Six Months Later:
Her blood was boiling- no, it was absolutely magma at this point! Isabella adjusted the strap of her luxury bag on her shoulder and lifted her head up as she stalked through the foyer of his expansive home. She completely ignored the man that answered the door, who was chasing her down as though she were carrying explosives. "Senora! You must wait here!"
He reached for her arm and before he could grab her, a bark came from the now open office door. Her head snapped in the direction of the voice and it took all of her good sense not to cuss him out where he stood. Eddie didn't welcome her warmly, he merely stood there in pressed khakis and a button up shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows- in another dimension, Bella might have swooned at the sight of him.
But here in reality, he was a brutish douchebag.
After their night of passion, she had awoken to an empty room with a soreness between her legs that acted as a ringing remainder of what happened. She had a small breakfast with Greta, who informed her that Senor Marquez's girlfriend was due to arrive at the penthouse any minute. The admission took her wholly by surprise, though why should it? He had arrived at the party with a woman, a beautiful woman that once covered magazines- they hadn't promised each other marriage or anything of the sort, but after the night they spent Isabella knew she deserved better than that.
Even if there wasn't time to mention it before they took their clothes off, he could have hinted at it! Why didn't he let her leave in the first hour when she had wanted to? Instead, he led her to believe they would possibly spend the next day together or in the least grab a bite to eat. He hadn't made any exclusive promises (she hadn't either) but he had led her on to make assumptions… it wasn't right of him.
She wasn't a homewrecker and certainly would have never knowingly shared a bed with a man in a relationship! All of the intimate laughs and anecdotes they shared in the late of night, in between making love and resting, suddenly seemed so stupid to her.
Isabella was stupid.
So, six months later, being in his presence was like chewing on rusty nails.
Isabella made a show of brushing right past him into the room where her largest headache sat. "Bells!" Her brother's eyes lit up when he saw her and for a moment, she wanted to smile back at her baby brother. But then she remembered why she took a thirteen-hour flight and dipped into her savings for a room and transportation during the hectic tourist season. "How did you know I was here?"
She didn't answer Robbie in fear that she'd rip him a new asshole before she heard all of the facts. There was no way he was this stupid- it just wasn't possible.
Eddie hadn't stepped into the room with her, whether he was trying to be polite and give her privacy with her brother or merely trying to fry her last nerve with suspense was still debatable. "Eduardo is… a friend of mine."
She used the word 'friend' very loosely. If by friend, she meant someone she shared a sexual encounter with and never spoke to again, then sure they were great friends.
In order to keep her head level and attention focused, she refused to think about that stupid night they shared together.
Robbie looked like a wave of relief came over him, even having the nerve to let out a jovial sigh and a small smirk. "That's good! So, he's gonna let me go then?"
"That's still unforeseen." Eduardo's voice reverberated through the home office, bringing goosebumps across Isabella's exposed arms. "This is Jorge, he's Head of Security for Íl Siempre." Isabella nodded politely to the man but refused to sit when Eddie offered, too tense to let herself relax for the next ten years or so. "Roberto was caught counting cards in my casino," Isabella threw eye daggers down to her brother but listened intently to Eddie still, "and when Jorge pulled him aside for questioning, he attempted to flee and destroyed equipment on the casino floor amounting to approximately sixty thousand euro."
Isabella bit her bottom lip to her keep her temper in check in front of these strangers, but she could barely control her rage. Roberto had messed up before, the way all kids do when they first become adults. But counting cards in a casino thousands of miles away from home? And then destroying private property? What the hell was her little brother thinking?
Jorge cleared his throat and swiveled the computer screen for them to see. "Cameras are watched and recorded around the clock at Íl Siempre, this is what was picked up." She watched the video intently, trying to call on her parents lawyerly advice at the same time. The video explicitly showed her brother being approached then chased, ultimately ending with him knocking card tables and glass furniture behind him to curb his pursuers. Isabella leaned into the screen to get a better look at a woman running behind the commotion, a look on her face that was unreadable at best.
But she was calling for Robbie, that much she knew. Did her brother do this for a girl? To impress her? To show off how clever he could be?
Isabella leaned further in to scrutinize the image and happened to look up slightly, catching Eduardo's green eyes intently on her. For a moment she forgot that she was pissed off and in the middle of a crisis- for a second, she felt that white hot desire from months before when they were in the dark hallway, and then later in his penthouse suite.
She pulled back and wiped at her reddened cheek, trying her best to maintain her prior composure.
Jorge didn't miss a beat. "According to the dealer at Roberto's table, close to one hundred thousand euro was illegally won during his sitting." Bella glanced down at her brother, silently begging him to defend himself with a good story. Sure, he was a little irresponsible here and there, but this was something different altogether! This was a serious crime. "This is an illegal offense with a hefty fine and jail time here in España, Senora." Spain was exceptionally tough on crime- she had watched enough CNN news coverage to know that.
She nodded in understanding but kept her eyes narrow as to warn Eduardo's employee about his words. Her brother was an idiot, but she was the only one allowed to persecute him.
"Will you be referring him to the authorities then?" She posed the question to Eddie, bypassing his security brute and her brother. Isabella was summoned to Spain for a reason, after all. If he was going to call the cops on her brother, then he could have done that without her presence! It would kill her to see her baby brother in a jail cell, especially in a country whose justice system wasn't all that pro-American, but they were unfortunately in the hands of a man who didn't seem to be very sentimental about anything.
Eddie looked her over carefully. "That is a conversation you and I will hold privately, Isabella." Fear prickled at the nape of her neck at the way he looked at her just then. She wasn't the one facing a jail sentence but she might as well have been. "Jorge, take Roberto into the next room."
When his henchman snatched Roberto by his arm, Isabella instinctively hissed at him. "Watch how you grab him!" The man pursed his lips but loosened his grip nonetheless, earning a sultry smirk from Eduardo behind his desk. The girl would stand up to any man that stood in her path, she was either incredibly fearless or incredibly stupid.
And was as feisty as ever, he mused, seeing as the last six months hadn't done anything to deter it.
It was the entire reason he paid her the courtesy of contacting her instead of the authorities. She didn't return calls or messages the conventional way, so he had to call upon some creativity. The chance that her brother ended up trying to con his way through the casino Eduardo owned was simply cosmic- if he did in fact believe in the powers of the universe, they were definitely in his favor.
Isabella tucked a stray curl away from her face and smoothed out the silk shirt she wore, wholly prepared for whatever form of extortion Eduardo was about to serve. "Tequila?" He offered almost politely and at first she was going to refuse, but then thought better of it.
She was sure whatever he was about to say deserved a shot but flashes of the last time they shared a drink came sneaking back to her.
She nodded quietly and swallowed the offered glass down, forgoing any kind of ladylike etiquette. "Salud." She offered belatedly, which earned her another one of those smiles from him. He had such perfect teeth, why didn't he do that more often? Why did a man have to look that beautiful anyway?
His smile made her feel almost… fulfilled, as if earning one of those was a gift she wanted to work at again and again. "I apologize for my brother's actions, Senor Marquez. I wouldn't appreciate a kid wrecking my place of business, either." She had dug up all of the possibly relevant information about him on the plane ride over. Mid-thirties, orphaned, owned multiple establishments along the European coast, only child… the list went on. She was sort of glad she hadn't known all the sordid details when they were being intimate because who didn't love to take in sick and injured puppies? He was the epitome of rag-to-riches, a way of life she would know nothing about- it called on her sense of the unknown and she found herself wanting to peel back the layers to see what was underneath.
They had spent a night together and as steamy as it was, it wasn't like they could write a biography on each other.
"Kid?" Eduardo sent her a sardonic look. "Perhaps he acts like a child because he's treated as one, Senora Lopes-Aguirre." Isabella kept her temper in check at the mention of her brother, but she had a few biting remarks for him ready in her arsenal. "He's twenty, si? Hardly a kid."
"Hardly a man, either." She reminded him gently. "We all make mistakes when we're young and dumb." As much as she wanted to plea her brother's case, she knew she had to be careful. He could easily call the cops and her brother would be gone from her life for who knew how long!
Eduardo said nothing in return, just stared at her and then let his eyes rove over her exposed chest, down to her long acrylic nails, before ending on her recently shaved (thank god) legs.
Did she always dress this flashy?
No, but this was her battle armor.
No situation was too intense when you wore a $200 top and a skirt.
Her cheeks reddened deeper but she didn't lift her eyes from his, not even when he stood up from his seat and came in front her to lean against his massive desk. They were so close their knees touched briefly, sending a jolt up her legs to somewhere very private.
Flashes of their last encounter played through her mind in a flurry. The way they joined to become one for a glorious evening, laying in each other's arms, allowing themselves to be open with each other for what seemed like hours, even laughing at jokes… it was something wonderful but it could never happen again.
"One hundred thousand for the card counting, sixty thousand for damages, forty thousand for the hotel stay and all charges incurred for his week's stay. It seems the card on file was obtained from your brother's guest, who swiped it from a friend." It took all of Isabella's strength not the throw her head in her hands. Credit card fraud on top of it all? What was Robbie thinking? And who was this friend? Was she the same woman on the screen? "You are right in certain aspects, Senora Aguirre-Lopes." The mention of her being correct gave her a sense of righteousness but she stifled the urge to pump her fists just yet. "I was an unruly teen who made a number of my own mistakes, which I was lucky enough to walk away from. But I did pay a price for my freedoms- the same will cost Roberto."
Isabella felt tears prick behind her eyes. Who knew what kind of satisfaction this man would take at bringing an Aguirre-Lopes down a peg? He could easily (and rightfully so) call the authorities, sell the story to a tabloid, sue their family in court… the power was in his hands at that point, and it killed her.
Roberto had dug himself a grave and was lying in it, but she couldn't help but brunt some of the guilt- maybe Eduardo was doing this to get back at her? She hadn't returned any of his calls and acted as if nothing happened between them… not because she wanted to, but because she had to.
He could never offer her the fairy tale romance she wanted, not the way that she deserved.
If her parents even had a whiff of what was going on, Roberto would be dead meat. He could be disowned, kicked out of college, cut off completely! He could lose everything over a stupid decision-
"Eduardo…" She let the name linger in the air between them. "Can't we work something out?" She didn't mean for her words to come off the way that they did, but the look in his eyes stirred something deep inside of her belly. They were closer now, noses almost touching. "I mean, um… he can make up for what he did! If you could just-"
"He has no skills useful to me." Eddie shushed her without actually shushing her- he was right, though. With her family's help, Robbie didn't know how to cook, clean, do manual labor, keep a steady job, or anything else useful to normal, adult life. He did art, and he was cumbersome at that. "But I do have use for you, Isabella."
