I sigh with relief. “Glad to hear it. The signing is tomorrow night, so I think Leo should be in his office before then.”
“That’s what I’m hoping. Did you bring the final copy of the files with you?”
“Yep.” I dig in my purse and begin to panic when I don’t find it. “What? No way. Did I leave it plugged into the computer?”
“Seriously, Kylie?” Jax groans.
“Don’t worry. I’ll just go and grab it from the office. It’s not like I’ll be bothering anyone.”
“Okay. But hurry back. I need to get this to David before I can make a real case against him. Without those files, my hands are completely tied.”
“I’m going.” I give him a thumbs-up and head back out the door.
* * *
I glareat the jump drive sticking out of my computer with disdain. Of all the days to forget this. I yank it out of the sleeping computer and throw the jump drive in my purse. Once I get this to Jax, Leo and Isabella will be history. I take in the office with a bit of sadness. This is probably the last time that I’ll ever see it this late. Tomorrow, I’ll type up my resignation letter while Johnathan is busy letting his captors down easy and hopefully life will go back to normal. Maybe Johnathan will be able to show me a bit more of New York now that he’ll have full control of his schedule. I wasn’t joking when I said I was slacking on my tourist to-do list. I can already see his face as I pitch him the idea of taking a ferry to the statue of liberty. If I’m really lucky, I won’t even need to work too hard for a good job in real estate. Being the girl of Johnathan Ronsberry will be recommendation enough.
I notice a few of the boxes leaning over to one side and walk over to straighten them out. The last thing I want to do on the morning of my last day is clean up a pile of papers. I manage to straighten the stack when the door creaks open. Did Johnathan also forget something? No such luck.
I swallow hard as Isabella narrows her eyes at me.
“Are you seriously still here?” she barks.
“I had forgotten something,” I stammer. “I thought I’d come back here—”
“In the middle of the night? You should’ve just gotten it tomorrow.” Her gaze shifts toward the boxes behind me. “I see you and Johnathan have been busy.”
“Yes, well, Johnathan has more clients than ever these days.”
“Funny because I thought the client database looked unchanged from last month.”
A few men file in behind her. They are different from Johnathan’s clean-cut crew. These men have scars and stories that you don’t want to know about. I have to stall them and get the fuck out of here.
“Anything I can help you find?”
“What I’m looking for is none of your concern,” she spits. Isabella is harsh and leaves no room for small talk. She’s nothing like the sweet girl that I last saw.
“I’ll get out of your way,” I stammer. “I’m sure you have much to do.”
Her eyes are suspicious as she walks toward me. “What are you really doing here?”
“Um…I’m not sure what you mean?” I try not to show my fear of being caught. She clearly knows something.
I’m frozen in place as she stands directly in front of me. “You’re not going anywhere. Sit.”
She holds out a chair from the conference table, and I numbly sit down. I need to get rid of my purse before she finds the jump drive. Isabella begins to sift through the top box, tossing it aside to look through another. Judging the distance from here to the door, I can probably sprint fast enough to make it to the elevator. But then what? I’m sure she has people waiting downstairs. Is there a back door I can take to get as far away from her as possible?
“It looks like Johnathan has been a very naughty boy.” Isabella shakes her head, shutting the box and tossing it aside.
“I’m sure he’s no worse than you,” I mumble.
Her eyes are like ice as she walks toward me and grips my chin, her pointed nails digging into my skin. “Since you have so much to say, you and I are going to get to know each other a little better.” She releases me and turns toward her men searching the room. I toss my purse under the table. Hopefully it’s too dark that they won’t pay it any attention.
“You two, take all of these boxes to the warehouse,” she commands. “And you two, help me lead our new guest downstairs. We will be taking her to a more efficient room to get acquainted in.”
I run for the door in a desperate attempt to try and lead their attention away from the table. The men are on me before I can even make it halfway across the room.
“Why are you doing this?” I ask as two men grip me hard by the arms.