Page 56 of My Grumpy Billionaire Protector

Cory pats my shoulder. “Of course, you can, cuz. Just think about how much better your life is going to be when we’re done with her.”

My freedom, putting as much distance between myself and Isaiah as possible, and the ability to use this to push Isaiah out of the company…

The thought should’ve been enough to drive the image of her away and have me looking forward to the future and everything that awaited me. Frustratingly, it has the opposite effect, and I find myself dreading the day when she walks out the front door and doesn’t return.

Jesus Christ.

Get over it, Shane. It’s not like fucking has changed anything between the two of you. She’s still a pain in the ass who’d sooner nail your balls to the wall than sleep with you again.

All at once, I have an image of myself, thrusting into Evie while she is pinned to a wall, her dark hair falling around her shoulders and her full lips parted in pleasure. When I blink, I sit up straighter against the chair and curl my hands into fists at my side. Cory peers at the puzzle spread over the table, reaches into the box, and pulls out a piece.

“There you go. That one wasn’t so hard.”

I tilt my head to the side and stare at Cory. “Says the guy who once thought the hot dog guy ordered a hit on him.”

Cory shrugs and straightens his back. “It can’t hurt to be careful.”

“Or paranoid,” I mutter under my breath. “You’re supposed to be trying to find us a way out of here. How’s that going?”

Cory touches two fingers to his brows and gives me a mock salute. “No luck. Either Isaiah has them scared shitless or he pays them really well. No one wants to smuggle us out.”

”Jesus, can anything else go wrong?”

“Fucking hell, cuz. She really does have you on edge.”

I freeze with a hand on the knob. “What makes you say that?”

“She’s so annoying that you’ve lost your sense of humor. Don’t worry. I’ll help you get it back.”

I turn the knob and fling the door open. “We’d have better luck finding yours.”

“Salty,” Cory calls out to my back, “but I forgive you because we’re family.”

I twist a hand behind my back and flip him off. Cory bursts into laughter and kicks the door shut behind me with a thud.

After a quick pause in front of the mirror, during which I smooth out the front of my sweater and brush crumbs off of my jeans, I come to a stop outside of Isaiah’s office.

A few quick knocks later, I stand on the other side of his desk while he stares at a laptop screen, a slight furrow appearing between his brows.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I don’t appreciate being manipulated,” I reply, shifting from one foot to the other. ”You and I are supposed to be business partners. What the hell happened?”

Isaiah glances up and frowns. “I got tired of you promising big things and not following through.”

“Bullshit. We’ve followed through before. This isn’t about that. I knew I shouldn’t have taken a big risk with you.”

Isaiah stands up, white light dancing across his face. “It’s a little too late for that. You don’t have what it takes to take the company the whole way.”

I snort. “You mean all the way to prison? Yeah, forgive me if I want to do things the right away.”

Isaiah steps out from behind his desk. “You have no one to blame but yourself for this mess. You suggested we approach Governor Coombes.”

I threw my hands up on either side of me. “To get him to invest in the company and introduce us to some of his connections!”

Isaiah tilts his head to the side. “You can’t possibly be this naïve.”

“And you can’t possibly be this stupid,” I snap. “Do you have any idea what Governor Coombes is going to do to you when he gets his hands on you?”

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