“Don’t you think you’ve ‘dealt with’ her enough?” she asked.
The question wasn’t lobbed at him with aggression, as he’d anticipated. Instead, it was dropped at his feet, the weight of accusation so heavy he felt smotheredby it. “I don’t understand.”
“That’s on you, not me. And it’scertainlynot on her.”
“Loyalty is admirable,” he bit out, “but not when it’s misplaced.”
Ben looked between him and Casey. “Clearly there’s subtext here, and I’m missing it entirely. Someone want to bring me up to speed?”
“No,” Isaac and Casey answered at the same time.
“Isaac.” Ben’s warning was clear.
“No,” he repeated but with less heat.
The side door opened, and a middle-aged man with dark circles under his eyes and a serious paunch entered. “Mr. Miller. Mr. King. I’m Jim Franks.” Everyone stood, and the men shook hands.
Casey just glared.
“Ms. Bass,” the older man said with a note of warning. “Mind yourself.”
“Yes. Sir.”
Curiosity was eating Isaac alive.
The negotiations began, but Isaac only half listened. He knew Ben would handle it. The cold glances Casey kept shooting him were of far more interest. Even more was Rachel’s absence. They hadn’t been notified that she’d recused herself from the case, and there hadn’t been any notice of a change of representation. That meant, in theory, she should have been there.
Isaac had been prepared for her to be there.
Hell, despite it all, he’d wanted to see her, ask how she could live with herself after selling herself out like she had—going to Europe and subtly obtaining information about Power Match and Quantum Ventures that she could now use to bring him down. She’d been so smart. So devious. And he was so damn hurt.
For all that, though, something wasn’t sitting well with him, namely Casey’s undisguised animosity.
Without warning, he shoved back from the table and stood. “Ms. Bass, I’d like to speak to you privately.”
“Step out that door, Casey, and you can follow in recent footsteps. Catch me?” Jim Franks asked in a quiet, firm voice.
Casey hesitated for a split second before she stood, grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled something out before sliding it across the table to her superior. The man read it, his eyes going wide, but she paid him no attention whatsoever. “Outside, Miller.”
He followed her not just outside the conference room, but down the hall and into an office where she began opening drawers and dumping the contents into a giant reusable grocery bag.
Isaac ran a hand around the back of his neck and pulled, trying to exhaust some of the tension racing through him. “I have to admit I don’t have a clue as to what’s going on here.”
“No shit,” Casey muttered. “First intelligent thing I’ve heard you admit.”
“Pardon?”
She rounded on him, and the only thing Isaac could think was that he wouldn’t want to meet her in a dark alley.
“She worked for more than two years—two years—to recover from what that bastard of an ex-husband did to her. She clawed her way out of the hole he nearly buried her in, and she took a chance on you. Why? Because I pushed her to do it. I should’ve let her rediscover herself a little more slowly—” her eyes shimmered with unshed tears “—but Imissedher. I missed the fun-loving, gregarious, always-ready-to-take-a-chance-on-life woman I knew. Or had known.” She pounded a fist over her heart. “She was on her emotional deathbed, and seeing her resurrected? I was selfish, and I wanted more for her. Instead, she gotyou.”
“Just a damn minute!” Isaac reached out and took the bag from Casey’s hands, stopping her from stuffing it with pens and pencils and Post-it notes. “Sheliedto me.”
Casey yanked the bag back and resumed stuffing it with anything within reach. “Really? When?”
Isaac opened his mouth, closed it and opened it again. Nothing came out.
Casey laughed, the sound bitter. “That’s right, Captain Intelligence. She didn’t lie to you. She didn’tknowshe was being assigned to this case. That happened after you two were on your way to Ireland. The girl’s never been out of the country, so she didn’t even think to turn on international calling on her phone. And it wouldn’t have mattered anyway, seeing as she made you a promise that it would be a no-work weekend. Rachel keeps her promises, no matter what.”