“She’s perfect for him. He needs to be sassed more, and she’s a natural tease.” Isaac smiled tightly, but then he stopped fifty feet from the plane and looked her over. “How close were you to Lansky?” Isaac asked in a gravelly voice.
“Really close the week in Italy, Christmas in San Francisco, and a few weeks ago in Vegas,” she admitted, wondering why they had to talk about that right now. “Besides that, we communicated through FaceTime the past year.”
Isaac set down his bag and released her suitcase. He held out his hand, and she stared at it. He wanted to hold hands with her? She wouldn’t mind, but was now really the time for that? They needed to get on the plane and get to the safe place; then they could discuss awful things like her and Vance. Would they have time to discuss happier things like Joshua and Jade? She craved happiness like she used to know before Vance.
“Cell phone,” he demanded.
Cosette had a sinking feeling in her gut, but she pulled it out and handed it to him.
He looked it over briefly, then pulled a small tool out of his pocket and pried it open. His mouth was pressed in a grim line as he looked over the battery. Replacing the tool in his pocket, he didn’t snap the phone back together; he took it and hurled it at the pavement.
“Jiminy Christmas!” Cosette screeched, looking down at her ruined phone. How was she going to keep in contact with her employees and business contacts without her phone? She couldn’t remember the last time she’d gone a day without talking to Mar. She gripped her purse tightly. If he tried to do that to her laptop, she would fight him. Not that she stood much of a chance against his mass of muscle.
Isaac looked at her. “I’m sorry. There was a tracking device in your phone.”
Cosette put a hand to her neck, suddenly feeling exposed and vulnerable. Her gaze darted around the private jets lined up. Could Vance or one of his men be watching her even now?
“Don’t worry.” Isaac put a hand on her arm, and its warmth brought comfort and a thrill of pleasure. “I haven’t seen any signs we’re being followed. I doubt he’s following you yet. No reason if he knows where you are, right? He’ll get concerned when it stops reading, and even more so when your dad goes after him. This is the perfect place to have it stop tracking. We could be flying anywhere in the world.”
He ground the phone under his heel, then picked up the pieces and chucked them at a nearby fence. They scattered around and settled on the asphalt. Gesturing toward the plane as if he hadn’t just destroyed a thousand-dollar phone and her lifeline to her business, he picked up his bag and her suitcase handle.
“What if he figures out what plane we were on?” she asked.
“If he somehow connects our families and finds the plane, the flight plans have the plane landing on Dominican Republic, the second most populous Caribbean island. He’ll have a time following us there. The stop in Vieques won’t be logged.”
Cosette hated to say it, but she had to ask. “Do you think he’d have tracking devices anywhere else?”
“Was he ever alone with your purse or laptop or anything like that?”
She shook her head. “The only time he had my phone was when I first met him in Italy. I went to use the restroom, and he kept my phone to put his number in. I was stupidly thinking it was romantic, but he must’ve had a tracking device on me for the past year.” The thought made her sick. Vance had obviously been planning to control her from the very beginning. Her dad had wondered if their first meeting was coincidental, or if Vance knew exactly who she was and wanted the resources her company and family money could bring him. It wasn’t enough that he had family money and plenty of wealth on his own.
Cosette just wondered why a man couldn’t love her for her. Besides the threatening texts, Vance had also told her how she’d never find someone who loved her, as she was socially impaired, crazy, and kissed like a limp noodle. Despite Mar’s vehement protests, Cosette knew his jabs were probably true.
“Looks like it. If that’s really the only time he had your phone.”
She searched her memory and nodded. “I think so.”
They reached the plane and were greeted by the pilot. Cosette was glad there wasn’t a stewardess—that meant there was less worry of someone talking to Vance’s men. Was she paranoid for thinking he was coming after her? The tracking device was unnerving. Settling into the seat, she found her gaze lingering on Isaac’s strong build. He seemed to know his stuff and was built like the Terminator. If anyone could protect her from Vance, it would be him. If only she could be reassured that Vance and his men wouldn’t find and torture Isaac. She’d never forgive herself if that happened.