Chapter 15

Isabella—Five minutes ago.

"Do you want to play a game?" I asked my little friend. I had been feeling guilty about my words. While I had aimed at Tristan, grilling him for his shitty parenting, my words directly implied negatively about Rory's character. It was probably one of the worst things a child could overhear about themselves. Her little hurt face still seared through my heart, and the fact that she seemed to have forgotten all about it made me feel guiltier.

She had forgiven and forgotten—literally and figuratively—and I was yet to apologize to her father about it.

She looked up at me with those pure, beautiful eyes in confusion. "What kind of game?"

I didn't know yet. I had suggested a game to fill in the silence between us. It was getting rather uncomfortable.

"What game do you want to play?" I asked her.

She thought about it for a long time and then suggested, "Do you want to play doctor? I can be the doctor and you can be the nurse."

"Sure." I smiled. "Who is the patient?"

"Daddy has always been the patient." She frowned in thought. I instantly knew she was wondering whether it was a good time to ask her father to play.

It probably wasn't; I had realized the man was almost always busy. Soon after he returned from work, he holed himself up in his room to work more. He was on the phone for a significant amount of time too, catching up on work. I was pretty sure if you searched 'workaholic', you would see a picture of Tristan Lexington.

Even then, he had to realize how much his daughter needed him. They had a strong bond but he wasn't spending enough time with her. Besides, she was looking forward to the game.

So, with my heart in my hands, I figured I would suggest it and forget about it if he was too busy. At the same time, I would have a chance to apologize for yelling at him.

But when I got to his home office, I had just raised a hand to knock when I heard a cross between a yell and a growl.

"Tell Rhys Cartier I will put a bullet in his head if he so much as comes anywhere near me."

_____

My heart lurched in my throat as I raced down the stairs frantically.

Rhys Cartier.

My brother.

What was going on?

I slowed down when I finally got to my room and had to fight my urge to throw up. Was there some feud between my brother and my new boss?

Forget about their grudge. How did I end up working for a man who wanted to kill my brother? If he knew Rhys was my brother, what would he do? Would he kill me? Use me as leverage to force my brother out of the shadows?. Besides,

"What the fuck did you get yourself into?" I groaned, not sure whether I was mad at myself or at him.

My brothers had enough enemies to last them three lifetimes. It was as though making new enemies was part of the air they breathed; they were capable of running into their arch nemesis by strolling a few feet out of the house. Rhys was the worst of them all. Heaven knew how he managed to piss so many people off at once. He was a ticking time bomb on legs and apparently, I was stuck walking beside him.

I ran a hand through my hair. I was toast.

….

"Good morning." Tristan Offered a kind smile when he finally came downstairs the following morning.

I barely managed a hum and was glad to be facing away from him. I had tried to force a smile and failed, and the last thing I wanted was for him to immediately realize something was wrong with me.

"Did you have an early night?" He asked.

I nodded without facing him.

"I thought so. I couldn't find you in Aurora's room when I went searching for you, and the light was turned off in your room. It almost felt as though you were avoiding me."

'That's because I was avoiding you', I thought. Of course, I couldn't say that. I forced another smile. Luckily, my lips tugged up this time. "I was tired. Meeting my ex was not easy."

Great. I had an excuse to link to my horrible mood. No one would question a word of what I said if I blamed everything on Max. He knew it was not easy to get over a man I had been with for a decade, right? He didn't know the ins and outs of my relationship with Max but he could do the math.

He seemed satisfied with the explanation.

"I may…" He hesitated.

I looked up at him curiously. "You were going to say…"

"Nothing."

I frowned. It was not nothing.

I wasn't sure whether I wanted to drop it but the frustration on his face told me I needed to know.

"You are my employee, do you know that?" He looked down at me.

His gaze was dangerous, almost threatening. I nodded helplessly. What did that have to do with anything?

He answered before I could ask.

"I could simply state how hot your boobs look in that dress, and how much better they would look with me all over them, and you would sue the hell out of me."

My mouth dried. Was that an admission of sorts? One glance down at my chest told me it was indeed an admission. I was wearing a dress with a low neckline—while the scald from a few days ago had healed for the most part, it was still better to not cover up. So I didn't cover up when I was indoors, and thanks to the humongous fireplaces in different parts of the house, I didn't need to.

"You think my boobs are hot?" I finally had the guts to ask.

His gaze darkened. "There isn't a single part of you that isn't." his eyes trailed down the length of my body, igniting fire down my skin from the obvious desire in them. If this was him trying to hold himself back, I wondered what he would do if he let himself go.

But then I remembered what I had overheard. He wanted to kill my brother.

"Have a drink with me tonight."

He was not asking. It was an order.

I was used to having everyone do as I said. This was the first time I was being told what to do and although it should have bothered me, his gruff voice did things to my insides that I wasn't willing to admit.

Part of me wanted to say no. The rational part, I guess. But the irrational side of me wanted to find out what else he might order me to do. I pictured him growling 'on your knees' as he unbuckled his belt, and I had to shut my eyes to stop the dirty images from flooding my mind. What the hell was wrong with me? This man could very well be using me as a pawn to get back at my brother.

Right. My brother. That reminded me. Maybe I could try to get information about his feud with Rhys.

I could feel the warning signs start to blare at me, getting me to stop this insanity before I got myself into more trouble, but I ignored it. "I would love to."