The last person Isabelle expected to hear from was Marcus Caldwell.
She was at her desk, finalizing the upcoming product launch calendar—her fingers moving automatically across the trackpad—when her phone buzzed with a number she didn’t recognize. She barely glanced at it. Most unknown numbers lately were PR inquiries or polite offers masked as invasions.
But then a text followed.
Marcus Caldwell: I know I’m the last person you want to hear from. But I just saw the news. Can we talk?
Isabelle froze.
For a second, her entire body stilled, like someone had pulled the air from the room. She hadn’t spoken to Marcus in nearly nine months—not since the day he’d stood in this very office and called her a coward to her face.
That day still lingered in the corners of her memory like a bad dra
