“Then, the cover of the magazine. The three of you worked double-time trying to keep me from going postal and I still managed to desolate the kitchen hutch and shatter its contents. Of course, that would be when Izzy decided to speak for the first time in weeks and it was to scold me for yelling at Lito.”
“You shouldn’t have been yelling at Lito,” Izzy interjects matter-of-factly.
“I’d have yelled at Lito sooner had I known that was what would get you to say something to me.”
She just shakes her head at me. I skip over the parts they were all there for with the cover. There was no doubt that Sasha was behind the magazine, but I confirm for them that this evening Sasha enlightened me of the many situations where she applied her handiwork, including the magazine. “Apparently, she wasn’t expecting me to have the clout to fix the situation with the magazine, let alone my wife,” I explain. “If I weren’t so afraid of what she might do, I’d have told her she seriously underestimated my wife.” I give Izzy a grateful look. “I think maybe this was her game plan from the beginning. Bean’s heart attack and her interim role in his absence allowed her to speed up her timetable, as well as provide her with all the opportunities to take what she wanted. Starting with the night of drinks with some of the guys.”
“Damn right, it did,” scoffs Mazzy. “That bitch saw her dad nearly dying as an opportunity for personal gain. That fucking whore.” She looks and apologizes to Lito. He gives her an understanding smile.
“Then, Izzy loses the baby,” I continue.
Mazzy looks like she’s just had a revelation. “Damn,” the curse is almost a whisper. “Izzy loses the baby and she’s thinking no more hurdles to get you away from Izzy, except you wouldn’t leave Izzy’s side long enough to eat. No, way you were leaving to play arm candy. When you didn’t return to your place on her arm…” she shrugs because we know the rest of that story. “The bitch planned your demise perfectly, Tweedle D.”
“I’m well aware of how perfectly she’s played me, Mazzy, but thanks for the humbling recap.” My words tumble out sounding like a self-deprecating growl. “However, what Sasha was clearly expecting isn’t happening.” I look at Izzy. “You being by my side, holding my hand, and mourning the loss of Bean must have snapped something in her. She had no idea how much of her hand she was showing by admitting what she’d done in her past. She confessed like she has the unbeatable hand in a game of poker.”
I recalled the list of revelations she either implied or blatantly exposed to all of them. Izzy’s shocked face when she learns that Sasha’s done something like this with other players surprises me. And then I tell them about the blackmail.
A deafening silence follows.
“Hijo, you have to tell someone.”
“It’s really not that simple, Lito.” I describe to them the stack of Photoshop’d images Sasha had and explain why I couldn’t let her release them. Pointing out that all the events where I posed as her arm candy were perfect opportunities for me to do what was in those pictures. “It’s not just my marriage she’s willing to ruin. She’ll ruin my career here and while that’s not more important than my marriage, she has no qualms about destroying two other marriages, branding me as a homewrecker and ostracizing me from my teammates.”
“No. This has to be done right.” I shake out my hands and arms trying to release the tension from my shoulders. “I mentioned that Sasha’s not getting what she wants, that includes the push back from me. She was clearly expecting me to fight her and every cell in my body was prepared to, but Izzy’s words about staying in the game and winning were playing in my head. I don’t know how I did it, but I played it as cool as I could.
“Sasha could be preparing for the off chance that I say ‘screw it all,’ but she’s undoubtedly expecting me to spare myself to save my career. Fortunately, this gives me the upper hand. And with all of your help, we won’t have to find the photographer or photo editor of these images to prove it. Sasha is going down and it’s going to be a worldwide event when we’re done with her.”
“But before I ask you all to go through this shit storm headed our way beside me, I need to hear what you all have to say. Let me have it. I know I deserve more than any of you may say, with the exception of Mazzy.” I’m looking at Izzy, but I hear Mazzy scoff.
She mumbles something about my balls under her breath. When Baz chokes, I know he must have heard everything. Izzy’s wearing a knowing smirk and I just want to erase all of this shit with a kiss. Pull her into my arms, swear that I’ll never keep anything from her again, and then kiss her again. But I know that’s not how this works. She’s smiling, but it’s broken. When I should have been kissing her, I was making her cry. There’s no easy way out of that.
Izzy must see the guilt in my eyes because she reaches her hand from my grip and cups the side of my face. She rubs the two-day growth; the soft scratching sound from the friction is soothing. I don’t deserve to have her make me feel better, but I accept the comfort she’s willing to provide.
“Is it safe to say that you will trust Izzy on all things bitches?” Baz asks. It earns him a swat across the back of the head by Lito. “Pues,” he pleads with Lito, but he relents before Lito can smack him again.
Lito speaks up, “Hijo, I already said my piece with you. Just remember that you can’t make up Izzy’s mind for her. You’re a team. She has as much of a right to protect the relationship as you do.”
Ugh. Even when his words are kind and his delivery sincere, it feels like he’s lecturing me. These are the things he’s raised me to know. These are the things I didn’t keep in mind when I decided to protect Izzy by withholding the truth.
There’s a stretched pause between Lito’s last words and Mazzy’s first. “You know, Tweedle D, you fucked up. Izzy here,” she gestures to her best friend sitting next to her, “she never once doubted your claims. She kept mumbling some bullshit about you not being able to do that to her again. I thought she was losing it.” I feel the moment Izzy’s foot makes contact with Mazzy’s leg, the table jolts and they share a look. Mazzy smirks, rolls her eyes, and continues, “I just figure once a D always a D. Don’t be a D, D.” She pushes her chair back and stands ups, she claps her hands together and splays them in front of her like she’s got no tricks left up her sleeves or she’s washing her hands of the mess. “I’ve said my piece. Who needs another drink?”
“I’ll help,” Ken offers. Some time has passed because everyone needs a refill. I’m on my third glass of Redbreast and I’m nervous about what Izzy has to say. She continued to hold my hand through my confessions and revelations. Her eyes hold mine as I try to imagine what she’ll say.
With Baz and Lito finding something sweet to bring to the table and Mazzy and Ken arguing about the proper way to make a martini, Izzy leans into me. “Don’t get me wrong, Diego, I’m fucking pissed that you let this happen.” Her words send a silencing chill through the kitchen. All at once, noise and motion cease and my breath catches in my chest for what she says next. “However, right now, it would seem I don’t have the time or luxury to unleash the pissed off Izzy. Your bad decisions, we can discuss ad nauseum some other time, but right now, we have a bitch to destroy.”
I can see Izzy trying to mask the pain I caused for the greater good, but I don’t let her. I’m on my knees at her side so quick she can’t track me with her eyes. “Uh uh, Izzy. Let it out. Hey, guys,” I don’t take my eyes off Izzy. I’m not giving her the opportunity to hide what she’s feeling, “Could you give us the room for a few minutes?”
No one says a word. They just head up the stairs and I’m watching Izzy because if I give her the chance, she’ll chase those feelings away with reason so we can get down to business. “Izabella Santo, you come first. Revenge, justice, ass-kicking—whatever you want to call it, can wait.” She needs this. This isn’t going anywhere until she’s spoken her mind.
>
She tries to turn away from me. “C’mon, Izzy.”
“What, Diego?” Her voice is a shouting whisper. “I’m supposed to tell you how you royally fucked things up and broke my heart, again? While our family is listening?”
“Izabella, I don’t give a shit who’s listening,” I raise my voice to prove my point. “I did this. I know I’ve earned what’s coming to me, but you have to say it.”
“Diego, what else am I supposed to say? Really? Beating you up over this isn’t going to make me feel any better.” She looks at me questioningly. “This isn’t going to simply go away. You brought doubt into our marriage. While I don’t doubt that everything you’re saying now is true, I still have to get over the fact that you kept something from me. That you could keep something from me.” Her words are delivered gently, but the result is like a death punch. However, this pain I’m feeling from her words doesn’t compare to the hurt staring at me from behind the pool of tears forming in her eyes.
She breaks the invisible dam holding them in when she blinks. “This isn’t something you fix with a fight. What you broke will not disappear with some shouted, heated words. Only time will heal us, but we will—eventually—heal.”
Izzy lets out a slightly discouraged sigh. “Izz—” she shakes her head to silence me.
With more resolve in her voice than there was before, she continues, “You just have to be willing to earn back my trust. There are going to be blow-out moments where I’m going to be ridiculous,” she exaggerates the words by throwing her hands in the air above her head, “because I won’t be able to handle the way someone looked at you and you’ll know, in that moment, how not trusting you plays out in my mind.”
She softens her expression, “I’m not cruel. I’m not going to constantly berate you, but when I’m having one of my moments, you don’t get to whisk it away with a hug, a kiss or an ‘I love you.’ No, you’re going to have to go through those unpleasant moments right alongside me. So, for now…” she throws her hands up to finish—
“So, for now, we move forward,” the words fall out as if they’re trying to hang on to my tongue. I know I can’t fix this with a kiss, but instinct takes hold and I’m scooping Izzy up and out of her chair. I crush my mouth to hers and pour my heart into this kiss. Izzy doesn’t resist for long. She tangles her hand into my hair with one hand, gripping the front of my shirt with the other.
Our tongues twist and twirl, our mouths suck and pull. My right hand slinks down the side of her body, fingers trail over the side of her breast. They splay at her waist, lightly squeezing before wrapping around to her back. I tighten my embrace on Izzy. The sound that escapes from the confines of our lip lock wraps around my balls and I have to break our kiss before I’m dragging her to the bedroom, begging her to let me devour every inch of her perfect body.
Izzy’s gasping for breath while looking at me as if I grew a second head. “While I would love to rid you of your clothes and worship all that is you,” I straighten up her hair and rub my thumb across her bottom lip, “we still have guests and we have someone’s demise to plan.” I deliberately don’t mention Sasha’s name to avoid the look that just flashed in Izzy’s eyes. “I know, bella. And I’m going to spend forever trying to erase this. You ready to bring them,” I point to the floor above us, “back down?”
The soft smile and barely perceptible nod she gives me break my heart just a little. She’s tough as nails even when sporting tears. I take my thumbs and swipe the wet trails of sadness outlining her cheeks. I kiss the outside corner of each eye and pull her in for one more hug.
With a whistle, I let Lito, Baz, Mazzy, and Ken know to come back down. Lito is the first down and he wraps his arms around Izzy and me in a bear hug. “Mi bella preciosa, thank you for loving my grandson in spite of his mistakes.” He turns to look at me, “Of which it seems there may have been more than I’m aware.” The look that accompanies his words makes me feel like that kid that just disappointed his grandfather. It says I don’t have to tell him now, but I will tell him.
He claps me on the shoulder and I breathe out a sigh through pursed lips.
“So, how do we take this bitch down?” Sebastian asks, tossing back the rest of his drink. “She’s clearly hell bent on destroying your marriage and her timeline doesn’t give us much room for planning.”
“We give her what she wants,” Izzy says matter-of-factly. Everyone’s eyes go wide with disbelief, their jaws practically resting on the table in front of them. She gives me a look and I can’t fight the smirk.
There she is. My fighter.
“You can’t be serious,” Mazzy insists.
Izzy answers, “I am. I—”
“Izzy is right. Baz is right. I have a week left on the original timeline. Unfortunately, that’s not enough time to gather the information we need. So we have to give Sasha what she wants. But we go into this knowing where I stand. No question. No doubt,” my eyes plead with Izzy’s, “because Sasha intends to make this painful. She wants me to choose her. You all know that that would not—could not—happen, but you all have to act like it did.”
“Hijo, is this really the best way? Can’t you go to the cops? The board of directors of the team?”
“Lito, I’d love to, but with what evidence? What proof? In the weeks we’ve been searching, the only thing we know is that the photo that started this whole thing was a fake and all those linked to it have vanished.”
While I pressed forward with what needs to happen, Mazzy, Baz, and Lito took turns trying to find other ways. Izzy remained silent. Gone was the pain in her eyes, in its place, the determination to beat this. Ken helped with explaining why no other plan would work. When they exhausted their options, the mood in the room switched to quiet consideration.
“I know what I’m asking sounds—fuck that, is fucked up, but it’s all I’ve got. Those photos she has, they’re good. I know that it’s going to get ugly. We’ll have to orchestrate some of it ourselves.” I look at Izzy, “I’m sorry for that.”
We hash through idea after idea on how to play this and keep Sasha from thinking she’s being played. Mazzy’s and Baz’s eagerness to plot Sasha’s downfall a stark contrast to Lito’s thoughtful hesitation. Izzy plays the part of a pensive participant and effectively hides any discomfort the different topics could have stirred up. Ken helped with the logistics.
Time to give Sasha what she wants.
“Fuck that was the most horrible thing ever,” I recall. Baz is making me breakfast, but after last night, I don’t think I have the stomach to eat. The look on Izzy’s face as I snuck out into the darkness. The thought chills me to the bone. “I know Izzy’s on board, but this is going to be brutal. She’s already preparing for the worst. I saw how she tried to hide the pain of me sneaking out.”
“Any other woman and I’d say you had no chance in hell, mano? Pero, Izzy? They don’t make too many like her. Just do what you can to make sure she doesn’t believe what she sees.”
Something to think about. “Fuuuuck,” disbelief draws out my curse. “How the fuck do I do that when this plan only works if the world believes I’ve left her?”
“Your plan, mano,” he retorts with a halfhearted laugh but gives me a sympathetic glance. “But you’re such a pussy where Izzy’s concerned, I’m sure you’ll come up with something stupid romantic.”
“Thanks, mano.” I drip the brotherly sentiment in sarcasm. “Don’t know what I’d do without you,” I grumble.
“Starve,” he says, placing the plate of traditional chilaquiles on the table in front of me. The door to the guest suite opens and out trods Lito. “Nice of you to join us, Lito,” Baz teases him for sleeping in.
“Cállate, hijo. Antes de que yo te llevo sobre mi rodilla y te azotan en las nalgas.”
Baz has the sense to look properly scolded after Lito threatens
to spank his ass if he doesn’t shut up. “BAHAHAHA! Lito fucking told you!” My amusement at the expense of Baz being chided is short lived. I catch the look in Lito’s eyes and I’m properly put in my place. Apparently, I’m not above reproach either.
“Seems that late nights are not my thing.” He rubs his face. Baz places a plate of breakfast at a spot next to me for Lito. “¿Cómo estás esta mañana? Have you spoken with Izzy this…” he looks at his watch, “afternoon? Did I really sleep this late?”
“I talked to Mazzy. Izzy was in the bath when I called.” I sound disappointed. “She’d said something about a workout. This was about twenty minutes ago.”
“Diego, here,” Baz says shaking my shoulder as he walks by with his own plate, “is trying to come up with a plan to make sure Izzy doesn’t believe what she sees.” I can hear Lito’s words about seeing is believing. “Lito probably has some pointers for you, mano.”
I guess now’s the time to explain my trepidation. “I have a million ways to scream it from the mountaintops, but how do I…what do I…ugh,” I can’t get the words out. “How do you make a gesture of love when you have to hide it?” I groan. It’s pathetic and desperate.
Lito reaches over to me and grabs my hand, “We’ll think of something, hijo.” He shakes his head and continues, “I still don’t think playing her game is the answer. Couldn’t you try catching her on tape?”
“Lito, I don’t think Sasha would be stupid enough to allow herself to get caught on tape, but I will try.”
After our breakfast together planning how to keep Izzy hyperaware that this is just a rouge, I feel like some of the weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I know it’s going to get ugly, but I’m confident Project-Make-You-Feel-My-Love will soften the blows. I spoke with Izzy not long after we finished. She’d fallen asleep in the tub and called as soon as she woke. Feeling better with a plan in place to make sure Izzy knows she still has my heart, I infuse a bit of happiness into our conversation.
Love Needs Another Chance (Truth About Love #3) Page 16