Page 259 of Enigma: The Complete Collection
ISAAC
Islide my cell out of my pocket and move to a window. After ensuring Ryan and a handful of police officers milling around Enrique’s room aren’t paying attention to me, I flip open the screen.
Done.
It’s the simplest word, but it causes the largest grin to stretch across my face.
When I enter the corridor, Isabelle’s head lifts to glance at me. She's sitting between two female officers who are no doubt asking her a flurry of questions responsible for the tired expression on her face. Even exhausted, she's as ravishing as always.
I raise my finger into the air, requesting a minute. When she nods and smiles, I hit the speed dial on my phone and walk around the corner. Henry answers on the very first ring.
“Isaac, how is your Katarina?”
A smirk etches on my mouth. “She's good. Safe.”
Isabelle has spent the past three hours giving statements regarding everything that transpired this afternoon. The police have nothing. No leads. No witnesses. Not even any surveillance footage. All they have is Enrique entering the elevator with the officers, then the frame freezes for not even five seconds. Once it’s restored, the four police officers, although unconscious, are unharmed and lying on the elevator floor.
“Your men are good.”
I hear Henry’s cheekbones rising over the line.
“Are we good?”
“We’re good,” he replies without pause. “You know good people, so I trust your instincts.”
“He was raised by a monster, but he had good intentions. He just went about it the wrong way.”
“Perhaps I should have sheltered him under my wing instead of shipping him off to Russia.”
I smile. “He’ll be safer there.”
“No extradition,” we say in sync.
After Isabelle fell asleep in my arms last night, I investigated her brother as I stated I would. The two-hundred-thousand-dollar payment Enrique secured from Col for kidnapping Isabelle was wired into Isabelle’s bank account yesterday afternoon. If he’d intended to harm her, he would have never transferred the money to her account, or he wouldn’t have gained access to it.
Hunter also discovered that the bullet that killed Col Petretti was not from a government-issued pistol. It was from the gun Enrique had pointed at me. I have no doubt the forensic reports will show Col’s gun wasn’t even fired before he was shot by Enrique because he wanted to protect his sister as stoutly as Isabelle fought to defend him last night.
What Enrique said about needing to use Isabelle as a ruse to force Col out of hiding was true. Col’s usually impenetrable qualm was gravely faltering. He was making sloppy rookie errors that gained unwanted attention from his unforgiving competitors. His desire for revenge was nearly as great as my desire to protect Isabelle, but it was his recklessness that blinded him from seeing who Enrique really was.
After talking to Regan, she advised that the DA would only consider a plea bargain if Enrique gave them everything on Vladimir. That would have made him a dead man walking, even with an offer of protective custody. Talking from personal experience, Enrique wouldn’t have lasted a week before someone in Vladimir’s crew found him. That’s why I invoked Henry’s favor that's been precariously dangling between us the past seven years.
Although hesitant in working with a member of the Popov entity, Henry agreed to get Enrique out of the country. He supplied him with a passport, a new identity, and a healthy bank balance to get him established in his new hometown in Russia. Cooper snuck into Enrique’s room last night to finalize the documentation. He must have mentioned details of the ruse to Enrique because Henry generally keeps the finer details on the down-low. “The less you know, the less chance you'll have of incriminating yourself” is a saying he regularly quotes.
“Even though you've handed in your last card, you're still my family, Isaac. Don’t become a stranger.” Not waiting for me to reply, Henry disconnects the call. He may be a mob boss, but just like in any industry, there are good and bad people. He's one of the rare good ones.
I house my phone into the breast pocket of my jacket while walking around the corner. Isabelle has her shoulder propped up against the wall. When she notices my approach, a smile spreads across her weary face. I was hesitant with her wanting to talk to Enrique this morning because I was unaware of Henry’s intentions, and I needed to ensure she wasn’t around when his plan was executed.
I also couldn’t guarantee how much Enrique knew about my business dealings with Vladimir. Although I'm planning to disclose everything to Isabelle when I can, at the moment, some things can’t be fully divulged until they're set in stone. Isabelle doesn’t need more instability in her life.
I increase my pace, eager to get Isabelle away from this perilous lifestyle she doesn’t belong in. My life has never been anything close to ordinary, but Isabelle instills balance. She keeps me level and reminds me that my empire isn’t the most important thing in my life. She is.
My brows furrow when I stand next to her. Her gaze is hazy, and she's a little unsteady on her feet. “Are you okay?”
After I brush away strands of hair that have fallen in her face, she nods. “Yeah.”
I arch my brow and peer into her glassy eyes.
She swallows again. “I’m a little bit dizzy.”
