Stealing Her (Covet 1)

“He moved his toes and fingers the other day. The doctors are concerned there may be brain damage. You have to understand, son, Julian may wake up a completely different person, or he may wake up a vegetable.”

I froze. “What do you mean? You said you had the best doctors.”

He looked away, but I saw the flash of guilt. “I’m not God.”

“No shit.”

“I want him to live, I need him to live.”

I eyed him skeptically; was he getting emotional over this?

“I’m controlling the pieces I can, Bridge, and letting the universe take care of the rest. If he’s moving his fingers and toes that’s a good sign. If he wakes up and can’t resume his responsibilities as both husband and CEO, I expect you to do the right thing, the thing he would want more in this world.” He put his hand on my shoulder. “And take your rightful place.”

Fuck. Me.

I didn’t say anything.

Because there was nothing to say.

Nothing I wouldn’t do for Julian.

And now? Nothing I wouldn’t do for Izzy.

“You’re a Tennyson, you can’t run away from that.”

He started walking toward the glass doors, when I turned around and asked the dreaded question that had been occupying my mind. “Did you plan it? Me falling for Izzy? Or were you just hopeful?”

“She’s beautiful.” He didn’t even glance over his shoulder. “And starving for attention. What do you think?”

“I think this is fucked up.”

“Welcome to corporate America.” He opened the glass doors and started answering reporters’ questions.

And I stared out at the kingdom one more time and whispered, “Please, wake up.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

ISOBEL

Julian wasn’t answering my texts. Not that I blamed him; he had interviews to conduct and people to celebrate with. This was huge news: Tennyson Financial now had a monopoly over investing in a way no company ever had. They were untouchable.

I was proud of him, proud of everything that he’d done to get to this moment even if it meant that this moment included Edward and an accident that nearly cost Julian his life.

“I like the red. It’s very couture,” Marla said, taking a sip of her white wine while I spun around for the designer who was currently pinning fabric around my hips and having her assistant take Polaroids.

“It’s a bit tight,” I pointed out. “Around the thighs.”

“Go on a cleanse and you’ll be fine,” Marla piped up. “Besides, it’s not like you’ll be in it long, not with a Tennyson standing around you.”

“Can we not talk about Julian?” I said with clenched teeth. “He’s my fiancé, and you’re married to his father. Remember him? The one with the beer gut well on his way to developing gout?”

Marla gave me a scathing glare. “Jealous? Edward is one of the most powerful men alive, so what if I have to close my eyes and imagine your fiancé’s face when we sleep together. It’s not hard to imagine what it would be like with the real thing.”

I sucked in a sharp breath of air and promised myself I’d keep the tears in. Amazing how I couldn’t even imagine him cheating after this last week together.

The man I was with now wasn’t a cheater.

What did that even mean?

That he’d found God during that accident and decided to keep it in his pants?

Had she touched him? Seen him naked? I couldn’t bear the thought of it.

I’d smelled him on her.

“Excuse me.” I batted the designer’s hands away and walked briskly into the dressing room, slamming the door behind me.

With shaking hands, I called Julian’s office. I needed to talk to him, to hear his voice, to know that this wasn’t all a dream, that what I felt between us wasn’t my imagination.

“Tennyson Financial, Julian Tennyson’s office.” Amy’s voice was way too chipper.

“Amy, hi, it’s Isobel, is Julian available?”

She sighed like I was a burden she never asked for, she’d always treated me that way and Julian always allowed it. “Actually no, he finished conducting interviews for CNBC a couple of hours ago and then left. I don’t know where he is.”

“Okay, I’ll just call later.” For some reason, my mind flashed to the tattoos. That was one of the companies, right? “Amy, one more thing.”

“Yes?”

“Are they going to go through with purchasing Inkbox?” I wasn’t sure why I asked. I don’t usually inquire about their business deals.

“Inkbox?” she repeated. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

A chill blanketed my body. “The temporary-tattoo company that Julian said went viral online? The last few weeks?”

An annoyed sigh followed. “Look, if we’re buying them out then I’d be the first to know because I take all of Julian’s notes in those meetings. In front of me I have ten companies he and the board will be looking at over the next calendar year, and not one of them is called Inkbox. Maybe he hasn’t presented it yet, but that would be really out of character since he always runs everything by his team first.”