Stealing Her (Covet 1)

“Yes?” came the disembodied female voice over the intercom.

I looked at the number on the clipboard, 7808, which would match the identity of the patient I was visiting or the department I was from. “I’m coming in for supplies, not to see a patient, or the patient. It’s Izzy.”

They should know me. But I said the number anyway.

A few more seconds went by.

Everyone knew me there. Then again, this could be someone new.

The door buzzed, thankfully.

I walked through. Nothing was more eerie than an abandoned ICU. A doctor was at the old nurses’ station surrounded by three other nurses who I’d never seen before.

“Hey.” I handed the clipboard to the lady at the computer. “I just need some bedding and a few other things on the list. It’s a bit crazy in the pediatric cancer wing.”

Her eyebrows shot up as she looked behind me and sighed. “Yeah, well, it’s been a bit crazy here too.”

I smirked at that. “Celebrity?”

She just snorted. “Only the doctor knows who it really is, though I don’t recognize the name, so who knows.”

“The name of the celebrity?”

“Yeah.” She stood. “Be right back.”

The doctor and other two nurses walked over to the closed door, knocked, and let themselves in.

I shouldn’t have looked.

But I did.

I looked.

Inside that room, standing, was Julian.

My fiancé, Julian.

What the hell?

I ducked behind the desk and nearly wept when the room numbers were on the main screen along with the names.

It was easy to find.

Because he was the only patient in that part of the wing.

Bridge Anderson.

The name didn’t sound familiar.

The only thing that did sound familiar was that Julian’s mom had joked about calling Julian Bridge.

But Julian was standing right there. I just saw him.

What sort of secrets was he keeping?

My stomach sank a bit. And then I ducked even farther when the door opened again, and my fiancé swept out of the room and walked down the hall, his expression grim.

Chapter Twenty-Six

ISOBEL

“Home.”

“Alright.”

The drive was short. I didn’t even remember walking into the elevator with my bags or dropping them at the door. I kicked off my shoes and walked toward his office.

His very private office.

I was never allowed access to his computer. Too many business dealings that could go wrong, and though he trusted me, it was a hard pass, especially after college.

I went over to his leather chair and sat as the memory unfolded.

“Iz, I need you to promise me something, alright?”

“Anything.” I was too enraptured with our penthouse apartment, the expensive sofa, the drapes. I’d never had drapes before, and now I couldn’t stop staring at them; they were electronic and pulled across the windows with a button that had me reeling. In fact, everything was run through a control system with buttons, the showers, music, even our iPhones were connected.

“Iz, focus.” His lips pulled into a tiny smirk. “Can you do that?”

“Huh? Yup, sorry.” I put down the remote and faced him. He looked nervous and a little bit sad, but I figured he was just going through the same disbelief I was. He was now a senior VP at Tennyson Financial, and all our dreams were finally coming true. We’d start having kids right away, I’d continue my volunteer work, and we’d never have to worry about money ever again.

He finally had access to his trust fund. It felt like something out of a fairy tale, and I was living it!

“I’m going to be given access to a lot of private information, information that if leaked could take down companies, get people fired. I trust you, I do, I just, I need this to be our one rule. I’ll buy you whatever laptop you want, but my computer is mine, alright? I don’t want secrets, and I don’t want you thinking I’m keeping you out because I’m password protecting everything, but this job is really important to me. And protecting you is more important.”

“I know, Julian. You’ve always protected me, even when I was annoyed with you. I never had to worry about life getting me down, because you were always there to pick me up.”

His eyes flashed with something before a smile erupted on his beautiful face. “You know exactly what to say to make everything better, don’t you?”

“Uh-huh, it’s why I’m your girlfriend and you love me.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him softly.

He groaned. “I’ll never get tired of this, Iz, of us, of you. I can’t wait to start a family with you. I can’t wait for what the future holds.”

“It’s gonna be an adventure,” I agreed.

And never went behind his desk.

For three years I’d kept my word.

And now I was tapping my fingers on the mouse trying to wake the computer up and praying that his passwords were saved.

Sometimes he wrote them down next to the computer.

Other times he put them in his phone.