Page 293 of Enigma: The Complete Collection
“Answer the question.”
Her chest thrusts up and down as she tries to maintain a cool, calm demeanor. “Five months.”
“Five months from the start or five months before me?”
My teeth crunching together fills the silence teeming between us. It also increases my anger.
“Regan—”
“Five months before you.”
My eyes snap to hers. “And when did you share confidential client/lawyer information with him?”
I try to simmer the harshness in my tone when she brushes a tear off her cheek. In the years I’ve known her, I’ve only seen her cry twice, and that was a long time ago. The fact she’s getting upset proves what Isabelle said is true. She cares deeply for Alex.
After sucking in a big breath, she shakes her head. “I didn’t.”
“Don’t lie to me, Regan.”
Her tear welling eyes lock with mine. “I made a mistake I regret every day, but Ineverdeceived you.”
“What type of mistake?” My harsh tone lowers as the truthfulness in her eyes diminishes my anger.
When a sob breaks through the tight clench of her jaw, I prop my hip on my desk next to her. Regan is my lawyer, but she is also my friend.
When I pull a couple of tissues out from a box on my safe and hand them to her, she twists them around her fingers. “My mistake was trusting him.”
I remain quiet, waiting for her to continue.
Mercifully, she doesn’t leave me hanging for long. “I fought my attraction to him. You know me, Isaac. After everything I’d been through, I never let anyone get close.” She lifts her eyes to me, her lips tugging into an apprehensive smile. “Except you.”
A small smirk etches on my mouth. It took a lot of work for me to get her walls to crumble, but I’m a fighter, and I never give up on a challenge.
Her smile lowers into a frown when her eyes flicker like she's recalling a memory. “I have to give it to him, he was very clever. Not only did he break down my walls, but I also believe he cared for me.”
Alex does care for Regan. I could see it in his eyes during our exchange. He had the same unbridled rage that scorches my veins when anyone challenges me regarding anything associated with Isabelle.
“As the weeks went on, I got careless.”
“Because you trusted him,” I interject.
She nods. “Yes.”
It was the same with Isabelle and me. I let my defenses down within a matter of days of making Isabelle mine, so I can comprehend Regan doing it in weeks. I thought my carelessness in being so trusting of Isabelle was my biggest downfall. It wasn’t. It was the sneaky, underhanded tactics of people who were part of my life well before Isabelle arrived in the picture that deserved my suspicion.
“Are you certain it was him who deceived you?”
Regan’s lips set into a firm line before she nods. “I went to take a shower one morning. When I came out, my laptop was open and turned on.” Her nervous cough bounces around the office. “It was the laptop I had Theresa’s files saved on. At first, I brushed it off thinking maybe he was checking his emails or googling movie times for a flick we were going to see, but it didn’t take long for my suspicions to increase that he had looked through my files.”
I cross my arms in front of my chest. “What caused your wariness?”
“He mentioned numerous times his dislike of his boss. He never said what he did for a living, but he shared stories about how she was underhanded and shady, and how he’d run things differently if he were in her position.” Her eyes lift to mine. “A couple of days after my laptop was open, he arrived at my apartment, beaming with excitement because she’d been removed from her position, and he wanted to celebrate.”
She smiles like she's recalling a fond memory. “Not very often did Alex drink. He's usually more controlled, but since we were celebrating, I encouraged him to loosen up. I soon realized why he doesn’t drink. After a few too many spiked drinks, his lips loosened up as well.” She cringes like she’s embarrassed. “With the snippets of information he shared earlier, it didn’t take long to realize what industry he was in. When he was asleep, I rifled through his belongings. I didn’t find anything concrete bar a locked cell phone, so I called Hunter.”
My brows arch high as my jaw muscles tense, but there’s no reason for my snapped response. “Hunter didn’t know what my request pertained to. I told him I needed to hack into a guy’s phone to send his wife pictures of her cheating husband. You know how much Hunter hates cheaters.”
I nod. Hunter won’t hesitate to ruin a man if he's found guilty of adultery. He had great pleasure in ensuring Mr. Marco, the now ex-DA of Ravenshoe, was aware of his dislike of cheaters.
