Page 63 of Behind These Four Walls

He said, “I planned to handle them in my own way. The company’s image is always first. Its protection is number one.”

“At the cost of an innocent life?”

“Not so innocent!” Victor bellowed, a fist hitting the top of his desk.

“What Mr. Corrigan means,” Dixon interjected, shooting Isla a look of caution and awe at her nerve, “is that Matthew Leonard was indeed involved in this. He was even unfaithful to his wife.”

A setup,Isla kept to herself. She wasn’t supposed to know that. She was already possibly saying too much. The disappointment she felt tasted bitter and sharp. She’d expected him to be ruthless, but she held out a semblance of hope that he’d hold his son and his son’s friend responsible, especially because their actions had resulted in a man’s death.

Dixon looked up from his screen. “We have no choice but to act now. Do damage control and launch a public investigation until things die down.”

“Then you let Bennett and Danny continue on?” Isla asked. “Throwing money at Mrs. Leonard isn’t enough. There should be justice, especially since it sounds like it’s not the first time you’ve covered for Bennett.”

Victor deliberately ignored her, maybe even hated her in this moment. She was the good angel on his shoulder, reminding him to make the right decision, holding the mirror up and showing him something ugly that he’d rather not see. She half expected him to throw her out on her ass and revoke all her privileges.

His receptionist burst in, this time with Myles on her heels. Myles took in the scene, his eyes coolly moving from his father to Dixon and finally, with an air of surprise, to Isla. He frowned slightly, as if wondering what she was doing there during this critical time. She merely shrugged and tried to look innocent as she stood, deciding this was a good time to leave.

Victor said, “Have you seen the news?” Myles nodded. “Our competitors will have a field day with this.”

“I don’t know what happened, Dad, or how the information got out,” Myles said. He asked Dixon, “Where are we with this?”

“Damage control. I’m contacting the PR firm in LA that we used.”

Isla inched out a little faster at the mention of her employer.

Myles nodded. He slipped his hands in the pants pockets of his suit, no jacket, a vest. Isla decided she definitely liked his style. “Dad? You said you would decide what to do with them. What will it be now thatit’s out?” Myles was as unreadable as ever, not giving any indication of which way he’d fall.

Victor’s head was in his hands as he stared down at his desk.

Bennett and Danny’s dirty dealings were out in the open and couldn’t be brushed under the rug. Their names might be withheld, but everyone would figure out that they had been suspended, relieved of their duties pending further investigation. Isla knew Victor wouldn’t do more than the suspension. He’d wait some time and then allow Bennett to run another one of his many companies. It wasn’t total justice, but it was some.

Isla left the office as Bennett and Danny rushed in, the looks on their faces equal parts shock and terror. When Isla passed them, she felt a bittersweet satisfaction. Matthew Leonard had been vindicated, but that he was no longer around made it nothing but a hollow victory.

Chapter Fifty

Isla had been hoodwinked.

“How about you experience another side of Victor Corrigan?” Victor had passed through a message from his executive assistant when Isla made it back to the estate. “A different environment. A fun side.” It was supposed to be an apology for the job shadowing gone wrong, though Isla had found her time at the downtown office enlightening and very satisfying.

She should have questioned then whatfunmeant to Victor Corrigan. She thought maybe lunching on cucumber sandwiches at the country club and sitting poolside. Instead, she was trudging through mountains, wearing camo gear and boots, and smelling like Bug Away.

She tried to mask her displeasure, reminding herself that this was for a bigger cause. But every tree branch that smacked her in the face and every errant spiderweb she walked into chipped away at her resolve.

At least she’d remembered to send a quick text to Charli, letting her know she was fine and was on a job for Rey she couldn’t talk about. It wasn’t answer enough to appease the always-suspicious Charli, who thought everyone was as greedy, suspicious, and scheming as she was. She and Brooke would have gotten along great.

She stumbled over an exposed root, cursing Victor and this damned mountain under her breath. She followed the hunting party deeper into the hunting grounds, deeper into the woods off the Corrigan property. The woods were a burgeoning mix of trees: oak, maple, and poplarmixed with pines and cedars; the rolling hills and valleys that stretched for miles, with the Blue Ridge Mountains serving as backdrop, were breathtaking. At their current high altitude, there was a different feel to traipsing through the dense forest and lush ground cover compared to driving along the tiny roads swirling along these same hills, valleys, and mountains. Walking through the rugged terrain now held a quality she was able to appreciate.

Thick branches filled with lush leaves blotted out much of the clear blue sky, while Isla clumsily tripped along the thick carpet undergrowth in the new boots she hadn’t broken in yet and that made her arches hurt. She decided that while their surroundings were beautiful, she preferred the carefully manicured landscapes, sidewalks, and air-conditioning to the literal wilderness as her nerves strained at every mention of signs of recent wildlife movement. Isla decided if she came out of these woods without seeing anything shot, killed, or wanting to eat her, she’d be okay with that.

Isla’s discomfort grew with every step as she observed their group, which consisted of Bennett, his friends Danny and Roger—no James, she noted—Victor and Dixon, and Jackson, a last-minute addition who’d managed to pry himself from Brooke’s side for the afternoon. There was a smattering of guards, a couple of Corrigan employees, and associates of Victor’s she did not know. Isla didn’t bother getting to know them all, and they soon forgot she was around. The only person remaining relatively close was the person she thought wanted to be around her the least, Myles. He was a last-minute addition as well. He was originally not going to participate, but when he learned that she’d be tagging along and that Bennett would be there too, Myles’s jam-packed schedule suddenly became free, much to Victor’s amusement, which he’d conveyed to Isla on their drive there. Isla had learned Victor wasn’t above gossip and speculation.

“Keep up, Miss LA,” Bennett teased from ahead of her when she paused, again, to catch her breath. “You’ll get lost if you don’t. This isn’t the place you want to do that.”

Isla didn’t give him the satisfaction of a response. The fact that he and Danny were here after the news break and after Victor had made them step down surprised her. They joked around, like they were cool and had no worries, but they had to be angry and to need to vent that anger on the easiest prey they could find.

Bennett was acting cockier than usual, surrounded by his Neanderthal friends. She was no longer the topic of conversation when he, Roger, and Danny began reminiscing about their high school days, still mindful enough not to be too loud and scare off any game.

“You remember your first ride?” Bennett asked. “The Jeep that you backed into a tree stump that one time, making that dent in the bumper?”