Page 22 of Isabela

“No, not at all. They had a daughter at home, and were the opposite of reckless in every way. The car was completely destroyed. No one thought to inspect it for foul play, but my son swears they’d never run a light on purpose.”

“Shit,” I grunt. “I’m sorry, Sir. Everything seems very off with this family. The way Isabela acts, her skittishness, her lack of money.”

“Do you think the trust is written in such a way that she doesn’t have access to it?” Theodore asks. “It would make sense if it was, or if Elijah is making Isabela believe it is. While pulling her into the fold would bring us many benefits, it sounds as if she needs us as well. I typically push the business side of our mission of wisdom to drive our growth, but the Cohens are different. My son would lose his mind if he found out we didn’t do our due diligence to help his friends’ daughter.”

Rubbing my neck, I attempt to release the pressure building there. This is getting worse by the moment. Glancing at the clock, I see it’s almost time for Dr. Meadows’ Tudor England class.

The man seems nice, but all of his students complain of the man’s monotone tone and lack of originality in his teaching.

I’d rather only need to attend his class once in order to get Isabela’s attention. Thank God today is Thursday.

“I am going to make every effort to bring her into the fold,” I promise Theodore. “She has a class in the History department in a few minutes, which I’ll be shadowing. I’m going to pull her aside afterwards to speak with her.”

“Is this code for stalking?” Theodore asks, amused.

“Do you want to be able to have plausible deniability?” I chuckle. “I know you don’t really care about that, since we have ways of making things go away, but yes. She’s managed to avoid me for months. It ends today.”

“Good luck,” he sighs. “Let’s have one of our new recruits do a little digging into Elijah’s computer. Michaela is his type and hacks beautifully. I don’t need her to sleep with him. She can slip something into his drink at a party or arrange to run into him at a bar. The man is dirty, and I need to grow the evidence I have on him, so we can topple his position as head of Cohen Security and Communications.”

“Thanks. I also recognize that we’ll need Isabela on our side for that to happen,” I grunt.

“Correct. She’s stubborn, but I hear her mother was as well,” Theodore says before he hangs up. The man enjoys having the last word.

Glancing at the time, I wince as I realize I no longer will be able to melt into the background, because I’ll be late.

“Fuck,” I mutter, grabbing my keys to lock up behind me.

Striding toward the door, I fling it open to find a student raising her hand to knock. It’s not my office hours, and outside of them I can be hard to pin down due to my duties for the Eagna Society.

As far as the world is concerned we don’t even exist outside of an intellectual honor society at the university. We have this footnote assigned to the society in case a recruit is working for us and has to use our name to get out of a bind.

“Oh Dr. so and so asked me to come here as part of the Eagna Society…” is what I teach new recruits to state as soon as they become initiates. It’s easier to use a reason closest to the truth than a lie, because your tell is less likely to show through.

“I’m running a bit late to sit in on an associate’s class. Can I help you?” I ask the student in front of me. See how easy that was?

“Oh, no,” the student pouts as she steps back to allow me out of the office to lock up. “I have some questions I need to ask you. Can I come back during your office hours?”

“Are you a student of mine currently taking one of my classes?” I ask instead of answering her question. I get my share of students (both men and women) who hit on me, but I’m not interested. I prefer to go to clubs where there’s anonymity to fuck, and I take my wife with me when I do.

Aria is my entire life. There’s nothing that could make me cheat on her, though my wife is a free spirit and doesn’t have a jealous bone in her body.

I insist on open communication with her because of my respect for her, and she bends beautifully for me in return.

People don’t understand that in a dom-submissive relationship, the submissive has all of the power. Aria simply loves the freedom she feels when she doesn’t have to make certain decisions.

I adore everything about her. It’s a win for us both. We fuck other people together because we get off on the shared experiences.

It’s as simple as that.

“Why do I need to be one of your students?” the girl asks wide-eyed.

“I’m a busy man, and don’t have time for an in person conversation without an appointment when you can send me your questions ahead of time in an email. You can find my email next to my door,” I tell her gruffly, nodding to the sheet next to my office. “Have a good day.”

Fuck, I’m so late. Dammit. Taking the stairs, I practically race down them as I shove my phone and keys in my pockets.

Jogging to Dr. Meadows’ class, I am very grateful I am in good shape, otherwise I would be red as a tomato and out of breath.

Powering off my phone, I put it away as I open the door and walk in as if I own the place. Nodding to the professor who merely lifts his hand as he continues, I find Isabela immediately in the classroom.

---