My heart is so full of this woman. More emotion crammed inside than I thought was possible to feel for anyone outside of my daughter.
I think of what Sophia was asking. I could pop the question, right here, right now. Convince Isabelle I’m serious.
Or delusional.
The question presses against the inside of my lips, wanting to burst forth.
Then my watch beeps with an intruder siren and my heart drops to the floor.
Goddammit Alice. Not here. Not now.
“Get back to the office,” I order Isabelle. “Stay under cover. No one in. No one out.”
I tear along the hallway towards the south entrance, not bothering to check and see if she’s obeying my command.
Three guesses who’s trying to breach my security today. I hope my ex-wife is prepared to suffer the full blast of my wrath.
CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR
ISABELLE
I cradle Sophia in my arms while fiddling with Baxter’s computer. It’s connected to the bank of monitors showing various camera angles from around the estate but annoyingly not any footage to show what’s happening.
Baxter ran in front of the camera twenty seconds ago but disappeared into another room and now I don’t know where he is at all. With my nerves already frayed, I’m not taking in much information. As I test out the different keys and click on the mouse, the feed changes are seemingly random.
“Try the mouse again,” Sophia says, staring at me with wide eyes. “Or can I do it?”
I surrender control, wondering how hard my nana would laugh to see me being one-upped by a six-year-old. Serves me right for thinking I was all that and more when my younger self impatiently explained a DVD recorder to her.
She toggles easily from one room to another, finally hitting on a view of a woman, waiting just inside the door of a room I’ve never seen before. Baxter walks inside, coming to a halt at the sight of her.
“Mum!” Sophia yells, clambering off my lap as Baxter mouths unheard words onscreen. I look around for a sound control function, desperate to hear what he’s saying as the girl adds, “She never visits.”
Not that it seems to upset her as Sophia darts from the room. I reluctantly leave the monitors and break into a hobbling run to keep up with her.
When the girl sprints into an entrance hall I’ve so far missed, she comes to an abrupt halt, sticking her thumb in her mouth. I catch up a second later, resting my hand lightly on Sophia’s shoulder so she knows I’m there.
Then my attention is caught by the woman standing opposite.
Dark hair. Blue eyes. Rampant curiosity in her gaze.
A mirror image if I ever came across a mirror that decided I needed to overdose on confidence.
Her eyes rake over me, head to toe in an instance. She smirks, looking away until her gaze fixes on Baxter instead. “Trialling a replacement, I see.”
His hands are clenched by his side, but his face remains relaxed and impassive. I don’t know what they were discussing just before we arrived, but neither of them seems in a hurry to resume the conversation.
“Hey, honey,” Baxter says to his daughter. “Want to come over here?”
She skips across the room to him, then ducks behind to view her mother from around the safety of his hip. He rests a hand on her head, all his attention focused on her while the room waits for her reaction.
Sophia grips his hand in hers, tugging until he bends over so she can whisper in his ear. I can’t hear any individual words, but the girl’s voice is taut and strained.
“I don’t know,” he answers when she falters to a stop. “Should we ask her?”
His daughter nods then hides entirely behind him, not a peep or strand of hair showing on either side.
“What are you doing here, Alice?”
