Page 39 of My Grumpy Billionaire Protector

I’m hoping he sees the file as a peace offering, an olive branch to something bigger, like negotiating our release.

Isaiah flicks the file open, and a muscle ticks in his jaw. “It’s a high school publication. Hardly worth mentioning.”

I lean back against the chair, the wood hard and cold against my back. “What’s really going on here, Isaiah? I know you’re ambitious, and you can be single minded, but this isn’t like you.”

Or at least I hope I haven’t been blinded to the truth.

Isaiah unlinks his fingers and leans forward against the desk separating us. “You want to know why I did her a favor.”

“For starters.”

“It was because of her mother. Alba Coombes and I went to college together. We dated for years, so when she called and asked me for a favor, I couldn’t say no.”

“Is this why you wanted them to kidnap Alba?”

“I thought that our personal connection would make it easier. That, and she owed me a favor.”

I froze. “Shit. Isaiah, I don’t think you have any idea how bad any of this is. We can still make this right, you know. It’s not too late.”

Isaiah gives me a withering look. “Don’t tell me how to conduct my business.”

I jump to my feet and bristle. “This isn’t conducting business. This is illegal. You know they’re going to find us sooner or later, and when they do, it’s over for you. Don’t be an idiot. This isn’t going to help the company either. Think about all of the hard work we put into the company. Do you really want that to go to waste?”

If I can’t appeal to his better nature, I’m hoping the business side of him can still be reached.

But I know by the look on his face that I’m grasping at straws.

”I find it interesting that you’re warning me about the consequences of my own actions when I know you tried to blackmail Evie into helping you.”

I dig my nails into my palms.

Fuck.

“Next time you want to insult a man in his own house, make sure you can back it up.”

EVIE

“So, you’re telling me I’m allowed to go on a run?”

She nods.

“Outside?” I tug on my shoestrings before rising up to my feet. “What’s the catch?”

“There’s no catch,” Riley replies, pausing to swat at an errant lock of hair. “You’re not a prisoner here.”

“Riley, we both know that’s not true,” I tell her with a sigh. “I’m kept in my room most of the time. I’m not allowed to have a phone, and I have to be guarded at all times.”

“That’s for your own protection,” Riley replies with a small smile. “Trust me. You’ll be thankful we’re around if anything happens.”

I frown. “Anything?”

“Even inside a compound, we have to be on high alert,” Riley reveals in a low voice. She casts a quick glance over her shoulder at the other two guards who are dressed similarly in dark jeans and sweaters. They have rifles hung over their shoulders and gold pins I haven’t been able to get a close look at.

It’s probably some kind of mark to set them apart from the rest.

“Sounds like you have a lot of enemies,” I comment. My eyes linger on the emblem pinned to Riley’s chest, glistening underneath the light of the sun. “What’s that anyway?”

“It’s a pin.”

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