The MVP Who Left Me At The Alter

Chapter 4 The Woman In His Penthouse

Isolde's pov

“What the hell are you doing here?”Zevran’s voice came from somewhere behind the woman who had opened the door.I stood in the hallway of his penthouse, still in my work clothes, fury sitting so hot in my chest I could barely keep my voice steady.

“Making sure my patient doesn’t die because he’s too stubborn to attend his appointment.”The woman in the doorway didn’t move. She looked at me and smiled.

“You must be Isolde.”I stared at her.

“And you are?”Zevran appeared over her shoulder, still in training gear. He looked from me to her and back again, and for one second I saw the exact moment he realized how this looked.The woman stepped aside, still watching me with that same quiet amusement.

“Still angry with him?”I walked past her into the penthouse without answering.Zevran closed the door behind me.

“You can’t just show up here.”

“You missed a scheduled cardiac monitoring session. I called. Twice. You didn’t answer. So yes, I can.”The woman leaned against the kitchen island, arms loosely crossed.

“He’s been like that for years. Appointments are suggestions to him.”I turned to her fully.

“I asked who you are.”She glanced at Zevran. He still hadn’t spoken.

“Sienna,” she said finally. “I manage his private schedule. Among other things.”

“Among other things.” The words came out colder than I meant.Zevran’s jaw tightened.

“Isolde…”

“Don’t.” I kept my eyes on her. “How long have you lived here?”Sienna’s brows lifted slightly.

“I don’t live here. I have access. There’s a difference.”

“Is there?”Zevran stepped between us.

“That’s enough.”

“Is it?” I looked at him. “You miss a mandatory monitoring appointment, you don’t answer your phone, and when I show up the door is opened by a woman who knows my name and looks completely comfortable in your home. Forgive me if I’m struggling to keep this professional.”Sienna made a soft sound that might have been a laugh.

“God. You two are exactly as bad as he said.”

“Sienna.” Zevran’s voice dropped. “Leave it.”She held up both hands in mild surrender and pushed off the island.

“I’ll be in the office if anyone needs me. Try not to break anything expensive.”She walked down the hallway and disappeared through a door.I turned on him.

“You didn’t think to mention her?”“There was nothing to mention.”“She has a key to your penthouse.”

“She manages things I don’t have time for.”

“Including your medical schedule, apparently.”

“Yes.”

“And you still missed the appointment.”He dragged a hand through his hair.

“I lost track of time.”

“You lost track of the one thing that might keep you from collapsing on a court in front of a sold-out arena.”

“I said I lost track of time.”

“And I’m supposed to believe that while another woman answers your door like she lives here?”His eyes flashed.

“Is that what this is actually about?”

“This is about you ignoring medical orders.”

“No. This is about you walking in here and deciding you already know the story.”I laughed.

“I don’t need to decide. I can see it.”

“You see what you want to see. Same as this morning. Same as five years ago.”I stepped closer.

“Don’t you dare bring that into this.”

“You already did the second you looked at her like she was evidence.”

“She knew my name, Zevran. She looked at me like she’d been waiting for this exact moment. Forgive me for not feeling charitable.”He exhaled hard through his nose.

“Sienna has worked for me for four years. She handles the private side of everything. She has a key because someone has to be able to get in if I don’t answer. That is all.”

“That is all,” I repeated.

“Yes.”

“And it never once crossed your mind to tell me any of that before I walked in here and made an i***t of myself?”

“I didn’t know you were coming.”

“You knew you missed the appointment.”The anger between us felt old and new at the same time, I looked away first. My gaze snagged on a door at the far end of the living space. A soft light glowed inside.

“What’s in there?”Zevran followed my eyes. Something shifted in his face.

“Private office.”

“Sienna’s?”

“Mine. She uses it.”I walked toward it before he could stop me. He cursed under his breath and followed.I stopped in front of it.

“Open it.”

“Isolde…”

“Open it, or I escalate the missed appointment into a formal fitness-for-duty review tonight.”He stared at me for a long second. Then he crossed the room, unlocked the cabinet with a key from his pocket, and stepped back.

Inside were rows of labeled bottles, years of prescriptions written in precise handwriting that wasn’t his.I pulled the first folder. My hands started to move faster.

“These dosages don’t match,” I said.Zevran stayed silent behind me.I held up one bottle, then another from a later date.

“This has been altered,” I said. “Repeatedly.”

“I know.”I turned.

“You know?”

“I noticed a few months ago. Sienna started tracking it.”

“And you didn’t think to tell your team cardiologist?”

“I didn’t trust the team.”I looked back at the cabinet.

“These changes didn’t happen here. The seals on the earlier bottles are intact until the point they would have left the team pharmacy. Someone is tampering with your medication after it leaves the medical center.”Zevran’s voice was quiet.

“I know that too.”I closed the cabinet door harder than necessary and faced him fully.

“How long have you known someone inside the organization has been doing this?”

“Long enough to stop taking anything that came through official channels.”

“And you still went to practice today.”

“Yes.”

“You still argued with me about clearance.”

“Yes.”

“You still looked me in the face this morning and acted like I was the problem.”His throat moved.

“I didn’t want you involved.”

“I’m already involved. I became involved the second you sat on my exam table and told me you never stopped loving me while your heart tried to kill you.”The silence that followed was thick enough to choke on.Sienna’s voice came from the doorway, calm as ever.

“She’s right, Zev. You should have told her sooner.”I didn’t look at her. I kept my eyes on him.

“I’m taking these,” I said, gathering the altered bottles and the matching logs. “All of them. I’m running my own analysis. And until I know exactly who has been changing your medication and why, you don’t take a single thing that comes from the team. Do you understand me?”He nodded once.I walked past him toward the door. At the threshold I stopped and looked back.“Next time you miss an appointment,” I said, “answer your damn phone. Or I will show up again. And next time I won’t be as polite.”

I left before either of them could answer.The elevator doors closed and I leaned my head back against the wall, closing my eyes.Someone inside the organization was poisoning him slowly.And whoever it was had just made it personal…