Splintered Oak (Winsor Series Book 3) (5 page)

I settled back on the swing and sighed. “I guess we’ll see, won’t we?”

He nodded and scooted closer, keeping my hand securely in his.

Life is a funny thing. Just when you think you know God’s will, someone comes along and shatters all the progress you made.

5
. DECEIT

JAKE

It
had only been a week since I made the deal with Robbie, yet I was soaring with the high rollers. Every day he sent me tips, leading to huge gains in the market. Some of the information was on the edge of insider trading, but Robbie always played in the gray area, and I used it all to my advantage.

And what an advantage it had become.

Each day I had more money to invest, and each day I doubled, sometimes tripled, my portfolio. By the end of the week, I had close to six figures.

The anxiety attacks had
completely stopped and I felt above water for the first time in months.

The on
ly source of stress for me now was seeing Issy’s face plastered everywhere. She graced the cover of every magazine on the checkout counter, and to my dismay, I broke down and bought one of them just to see her face.

I had to hand it to her. S
he knew how to make an appearance. She was more beautiful than ever, and seemed genuinely happy. Her green eyes appeared full of life and anyone could see the sincere affection between her and Grant when they posed on the red carpet.

I turned the magazine over, unwilling to l
ook at it any longer. The loss was too crushing. I hadn’t talked to her since our horrible conversation and wondered if we would ever repair the damage.

A knock at the door freed me from my thoughts and I cringed, wondering if Ammie had shown up again. I told her clearly I didn’t want to see her anymore, so she now teetered on the edge of stalker status.

I stood, straightening my button-up shirt and walked towards the door. No one stood there when I looked through the peephole, but I opened the door just to be sure.

At my feet was a beautiful bottle of Gran Patron tequila. The sun reflected off the orange liquor and I leaned down to pick up the expensive
drink.

The note attached simply read,
Congrats on your successful week. May there be many more to come.

There wasn’t any signature attached, but a gift of this magnitude could only be from one source
—Robbie.

I closed the door
, smiling. I was a whiskey guy myself, but who would turn down a $250 bottle of liquor?

Halfway across the room,
I heard yet another knock at the door. I set the bottle on the counter and walked towards the sound wondering why the guy didn’t just hand the gift to me himself.

I swung open the door fully expecting to see Robbie standing there and instead caught Issy’s green eyes staring up at me.

“Hi,” she said quietly.

I stared at her, still unable to process she stood right in front of me.

She moved in and wrapped her arms around my waist, burying her head against my chest.

My arms instinctively
encircled her and we stood for a while in that position, remembering what it was like to see each other.

It surprised me she looked so much like her old self, including purple streaks in her hair, when I knew nothing was as it used to be.

“I missed you,” she murmured against my shirt.

Her words brought me back to reality, forcing me to push her back. I slowly moved away from her hurt expression.

My chest started to tighten and I knew my breathing would soon be labored. Clutching the back of the couch, I tried to calm myself. I could sense Issy moving forward even with my back to her.

“We have a lot to talk about,” she
said, tentatively reaching out to touch me.

“What more is there to say?” I
couldn’t look at her. The betrayal felt more severe with her presence. “You’re a married woman now. You don’t need me to take care of you anymore.”

“Maybe you need me to take care of you for
a change.” Her voice had a snappiness only Issy could deliver.

I shrugged her off and turned to look at her, folding my arms in the process. “Sweetheart, I’m doing just fine
.” My eyes leveled on hers and I offered the charming smile that never failed to get me what I wanted.

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t give me that, Jake. I know you too well.
Speaking of knowing you…” She looked around the condo as if searching for something. “No company?”

“Not yet.
” The sarcasm in my voice matched hers. “Where’s the so-called ‘love of your life?’”

“He dropped me off. He thought it might be better if I came alone.”

I heard myself laughing but felt only bitterness. “I just bet he did. What? Afraid I was going to lose it and punch another member of your family?”

“For the record, I’m glad you pun
ched my father,” she fired back. “I wish I could have seen the look on his face. Grant said it was priceless.” She smirked now, her eyes sparkling.

I felt a
smile on my own lips and then stopped myself, walking into the living room and away from her. “You can’t come back thinking things will be the same between us, Issy. A few jabs and sarcasm are not going to fix this.”

“I know that,” she
said in a resigned tone. “So where can I start? I can’t stand this distance between us.”

I turned and stared at her,
wishing I was the type who could forgive and forget, but I wasn’t. “I would never have done that to you. Never. You were always my priority.”

She met my accusing eyes. “Really Jake? Because I seem to recall you being too busy getting into that girl’s pants to notice I was around. Then I recall you telling me to butt out of your business when I asked you about the pills. Any of this ringing a bell? And what about my mom, huh? You didn’t think it was important to tell me she was addicted to pain meds?”

Heat filled my stomach. “Don’t you dare put this on me. I told you to call aunt Diana, that she was going through a rough time. But as always, I took care of it. Got her settled in rehab and made sure to call her once a week.”

Guilt flashed in her eyes, giving me a little satisfaction. “You still should have told me. Instead, I had to find out from my father, and you can imagine how that went down
.”

“Tell you what? What would you have heard?
You were too caught up in your ‘perfect’ world to care.”

“My world was far from perfect, Jake, and you know tha
t.” Her voice shook, her fiery temper getting the best of her.

“Do I? Last I heard, you were madly in love with Robbie Marsh. Engaged to be married and blissfully happy. Isn’t that how you put it to me?”

She took a deep breath and then looked down at her feet. “I lied.”

“No kidding,” I replied bitterly, thinking back to the day I found out she’d run away, that Grant knew more about her life than I did. “Once again, I repeat, I wo
uld never have done that to you. I don’t trust anyone but you and would never question anything you told me. Stupid me.”

Her eyes pleaded with me,
striving to penetrate the newly formed wall between us. “I told you I was sorry. What more do you want? I can’t change the past.”

“I don’t know.” My head started to pound, and I moved towards the kitchen, hoping to escape the pain.
Robbie’s bottle of tequila looked more and more inviting. I pulled out two shot glasses and set them on the counter. 

“I quit drinking.
” Her simple words were a slap in the face.

“Of course you have.
” My pulse jumped a mile, making my hands shake. I poured just one shot and set the bottle in front of her.

The liquid burned, but
seemed to calm every one of my jumpy nerves. I set down the glass and looked at her, ready for another battle.

She sat stone cold, her face going white as ash. “Where did you get that
bottle?” she whispered.

She
touched the card, holding the edge as if it were a viper ready to strike. I had never seen her look so petrified.

“Issy?” C
oncern suddenly replaced the anger.

“Where did you get
it?” she demanded again, looking up at me. Before I could answer, she ran to the nearest bathroom and threw up in the toilet.

I rushed after her in a panic. She stood over the sink, splashing water on her ghostly face.

“What’s going on? And don’t give me some garbage answer this time,” I demanded.

“I’m sorry. I only know one person who drinks Gran Petron.” She gripped my shirt. “Jake, you have to tell me who gave that to you.”

“No one you
’ve met,” I lied, trying to still my beating heart.

The answer relaxed her
grip, but she still looked fragile.

Issy had
always been significantly smaller than me, but her strong personality made her my equal. Seeing her so meek and breakable was unnerving.

My conscience screamed at me to tell her the trut
h, but I couldn’t do it. There was too much at stake.

“Come here,” I finally said, reaching my arms out to her. She fell into them, letting tears spill down her cheeks. “It’s okay,” I assured her. “Your father will never hurt you again.”

“I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you the truth, Jake. I was afraid,” she admitted. “For you and for Grant. They are so powerful, and I felt helpless.”

For the first time in months, I didn’t want to hear more. I didn’t want to know Robbie was responsible for
hurting Issy. I couldn’t process it. He was my hope for taking down Andrew Summers and right now that was my first priority. I’d pick up the pieces with Issy later.

I guided her back to the living room and got her a glass of water, carefully putting the detested bottle up in the liquor cabinet and away from her view.

She drank the water in small sips. “Do you want to come see our new place? Have dinner with us? I know Grant wants to see you. He actually thinks you guys are friends.”

“You cook now too?”

“No, of course not.” she said, getting more color back in her cheeks. “We’ll order in.”

The idea of being in the same room as Grant left several hard knots in my stom
ach, but I pushed it aside. He was my only source of information to get to Andrew Summers. Robbie had definitely kept up with his end of the deal. It was now my turn.

“I guess I have to deal with him eventually. At least until you toss him out, right?”

“Jake,” Issy’s tone was a warning.

I threw
up my hands. “Fine, I’ll keep the comments to myself.”

She hit my leg
and stood. “So, do you still have my stuff here? I left everything behind at my father’s place and I want something that feels like me.”

S
he disappeared into my bedroom and a sickening feeling of guilt washed over me.

I told myself the end
would justify the means and helped her grab the last remnants of our old life. 

Parking the Mercedes in the slot marked 680, I followed her to the back door of her building. We had already navigated one security entrance to get into the parking lot, and now she punched in another code so we could enter
the building.

The historically renovated
structure was located in the heart of downtown Asheville and had only a few residential units on the upper floors. The main and second floors were work spaces, according to Issy. She said the old building was the perfect arrangement for her and Grant because his office was just a couple of floors away.

The on-
duty guard smiled at her and waved when he saw us enter.

I held back a scowl.
“This security is overkill, don’t you think?”

Grant must love showing off his newfound wealth. These units cost in the upper range of
five hundred thousand dollars.

Issy
let out a tired sigh. “It’s essential—at least for now. One day, we’ll be able to get something a little more private. Besides, I love being surrounded by lots of people. It’s like freedom after so long in hiding.”

On the drive over Issy filled me in on where she had stayed and how amazing her friends were to support her in secret.

I asked her why they would risk so much.

She just shrugged and said, “That’s j
ust the type of people they are. It’s the type of person I will be from now on too.” She seemed to want to say more, but chose not to.

That
was our new rhythm with each other. Conversations starting and then dropping off.

My sto
mach clenched. She was still holding back, still keeping secrets. And now I was too; an impossible formula for closeness. 

We reached her floor, which required a key access to get to, and the elevator doors opened up directly into the living room.

“Did you decorate this yourself?” I followed her through the room that could have belonged in an upscale model home. If she had, her tastes had also drastically changed.