Chapter Ten KAI'S POV
1072 Words
We got back to the apartment at ten.
Isla kicked off her shoes at the door and went straight to the kitchen, filling a glass of water like she needed something to do with her hands. The dinner had gone better than I'd prepared for, but better didn't mean easy. Marco's words were still sitting in my chest. *You both wasted a lot of time being noble.*
"He'll be fine," Isla said, reading something in my silence.
"I know."
"He just needs a few days to adjust."
"I know that too." I loosened my tie. "He's not wrong though. I should have talked to him years ago."
"Yes. You should have." She leaned against the counter. "But we're here now so."
"So."
She finished the water and set the glass down. "I'm going to bed. Early meeting with the design team tomorrow. I rescheduled everything from this morning."
"I'll drive you."
"You don't have to—"
"Brandon took a photograph of us outside city hall this morning." I kept my voice even. "You're not taking the subway until he's located."
She opened her mouth, then closed it. Nodded. "Fine. Seven thirty."
"Seven."
"Seven fifteen."
"Fine."
She picked up her phone from the counter and paused. "Your father called while we were at dinner."
"I saw."
"Are you going to call him back tonight?"
"No."
She studied me for a second, like she was deciding whether to push it. She decided not to. "Goodnight, Kai."
"Goodnight."
She went down the hall. Her bedroom door closed softly.
I stood in the quiet kitchen for a moment, then called Derek.
"Crane's office confirmed Tuesday," Derek said without preamble. "Two o'clock. His lawyers will be present."
"Then bring ours."
"Already done. Also, Brandon's car was picked up on traffic cameras near the West Village at nine fifteen tonight."
I went still. "He followed us here?"
"Looks like it. He didn't stop, just drove past twice. He may not know which building yet but he's narrowing it down." Derek paused. "We should tell Isla."
"In the morning. She's had enough today."
"Kai."
"In the morning, Derek."
A pause. "Okay. Also, Thomas's lawyers acknowledged the marriage certificate but your father wants a meeting. He's requesting Monday morning before the board."
"Tell him Monday afternoon. After the board meeting is cancelled."
"He won't like that."
"He rarely does." I ended the call and stood at the window looking down at the street. A car moved slowly past the building. Different make than the one in the camera footage. Probably nothing.
I watched it until it turned the corner.
I was still awake at one in the morning when I heard her door open.
Isla appeared in the hallway in an oversized t-shirt, hair loose, carrying her phone. She stopped when she saw me at the window.
"You haven't slept," she said.
"No."
She came and sat on the couch, tucking her feet under her. "Brandon?"
I turned from the window. "His car was on camera near here tonight. He doesn't know the building yet."
She absorbed that without visible panic. "You were going to tell me in the morning."
"Yes."
"I appreciate the intent. Don't do it again." Her voice was firm but not angry. "Same side, remember?"
I sat in the chair across from her. "His movements have been escalating since this morning. The appearance at the construction site, following us to city hall, the photograph, now this. He's not backing off because of the marriage. He's reacting to it."
"What does that mean for us?"
"It means the restraining order isn't enough on its own. We need to find him before he decides to escalate further." I watched her face. "Derek is working on his location. He hasn't used his apartment or his office in two days."
"He has a place in the Hamptons. His family owns it." She said it quietly. "We used to go there. I know the address."
"Send it to me."
She texted it without hesitation. I forwarded it to Derek immediately.
"Thank you."
She shrugged. "It's useful information. No point sitting on it." She looked down at the gold band on her finger, turning it slightly. "Tell me about the Crane meeting Tuesday."
"He's going to argue the marriage is a legal maneuver to satisfy the inheritance clause and therefore invalid."
"Is he wrong?"
"The clause doesn't require the marriage to be for love. It requires it to be legal." I leaned forward, elbows on knees. "The certificate is real. The marriage is real. His argument has no legal ground."
"But reputationally?"
"He'll try to make noise. Suggest I manipulated a situation to coerce you into marriage while you were vulnerable." I held her gaze. "Which means we need to be consistent about our public position."
"Which is?"
"That this is a real marriage. That we've known each other for years through Marco. That the timeline, while fast, is not unusual for people in our circumstances."
Isla was quiet for a moment. "Basically we tell the version that's mostly true."
"Yes."
"We did know each other. It was just very one-sided knowing."
"It wasn't entirely one-sided."
She looked up at me quickly.
I hadn't planned to say it like that, but it landed and I didn't take it back.
"I noticed you," I said. "Every time. I just couldn't do anything about it."
She was quiet for long enough that I thought she was going to let it go, file it away for later the way she'd been doing with the harder things all day.
Instead she said, "I used to time my arrivals at Marco's dinners around whether your car was outside. If it was there I'd take ten minutes in the car before going in."
"Why?"
"To prepare." A small, self-deprecating smile. "You made me nervous."
"I make most people nervous."
"Not like that." She met my eyes. "Not the way you made me nervous."
The apartment was very quiet.
"We should sleep," she said finally.
"Yes."
Neither of us moved for another moment.
Then she stood, straightened her t-shirt, and walked back down the hall. "Seven fifteen, Westbrook. I mean it."
"Seven."
"Seven fifteen."
Her door closed.
I went back to the window and watched the street until three AM, when Derek texted that Brandon's car had been confirmed at the Hamptons address.
I went to bed. For the first time in five years, I fell asleep quickly.
- Writer
