Literally nothing else on the planet, in the entire universe, matters at this point.
Josiah could storm through that door, and I wouldn’t care as long as she was safe.
His wife is standing over there watching us, and I realize I don’t even care that I have leverage against my longest standing enemy.
I literally don’t care about any of it.
It’s only her. Izabel, folding in my arms, clinging to me, filling up my heart.
She is all that matters.
Izabel leans back and smiles tightly. “I need to wash my face, then we have to figure out what to do,” she says.
I nod, letting her slip off my lap.
She whispers to Kayla, “It’s okay, I’ll be quick,” but Kayla isn’t even looking at her friend. She’s looking at me.
“Can we speak privately?” Kayla asks.
I groan inwardly and nod. “You may go,” I tell the guards standing around her.
Then I stand with my feet planted heavily on the ground and my arms folded across my chest, waiting for her threats and yelling to start all over again.
To my absolute shock, Kayla walks into the living room area and sits down on the sofa. She sighs and dusts her hands over her pants and looks up at me. “You can sit too, if you like. You look very tense.”
I narrow my eyes, wondering what game she’s playing, but I sit.
“I don’t know what has been going on between you and my best friend,” she says, her eyes piercing into me, “But what I can see, clear as day, is that you care deeply for her. Whatever happened, she’s changed you. I don’t think you’re the same man that you were a few months ago, and…all I really want at the end of the day is for my friend to be happy.”
“Okay…” I mumble, unsure where this is going and very surprised she is speaking so calmly to me.
“I have a proposition for you,” she says boldly.
“I’m listening,” I nod.
“Let me go back to my husband. But also, I need you to agree to let Izabel come to dinner with Josiah and me. She needs to speak directly to Josiah,” she says.
My heart clenches. This is just some kind of trick to get Izabel away from me.
Obviously, she plans to snatch Izabel onto a plane the moment she leaves this house and take her back to Josiah’s mansion. Even if Izabel told Josiah she was happy here, he is too arrogant to listen. I can’t let her out of my sight like that. I would be worried to death the entire time.
I’m about to protest when Kayla carries on talking.
“I don’t know the details yet. I guess I will speak to Josiah when I get back to him, but I think the sooner we can do this, the better. Are you able to bring her to dinner tonight? Would you be comfortable eating dinner with Josiah without all of the guards around? I want it to be as calm as possible.”
Me, eat dinner with Josiah? Does she intend for me to be at dinner as well?
“Josiah will not be pleased if I just roll up for dinner with him,” I say testily.
Kayla scoffs and shakes her head. “I will keep Josiah calm. I can get him to agree to a truce in order to have dinner. Even if you two can’t work things out, at least then we’ve tried, but it’s the best way that I can think to get everyone in the same room to talk it out. If you come alone, Josiah might not believe you. If Izabel comes alone, gosh, I don’t know—he might just try and take her away. He knows how worried I’ve been about her. But if you two come together and I have a chance to talk to Josiah beforehand, I think this can work.”
“Why would you do this for me?” I ask, a little skeptical, but really wanting to believe this can work. Because this isn’t about Josiah and me anymore. This is about my baby. And the woman that I want to protect.
“I’m not really doing it for you, Anton. No offense. But that is my best friend in there, and I will tear the world down for her.”
Kayla stares at me with strength in her eyes that reminds me of Izabel. I can see why they’re friends. They have the same fierceness.
“I understand. And I feel the same way about her.”
