor. “Or you, for that matter. I got into some trouble and I needed him to erase—”
“I don’t give a fuck. Who recommended him to you?”
After Bentley told him what he needed to know, Evan hung up. This didn’t feel right. He pressed play and watched as Ollie looked over at someone in the crowd. Zooming in on the man as much as he could, and keeping the sound muted so he didn’t have to hear the party going on, he looked hard at him.
Ollie’s eyes narrowed and he blew off a woman trying to talk to him as he watched something. Someone. Evan zoomed out and realized Ollie had spotted him and Isla arriving. A man walked across the screen, blocking Ollie for a moment, but then the view was clear again. He was still watching Isla, his anger clear even in the video. Not just anger—rage.
Alarm bells were going off in Evan’s head and he wasn’t going to ignore them. Maybe this was nothing. But it might be something.
Grabbing his keys and cell phone, he hurried out of the condo and called Isla. She didn’t answer so he texted her what he’d found. Once in the elevator he called Lizzy, unsure if she was still working.
She answered on the first ring. “Hey, is Isla with you?” she asked, not bothering with small talk.
“No, but I’m going to find her right now.” He needed to have eyes on her. To know she was safe. Everything about this felt wrong. And Ollie had unlimited access to the security at the building— Hell. He could have easily hacked the system. What if he had something to do with the hacking or stalking?
“Good. Something weird is going on with her security system. Most of the guys were all right with me looking at their feeds and system, but I could tell my audit bothered a few people. Anyway, I looked at the spreadsheets of the issues they’ve been having, and like Ollie Mulaney told you guys, there was definitely a glitch in the system. But it was completely avoidable. Those updates would’ve happened automatically. That glitch was intentional. Someone set this up to create a backdoor into the system. I’m not going to explain why because it doesn’t matter, but that’s what happened. And looking deeper, someone has been spying on Isla. Not work stuff, but using her laptop camera to spy on her.”
“Who?” he demanded as he reached the bottom floor, his heart racing.
“I don’t know yet. I found some traces of files that someone tried to erase. And they did a really good job. Professional. But nothing is ever truly gone.”
“Look at Ollie. I think he’s stalking her.” Evan wasn’t going on much at this point other than the video he’d just seen and his gut. He jumped into his SUV and tore out of the parking lot.
“I’ve already started digging into him. It was clear my presence here today bothered him, so I started with his files. I’ve also found out some other interesting things but I’ll tell Isla when I talk to her.”
“So I have a huge favor to ask. Can you find out where she is right now?” He gave her the name of a local restaurant Isla had told him she was meeting Geno at. He hoped she was still there.
“Hold on. She gave me full access to her electronics, so just give me a sec. Okay she’s at the restaurant and…” He heard soft clicking in the background, then Lizzy swore. “Someone else is monitoring her phone.”
“What?”
“Yes. There’s spyware on it and I can see that someone is actually monitoring her in real time.”
“I’ll call you back.” He hung up and dialed Isla. She didn’t answer so he called two more times, then texted again. Damn it. He never should have let her out of his sight.
When he approached a red light, but didn’t see cars coming on either side, he floored it. If a cop tried to pull him over, well, good luck. He wasn’t stopping for anything.
As he made another sharp turn, a horn blasted but he ignored it as he gunned the engine. When Isla didn’t answer again, he gritted his teeth and called Geno.
“Hello?” Geno said, the sound of guitar music playing in the background.
“Conti, it’s Bishop. Is Isla with you?”
“Jesus Christ, there’s nothing going on between us,” Conti snapped. “I just wanted to talk to her about—”
“I don’t care. I think she’s in danger. Where is she?” According to Lizzy she was still at the restaurant and he just hoped Conti was too. “I need you to get eyes on her now.”
“Shit. She just left. Hold on, she’s walking across the street now. She got curbside parking. Let me try to flag her down.” There was a rustling in the background as if Geno was running.
Come on, come on, Evan silently shouted.
“Damn it, she didn’t see me.”
Evan knew she’d probably turned off her ringer during dinner because that was just the way she was, but damn it. “All right, thanks—”
“Oh my God!” Geno shouted into the phone.
“What?” He took another turn, gunning the engine. He was barely five minutes out. He willed time to speed up for him, to get there faster.
“A truck just smashed into the front of her car. Oh, God.” Evan could hear the sound of him running now. “He’s taking her! Ollie is kidnapping Isla!”
Panic punched through Evan. He started to hang up to call an ambulance, but froze when he heard Geno’s voice, laced with terror. “Put the gun down.”
Pop. Pop.
“Geno!” he shouted, but the line went dead.
Chapter 25
Evan took one last sharp turn as he called Lizzy. She picked up immediately. “I think Ollie just shot Geno and kidnapped Isla.” He felt as if he’d floated out of his body, as if this couldn’t be happening.
“Shit. Where?” Her tone was matter-of-fact and it somehow grounded him.
He had to be calm for Isla. Because he was getting her back. “At the tapas place. I was talking to Geno when someone slammed into Isla’s car. He said Ollie was taking Isla and then I’m pretty sure he was shot.” He really hoped the other man was okay.
“Her phone is showing that it’s still near the restaurant so it didn’t go with her. I’m hacking into the DMV cameras now. Do you know what he was driving?”
“No. But—”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got the video of the crash now.” He could hear typing softly in the background. “He’s in a truck and I’ve got the license plate.”
“He’s going to take her somewhere. Somewhere he owns. Look up his address or any properties he owns. He won’t want to go far and he’ll want to stash his truck.”
“Hush. Let me work. And I’ve already done that.”
Time seemed to stretch as he made a right, driving by Isla’s smashed-in car. He saw a crowd gathered around someone. Had to be Geno. He wanted to stop, but someone would’ve called the cops by now. And he couldn’t do anything for Geno. But he could save Isla. If they could just figure out where she was being held or where Ollie was driving.
He’d do anything to find her. Including sell his soul.
“Got it! It’s an older truck and it’s headed down Lockwood Street. He has a push bar on it. It’s how he got away without damage.”
His heart rate kicked up. “He’s driving that way in real time?” he asked as he pressed on the gas, heading in that direction.
“Yes. Give me a second…” More typing. “He’s headed toward a residential area. Older neighborhoods. And… He owns a couple properties. Including one left to him by his grandmother. She’s de
ad but she left him the truck and the house. He’s tried to hide that he still owns the house. He put it up for sale, then a trust bought it and I’m ninety-nine percent sure he owns that trust.” Suddenly she let out a curse.
“What?” His phone pinged and a message popped up from Lizzy with an address. Before he could ask what it was, she continued.
“I can’t track the vehicle anymore. It’s an ’88 Ford. Black. He’s got newer vehicles than the one he’s driving tonight. I can’t tell you with one hundred percent accuracy that this is where he’s headed, but he went to some trouble to hide that he owns this place. I’ve texted you the address.”
“Thank you. I owe you everything.”
He hung up and called Detective Duarte as he took a hard turn, ignoring the horns honking in his wake. Everything around him funneled out as he drove, his one mission to save Isla.
“Oliver Mulaney kidnapped Isla. I think he’s been stalking her. And I think I know where he’s taking her. He shot Geno Conti.” His movements jerky as he took another turn. According to his GPS he was minutes out from the house. But it wasn’t fast enough.
“What the hell?” the detective shouted.
“I don’t have time to explain any of it. He owns a couple properties and I think he’s taking her to one of them.”
“Give me the address.” He did and then Duarte said, “I’m on my way and sending a team over. Do not go in without—”
Evan hung up. The detective called him back but he silenced his phone.
He’d been a Marine—and once a Marine, always one. And even if he hadn’t been, no one was keeping him from Isla. He would die to save her. But he wanted to live. They deserved a shot at a future.
Hold on, he mentally shouted, praying with all that he had that she was still alive.
Chapter 26
Isla opened her eyes, blinking against the lights as pain filtered through her head… She didn’t recognize these lights or the popcorn ceiling. She didn’t even know houses had those anymore—