Chapter 143 A Bitter Feeling in the Heart

Chapter 143 A Bitter Feeling in the Heart

Everlight's depth was not to be underestimated, and Sean was no ordinary businessman. A head-on confrontation would leave Mason with nothing to gain.

"Done eating. Let's go." Isabelle stood up and grabbed her trench coat from the back of the chair.

After dinner, the two took a car to the villa in the western suburbs.

They still had work to do, cross-checking encrypted data on the mole inside Syndicate headquarters and tracing several money laundering chains across Europe.

The security system in the villa's basement had been personally coded by Isabelle. It was airtight.

The black sedan pulled smoothly to a stop in front of the villa gates.

Caius followed Isabelle into the living room, glancing around, his sharp eyes picking out the infrared sensors and anti-explosive devices hidden in the shadows.

"This security setup, had to be you." Caius took off his jacket and walked over to the kitchen island.

The moment they opened the encrypted terminal, the surveillance alarm outside the door started flashing red.

Isabelle glanced at the screen. It was Sean's understated yet unmistakably expensive Maybach.

Akin pushed open the car door and Sean stepped out, his expression carrying a faint shadow of something dark.

The villa was Sean's property. Naturally, the security team outside had wasted no time reporting Caius's presence to him.

The front gates opened.

Sean walked through the entrance, his gaze cutting straight across the living room and landing on the two of them standing side by side at the island counter.

They were standing close. The screen between them flickered with dense streams of data, a kind of unspoken understanding that only they shared. It grated on Sean in a way he couldn't quite name.

"Mr. Morgan, meeting's wrapped up?" Caius closed the laptop and crossed his arms, his tone carrying zero effort to hide the provocation.

Sean's face stayed neutral. He walked over to the sofa and stopped, looking at Caius with a tone that was polite on the surface but left no room for argument. "The western suburbs are a bit out of the way, and the guest room hasn't been prepared. Since Mr. Strand is a friend of Isabelle's, I should see to your comfort properly. I've already had Akin book a penthouse suite at the Waldorf Astoria downtown. The car's right outside, we can take you over now."

The message couldn't have been clearer: get out.

Caius let out a short, cold laugh. He straightened up and held Sean's gaze without flinching.

"No need to put yourself out, Mr. Morgan." Caius's voice was flat and hard. "Washington hasn't been safe lately. I'm not comfortable leaving Isabelle here alone. I'm staying to look after her."

He paused, letting his eyes drag over Sean with deliberate weight. "After all, there's no shortage of people in this world with ulterior motives, who's to say someone won't show up playing the role of a helpful friend while scheming something else entirely. With me around, at least she's got someone watching out for wolves in sheep's clothing."

That was about one step away from saying it to Sean's face directly.

Sean's eyes narrowed slightly, and the temperature in the room seemed to drop all at once.

He stared at Caius, something dangerous moving beneath the surface of those dark eyes.

Two men with equally commanding presences faced off across the living room, the air between them crackling like static before a storm.

But Sean didn't rise to it.

Because Isabelle was standing right there, her expression calm, which was as good as her blessing for Caius to stay.

Sean knew better than most how guarded Isabelle was.

The fact that she'd let Caius into this villa she'd completely overhauled herself, and was willing to let him stay, told Sean the trust between them ran deeper than he'd imagined.

If he forced the issue now, he'd only push Isabelle further away.

"If Mr. Strand prefers to stay, then by all means." Sean pulled his gaze back, his tone settling into its usual cool distance.

He turned to Isabelle, and for just a moment, something in his eyes softened. "Get some rest. Call me if anything comes up."

Isabelle gave a small nod. "Drive safe."

Sean turned and left. His posture was straight, but there was something rigid underneath it.

The Maybach pulled out of the western suburbs villa complex. The silence inside the car was suffocating.

Akin sat in the driver's seat and didn't even breathe too loud.

Sean leaned back against the leather seat and loosened his tie.

The glow of passing streetlights swept across his face in uneven flashes.

He closed his eyes, but the image wouldn't leave, Isabelle and Caius at the island counter, talking like the rest of the world didn't exist.

That kind of ease. That closeness. It was somewhere he'd never been able to reach.

Friends.

The corner of Sean's mouth curved into a cold, self-mocking smile.

He'd read enough people in his life. What he saw in Caius's eyes when he looked at Isabelle wasn't just familiarity, it was something closer to devotion. Near-absolute loyalty, bordering on reverence.

That kind of bond was harder to deal with than a simple romantic rivalry. And in some ways, more durable.

Sean's fingers moved absently over the face of the constellation watch on his wrist, while something bitter and restless kept rising in his chest, impossible to push back down.

He had always been the one in control. There was nothing he'd ever wanted that he hadn't found a way to get.

But with Isabelle, for the first time, he felt something uncomfortably close to helpless.

Damn. It felt awful.

The Maybach had not, in fact, left the western suburbs villa complex.

It sat tucked in the shadows of a tree-lined road about two hundred meters from the villa, swallowed by the dark. The interior light was off. Sean sat in the back seat with the window halfway down, an unlit cigarette held loosely between his fingers.

As if he could actually let it go.

Leaving a man with that kind of devotion for Isabelle on her own ground, the thought of being out of the picture made the restlessness inside him climb toward something almost unbearable.

He kept his eyes fixed on the villa in the distance, its lights burning faint and low, his jaw set tight.

About an hour later, the villa gates opened.

Isabelle stepped out in her thin trench coat, walking Caius to the door.

The two of them stood at the entrance, speaking quietly about something.

"Pull up." Sean's voice was low. He snapped the cigarette between his fingers and dropped it into the car's ashtray.

The Maybach glided forward and stopped in front of the villa.

Sean pushed the door open and stepped out, a sleek paper bag in hand, imported fruit Akin had picked up at a nearby upscale grocery store a little while ago.

At the sound, both Isabelle and Caius looked over.

Sean's expression gave nothing away. He walked toward them with unhurried steps, let his gaze pass over Caius briefly, and said in a casually offhand tone, "Mr. Strand heading out? I thought you were staying the night."

Caius let out a cold laugh. He saw right through the whole "running into you by coincidence" act.

He tucked one hand in his pocket, his tone even and cool. "Something urgent came up on the Wall Street side. No time to linger in Washington."

"That soon." Sean kept his manner easy, as if he were doing everyone a favor. "Going to the airport now seems rushed. I have a few places downtown, close to the airport, actually. I could arrange a car to take you over, get some rest, and head out in the morning."

"I'm fine." Caius turned him down flat. Then his gaze shifted to Isabelle, and the edge in his eyes disappeared. "I'll head out. Reach out anytime if something comes up."

Isabelle nodded. "Safe travels."

Caius didn't spare Sean another glance. He pulled open the door of the armored Cadillac parked along the road and got in without looking back.

The convoy moved out quickly and was gone into the night.

Sean watched the taillights fade. The weight that had been sitting in his chest for the past few hours finally started to lift.