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“I know.” It still pained me to admit it out loud. “I should go. I just wanted to check we were on the same page after everything that happened. Sorry again for hitting you.”

“You did well to think so quickly on your feet, and besides, I look like a badass now.”

I chuckled under my breath. I’d never heard someone sound so posh while saying the word badass before. It totally defeated the purpose. “Totally badass,” I agreed.

We both went silent as the sound of creaking floorboards echoed from above.

“Go,” Matthew hissed, reaching for the door to let me out. “Isobel and her mother are staying here tonight. They can’t know you were here.”

I rushed out the door, but Matthew kept it open a crack as he went to close it. “Just keep to the plan we talked about at my office,” Matthew whispered. “It’s all going to work out, I promise.”

“I know.”

He gave me a tight smile before he closed the door and quickly turned to face whoever had entered the room.

“Matthew?” The sound of Isobel’s voice struck my heart, and I quickly darted down behind the kitchen window so I couldn’t be seen through the glass kitchen door. Matthew was right; she couldn’t know I was here.

“Is everything all right?” she asked.

“Fine,” he said. “I couldn’t sleep, so I’m just getting some more ice for my face.”

I slowly edged myself up to catch a glimpse of Isobel, and I smiled when I saw she was in the cute Winnie the Pooh pajamas she’d worn in New York. Her curly hair was piled in a bun on her head, and she wasn’t wearing any makeup. I had no idea how someone could look so beautiful, and it killed me that I couldn’t walk in there and say as much to her.

“I couldn’t sleep either,” she said, her voice soft.

I wanted to stay and find out why she couldn’t sleep. I didn’t get to hear her voice nearly enough anymore. I couldn’t risk getting caught at Matthew’s house though. Not when everything we had planned hinged on no one knowing we were working together.

With a sigh, I started back to my car. I had a tough road ahead of me. Not only did I have to keep my feelings for Isobel a secret, I somehow had to convince my grandfather they didn’t exist at all. William Hastings wouldn’t be satisfied with simple indifference though. No, I was going to have to go further than that. I was going to have to convince him I hated her.

Matthew and I had a solid plan, and I felt confident everything was going to work. But I had a bad feeling I would hate myself by the end of this. I was going to move heaven and earth for Isobel, but I was afraid by the time I had it would already be too late.

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