Page 61 of Behind These Four Walls

“You broke in, Isla. You went against instructions, overstepped, and invaded her privacy.”

“I am very sorry about upsetting you.” She didn’t want to, but Victor needed a little push. She had to know why, if he believed Edie was still out there, she was basically erased in the house save for her room and a couple of pictures he hid in his office. Why hadn’t he brought her home? But no one would talk about Edie, who’d been gone ten years. No word, no sign. “Don’t you care?”

Dixon tensed from where he sat. His head shot up, and he looked at Isla with utter surprise and horror, about to intercede on his boss’s behalf and whisk her out of Victor’s sight.

Victor thundered, “How dare you! You’re not even thirty and telling me about me and my children? You are lecturing me?”

She waved her hands. “I wouldn’t dare, sir. No. I’m just asking why you have a shrine to Edie. Where is she?”

“Out there being angry with me,” he said after a long time, his emotions—sadness, rejection, fear, hope—taking over every part of him. Isla didn’t see the multibillion-dollar business mogul with the Midas touch. She didn’t see a cutthroat and ruthless man, even though she knew he’d allowed illegal things to be done on his or the Corrigan Group’s behalf.

“Why did Edie leave?” Isla pressed, trying to sound casually curious.

Victor leaned back in his chair, his gaze distant. “Edie ... wasn’t suited for life here. She inherited her mother’s ... temperament. Some of us aren’t built for the weight that comes from being a Corrigan.”

Isla wasn’t sure what to make of what he said or how Victor could be so cold and callous about his daughter. Holland had said as much about herself, that the family didn’t take her seriously and her parents would rather she marry well, as Brooke had, than work as her brothers did. Isla didn’t know what Holland wanted for her future, but to be like her mother was not one of them.

Isla asked, taking a gamble that there was more to Victor’s feelings for Eden than that she couldn’t hack being a Corrigan, “Do you miss her?”

“Of course I do!” Victor’s eyes became razor sharp, fixing her with a piercing look. For a moment, she thought she’d overstepped, but then he sighed. “I’ve been searching for her,” he admitted quietly. “For years. No one knows—not even my wife. Only Dixon. It wouldn’t do for the family to see me ... weakened like this.”

Isla blinked, stunned, confused at why searching for his daughter would make him look weak, but then again, this was the same man who didn’t want anyone to know he was allergic to almonds.

“So you’ve been looking for her.” Isla was surprised. “Even though you tell everyone here not to talk about her?”

“How could a father ever stop looking for his child?” he said, heaviness in his voice. Victor’s gaze drifted to the photo of Eden. “Edie wrote me a letter. Said she wanted nothing more to do with this family. Said she hated what we were. But ... sometimes people write things they don’t mean. Or they mean them at the time but feel differently later. I thought if I could just find her, talk to her ... maybe things could be different.”

Isla was seeing a part of Victor she wished Eden had been able to see. But she could understand Eden too. If Victor had believed Eden was capable of hurting her sister, that might have been unforgivable. If it had been Isla, she wouldn’t have been able to live under the same roof with them either.

Eden had had a tumultuous relationship with her stepmother. It was a classic story. Eden had been a constant reminder of Victor’s relationship with Elise. Knowing your husband not only didn’t love you but also had cheated on you, gotten the other woman pregnant the same time you were expecting, would have angered and embarrassed anyone. Enough to make her mistreat the kid.

But Brooke’s hostility wasn’t the only issue. Something else had happened that had changed Eden, according to her friends Sara and James. It was only a guess, but what if Eden had somehow been involved in that accident that had been swept under the rug? What if their parents had covered it up and that was the unfinished businessEden was so determined to take care of? But this was all conjecture. Isla had nothing concrete. Just old articles and even older feelings that no one wanted to elaborate on.

But what if Victor had given up wanting to raise her as a Corrigan and made her leave on purpose, knowing life away from his ruthless and possessive wife was safer for everyone?

“One day, Isla,” he said, “I’m going to bring my girl home.”

Isla only hoped Victor would bring Eden home.

“Unfortunately, some of us have to work,” Victor said, putting an end to their conversation. “It’s something I do in the downtime when Isla Thorne isn’t sticking her nose in my business.”

She held up a finger to stop him. “You hired me to stick my nose in your business and write it up fancy.”

“You sweet-talked your way into the opportunity to stick your nose in my business. Are you trying to rewrite history? Should I have Dixon remind you? His memory is as sharp as a tack. Dixon!”

Dixon was on his feet, prepared to lead Isla out of the office. “She offered to write—”

“Don’t worry about what she offered to write,” Isla cut in, glaring at Brian Dixon like the traitor he was. “We employees have to stick together. Us against them.”

Dixon’s expression was that of an enlightenment.

Victor chuckled, shuffling the papers on his desk until they formed small stacks. “Dixon’s been with me for decades. You? You basically just got here.”

“I think I like you better as silent and brooding, like your son Myles.”

Victor didn’t respond, and Isla took it as her cue to leave, but on her way out, he said, “Oh, and the job shadowing you suggested? Why not.”

Isla was glad he couldn’t see her reaction. The tycoon was more agreeable than she’d been prepared for. And she didn’t know if that was a good thing, or bad.