Chapter 32
JASMINE
Ipaced barefoot across the sitting room, pretending to be interested in unpacking the shopping bags scattered around my suite, but I was watching Isaac more than anything else.
He still hadn’t come back inside, standing on my balcony with one hand braced against the railing and the other holding his phone against his ear.
Since he’d closed the doors, I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but his body language suggested it wasn’t good. He nodded a few times, running his hand over his face or hanging his head. He rested his forehead against his palm at one point and turned his face up to the sky a few seconds later.
In all the time I’d known him, this was the first time I was seeing him like this, openly agitated and clearly disappointed. He normally hid his emotions a little too well, smiling his way through almost anything or acting like nothing was a big deal, but he wasn’t doing that right now.
If whatever was happening was making him look like this, it had to be really bad. My chest tightened as a dozen different possibilities swept through my mind, everything from one of his siblings being ill or in trouble to my father letting him know that there was no work for him in Egypt at all.
A strange tremor of fear ran through me, and while I knew it didn’t make sense to care this deeply about what he was being told, I couldn’t help it.
In reality, unless it involved his brother or my sister, it wouldn’t affect me at all, and yet, my palms were suddenly clammy and my lungs felt at least two sizes too small.
As I watched, he finally slipped his phone into his pocket but stayed exactly where he had been, staring across the river toward Luxor Temple for a few long minutes. My heart tried so hard to pull me to him, but something told me he needed some time alone.
Still, my chest ached as I watched him standing there, alone and gripping the railing like he needed it to stay upright. When he finally came back inside, he closed the sliding door very quietly behind himself.
“What happened?” I asked softly. “Is everyone okay?”
His eyes widened a fraction. He blinked and quickly nodded. “Yes, of course. I’m sorry. Everyone is fine. Physically, anyway.”
My eyes remained on him as he strode toward the closest armchair and sank down in it, rubbing both hands over his face this time. “Jane just got out of another meeting with the attorneys. Colin and Ryan are with her.”
“Ryan, your younger brother?” I asked, standing dead still only a few yards away. I still desperately wanted to go to him, but I wasn’t sure I should. Uncertainty wasn’t really in my wheelhouse though, so I wasn’t entirely convinced I was handling it correctly. “What did they say, Isaac?”
“The money is gone,” he said, his voice muffled by his hands as he rested his face in them. “They’re not sure yet if it’s all of it, but my brothers won’t be getting their trust funds back after all.”
An icy sensation started spreading from my chest to my fingertips. “How can it just be gone?”
He shook his head and finally lifted his gaze to mine. “Honestly? I don’t know. They were just calling to tell me that it’s done. This is the end of the line for whatever hope we might’ve had of getting that money back for Holden and Wyatt.”
My heart sank, and this time, I didn’t second guess myself. I just crossed the room and sat down on the arm of the chair he was on. “I’m so sorry.”
“Yeah.” He paused for a beat, staring across the room at nothing. “Yeah, so am I, but I guess we should just be happy it’s finally over, huh? My father is staying in prison and Mallory got some jail time too, so this is it.”
“Mallory,” I repeated quietly. “She was his mistress, right?”
“Yep. After everything fell apart, she convinced my uncle to funnel millions into an offshore account. The authorities spent years trying to track it down. For a long time, people even thought we were hiding the money ourselves, but the truth finally came out and I thought…” He trailed off and let out a soft, completely humorless laugh.
“I guess it doesn’t matter what I thought.
The only thing that matters is that she’s going to prison too and my brothers will have to keep fending for themselves. So, yeah. That’s it.”
My arm slid around his shoulders of its own accord and I pulled him closer. “Maybe there’s still something?—”
“No,” he said, gently cutting me off. “Don’t, Jasmine. It’s over. The money is gone, the people who should be in prison are there, and the rest of us need to move on with our lives. That’s all there is to it.”
For possibly the very first time in my entire life, I had absolutely no idea what to say, so I simply pressed a kiss to the top of his head.
He let me hold him like that for a minute before he pulled away, even managing a small smile I was ninety percent sure was fake as he glanced up at me. “I’m okay.”
“Are you?”
He shrugged. “My brothers lost a lot more than I did. I’ll be fine.”
“You still lost something. It’s okay not to be okay about that.”
“Maybe, but that’s just the thing, isn’t it? I really will be fine. I mean, I’m no billionaire. Not even close, but I’m better off than my brothers.”
Something about the way he said it made me pause, that same flicker of fear from before passing through me. I reached for his hand and his fingers laced around mine, but there was a weird distance between us all of a sudden and I didn’t like it one bit.
“Isaac?” I asked quietly. “Are you sure?—”
Three loud knocks echoed through the suite, cutting me off. Zara’s voice came through the door. “Joseph is about to start eating the flower arrangements. We’re heading up for dinner.”
Joseph’s voice followed a moment later. “I said they looked edible, not that I was going to eat one.”
The corner of Isaac’s mouth twitched before he squeezed my hand, then let go.
“We should get out there before he really does start eating the flowers. It was a long day.” As he stood, he smoothed the front of his shirt, took a deep breath, then extended his hand toward me.
“Come on, lazy bones. I know shopping was hard work, but you can do this. I believe in you.”
I rolled my eyes at him, but under the circumstances, it lacked any real fire.
Taking his offered hand, I let him pull me up but I didn’t miss the fact that he released me as soon as I was on my feet.
I didn’t mention it, though. The moment had been interrupted and now he was smiling again like nothing had happened.
We followed Zara and Joseph from the suite to the upper deck, sitting down for what should’ve been a perfect dinner.
Until Isaac had received that phone call, it had been an amazing day.
The food was spectacular and even the sunset was putting on its best show, painting the riverbank in various shades of pink, gold, and amber.
Isaac should’ve been in his element, spending the day touring the temples and capping it off with great food, great views, and great company, but instead, he was quiet, laughing every so often when someone made a joke or smiling when he caught my eye, but something was definitely off.
It almost felt like part of him was somewhere else. Probably an ocean away with his family.
I reached for his leg under the table, wrapping my fingers lightly around his knee. “You don’t have to pretend with me, Isaac.”
He laced his fingers between mine, leaning closer and keeping his voice as quiet as mine had been. “I’m not pretending, Jasmine.”
Joseph seemed to be trying to convince Zara that cereal counted as soup, which, while entertaining, meant I could ignore them for a minute and give Isaac my full attention. “You’re not okay.”
He sighed. “I’ve just been trying to process, is all.”
I gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “You can talk to me. Anytime.”
“I know, but I don’t want to do that tonight.
” He finally managed a smile that actually reached his eyes.
“How often does a guy get to sail the Nile with a beautiful girl, huh? How about this? I’ll wrap my head around it in the morning and we’ll talk then?
For now, let’s not let that phone call ruin it. ”
I inhaled a deep breath. “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
I nodded and let it go, choosing not to press the issue if he really didn’t want to speak about it. Relief swept across his features. I wrapped my fingers tighter around his and left them there for the rest of the meal.
We finished eating when the last of the sunlight had disappeared. The engines provided a low, steady rumble beneath our feet. Luxor was slowly slipping away behind us, nothing but pinpricks of light in the distance when we finally got up from our table.
Villages tucked along the riverbank glowed against the dark night. The moon reflected across the water. It was impossibly beautiful, but Isaac didn’t even seem to notice as we made our way back to my suite.
Zara and Joseph broke away from us along the way, but I doubted he’d noticed that either. At least he followed me to my room, though. While it wasn’t much, it was still infinitely better than the alternative.
“I’m going to take a shower,” I said, already sliding one of my earrings out of my lobe as he shut the door behind us. “I desperately need to wash off the markets. Care to join me?”
Those blue eyes held mine, but they seemed far away, almost like he wasn’t seeing me at all. “No thanks. I’ll grab one later.”
I nodded, my chest stinging a little at what certainly felt like a rejection, but I didn’t let it show. “Okay. I’ll see you in a bit.”
“See you,” he murmured absently, drifting out toward the balcony while I went in the opposite direction.
After a long, hot shower, during which I kept hoping he would join me, I put on the oversized cruise robe and headed out to find him. He was leaning against the railing on the balcony again, his hair a pale silver in the cool light illuminating him from the room.
As far as I could tell, he wasn’t on the phone again, just standing there, staring out at the water. I padded over to the balcony without saying a word, realizing then that he was watching children still splashing around in the shallows despite the late hour.
A handful of them noticed the ship, their tiny arms shooting into the air to wave enthusiastically.
Isaac waved back and I smiled, slipping in behind him and wrapping my arms loosely around his neck.
As I rested my cheek against the back of his shoulder, I murmured against his skin. “Do you want some company?”
He turned his head to press a soft kiss against my forearm. “I’ve already got it.”
“Yeah, I saw you made some new friends.”
He chuckled. “I’m not sure that counts as making friends, but sure.”
Neither of us spoke again for a while after that, but neither of us moved, either.
We simply watched the villages drifting by like scenes that belonged to other lifetimes all together.
Isaac never looked away from it, his eyes fixed on the shoreline like he was trying to memorize every little thing.
I held him a little tighter, but as I stood with my front sealed against his back, I had the distinct feeling that even though he was physically still here, the Isaac I’d been getting to know was already very much gone.