Page 71 of Love JD

Isla looked up at the mention of my name, and her eyes went round. “Uh oh.”

“He’s facilitating a merger between GreenTech and Earth Care, and he actually knows that GreenTech is dumping battery acid in the waters at their plant in Myanmar. But he hasn’t bothered to stop it.”

Isla and I shared resigned looks of despair. I ran a hand through my hair. “Fuck me.”

“Oh, she did,” Kael replied cheerfully. “Thoroughly. Anyway, I think you’d better call your sister.”

I hit the pause button on the podcast. I didn’t need to hear more of that psycho’s vitriol. As soon as I did, Azura’s name lit up on the screen, and with it, my stomach went heavy like I’d swallowed a ton of rocks. This was bad. Really bad. Flicking an apologetic glance to Isla, I answered and stepped away and into the sunroom. “Hey, Az.”

“Zev, what the actual fuck?”

I winced pacing slowly to the windows that overlooked the sunny backyard. “It’s not like it was hard to dig up. We found it. Starla found it. It was a matter of time before the news broke one way or another.”

“So why didn’t you break it yourself? Why is everyone finding out about this from some salty reporter you pissed off? Come on, Zev. You’re usually better than this.” She sounded out of breath and panicked. I couldn’t blame her.

“I’m aware,” I replied coldly. “I tried to put a stop to it, but—never mind. That’s a shit excuse. I hesitated. It’s my fault for not being more assertive about it.”

“God,” she groaned, and I heard the air leave her lungs like she’d flopped back onto something. “I don’t think we can come back from this. First, my thing with Nexusum, and now this?”

“Yeah, we got fucked twice over.”

“Not in the fun way,” she grumbled. “I can do some PR management, but you need to get over to Earth Care Global like right now. Maybe if you explain the dilemma…”

I nodded slowly, my gaze swinging over to where Isla talked with Mattie. My heart squeezed painfully at the thought of leaving Isla alone. “I can do that. I’ll book a flight for tonight.”

“Earth Care might understand, but the public won’t,” she warned.

“I know,” I sighed.

“Do your best to fix it. I’ll meet you in Seattle—we were headed back there anyway.”

I nodded and hung up, and my insides collapsed like a slitted balloon. This really couldn’t have turned out worse—rather than quietly canceling the merger and helping GreenTech mitigate their damage, I’d thrust them into the spotlight of public censure. And they’d dragged me with them as their complicit associate. The country would be out for GreenTech’s blood, and I was fairly certain I’d be exsanguinated right alongside them.

I pulled up Dom’s number and called him while I returned to the dining area. Kael had pulled Mattie to his other side, glaring at Isla with a suspicious eye squint. Isla had her hands on her hips and her small, rosebud lips pressed together tightly. I blinked at Kael. “You’re upsetting my girlfriend. I don’t know what Mattie did or why you’ve got her, but you need to untie her.”

Isla turned a pair of surprised, amber eyes to me.

Oh. I said “girlfriend.” Oops. Dom answered with a questioning, “Hello?” on the phone.

Kael ignored me, tapping away on his phone. I didn’t have the brain space to deal with all of this at once. I cleared my throat. “Dom, hey. I know it’s the weekend, but I need to offer you some overtime to handle a firm emergency. You willing?”

“Sure, what’s up?”

“I need a plane ticket to Seattle as soon as you can manage it.”

“On it,” he replied. “Any particular time?”

Isla’s gaze softened with a hint of disappointment, and it kicked me in the gut. “You’re going to Seattle?”

“Just for a bit."

“Alright, if you have things handled here—” Kael started for the door.

“Wait!” Isla jumped forward. “I can’t just let you take my friend in handcuffs. Or zip ties… whatever. I don’t care who told you to do that—”

“Her parents,” Kael shot over his shoulder. “It’s her parents. Relax, you two. I know what I’m doing.”

“You are such a dong,” Mattie growled as he dragged her across the floors to the front door.

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