13. Isabelle

Chapter 13

Isabelle

This is so much worse than simply being rejected. I'm being bought off.

With a bookstore .

Granted, if there is anything that could make me ignore the fact that I'm not for sale, it's a bookstore.

But I am not for sale. My body is not for sale. My baby is not for?—

"Ahead on the right is the discovery wall," Penny says, dragging my attention back to the present.

The front half of the store has normal height ceilings. But in the middle of the building there is an open staircase to the second floor, and as we move past that, the store opens up, the ceiling vaulting extra tall.

And along the wall on the right is a long set of bookcases, with ladders attached to a rail three-quarters of the way up the wall.

It's Belle's library from Beauty and the Beast. It's my profile picture on social media. It's everything I've ever wanted…and Mack is giving it to me instead of giving me himself.

I hate it.

Penny doesn't notice. She describes the function of the wall, books not only having staff recommendation notes stuck to them, but also telling customers where else in the bookstore to find more books just like that.

Grudgingly, I have to admit that's a very good idea.

She beams.

The front door opens and a bell jingles. "Welcome to Bright Books," Penny calls out in chorus with a clerk working at the front.

But the customer is only Mack, looking big and fierce, like a wolf.

Or like the Beast.

"Could I have a minute alone with Mr. Emerson, please?" I give Penny a polite smile.

"Of course." She gestures for the clerk, and they head up the stairs to another floor.

He approaches me warily. "Isabelle?—"

"You bought me a bookstore?"

"You said it was your?—"

"You want to buy me off with a bookstore? "

"I gave you space. And then I came back."

"You came back because you're tired," I snap.

"But why am I tired, little one? I can't sleep when I'm away from you. I spent every minute of every day watching you, worrying about you, making sure that you're safe and taken care of."

"Watching…watching me?" Outrage heats my cheeks. "How dare you?"

He has the audacity to shrug. "Easily, it turns out."

"Oh my God."

"Not watching you wasn't an option. I needed to know you were okay."

"And was I?" My voice cracks, remembering how hard it was, how much I missed him.

"You were better off than you would have been with me here, pawing at you."

"I liked the pawing." I pause a beat. "Liked. I wouldn't like it now."

We both ignore that I let him manhandle me in the limo. I wouldn't let him do it again. Not now that I know he's been surveilling me from afar. "Are there cameras in my apartment?"

"Not inside your apartment."

I gasp. "Outside?"

"I own that building, Isabelle. Of course there are security cameras on it, and as the owner?—"

"How long have you known?" I can't believe I was so focused on hiding my pregnancy from him and this whole time he's been watching me. "It's too late to stop me."

He frowns. "I don't want to stop you from doing anything."

I gesture madly at the ladders. "Then what is this?"

"Security."

My hand drops to my side and I look at him in disbelief. "How is this security?"

"Because you own this building. You own this company. There is a substantial endowment set up to fund the start-up phase of the business, and there are contingencies in place should the business model need to pivot. Isabelle, I don't know how to show someone that I love them. I've never fallen in love before. But I do know how to build a burn-proof business, and when I made the terrible mistake of letting my feelings get the better of my judgement, that was…this was…the only way I knew how to make it right."

"Hiding me away from the office? On the other side of the city? Is there an owner's suite somewhere on the top floor with a king sized bed so you can finally take my virginity, Mr. Emerson? "