Page 77 of Behind These Four Walls
Isla shook her head. All the time she’d spent, just when she was about to figure it all out—all undone just like that.
The air crackled with electricity, and she felt everyone’s eyes on her.
“Is this true?” Victor demanded, his voice low and dangerous. “You’re from Daytona?”
Words wouldn’t come to Isla. The walls were closing in, and every pair of eyes was on her.
Charli tutted. “Indeed! I might do a little something-something on the side, but I checked her name before getting her the new ID. Isla Thomas, born and raised in Daytona. You can’t get much more than that because Isla was in group homes, so you know, juvenile records are sealed. This daughter of yours, Edie? Well, Isla, isn’t that your best friend from Daytona that you mentioned? See, on our way to LA, Isla told me the saddest story of how she was put in the system because her dad died and her mama was in the wind. Then she met this girl named Eden Galloway. Apparently, the girl’s mom died, and the two of them decided to skip out to LA together, only they got separated on the way. Real sad story, huh? Should be on Lifetime or the Hallmark Channel or something. I felt for this poor girl and took her under my wing. Treated her like my own. So imagine my surprise when I learn that her Eden Galloway is your Edie Corrigan and that Isla hasn’t told any of you of her connection to your girl, and that Isla is writing some article. I hate to think she’s running a con,” Charli said regretfully. “That’s not how she was raised.”
“You didn’t raise me,” Isla shot back. She stood abruptly, the chair nearly toppling back from the force. The room was suffocating, and there were so many thoughts going through her, so many things she wanted to say but couldn’t. How dare Charli make it look like Isla was here to steal from Eden’s family. Charli was the con, not her.
Everyone’s eyes were on her, all their hostility, confusion, betrayal, and satisfaction directed at her. She didn’t dare look at Myles. Or, worse, at Victor. She didn’t want to see how they looked at her.
“If only you’d kept me in the loop. I’d have covered for you when Brooke called,” Charli said and took another deep sip of her drink. “You make a mean vodka tonic, Brooke.”
“Isla?” Myles said. She still wouldn’t look at him.
“This explains everything,” Bennett said, laughing. “She was a con artist from the start. I said she was. I knew something was up with her.”
“Is this true?” Victor’s voice rumbled, demanding her attention. “Isla?”
She forced herself to meet his eyes. She saw an ocean of emotion coursing through him. He heaved from his restraint. He had been lied to.
“It is true I knew Eden, but I was not here to con you,” she started.
“I trusted you,” Victor said, his voice shaking. “I welcomed you into my home, and you’ve been lying to us this whole time? Thank God Holl isn’t here to hear this. This was all an act?” One of the most shrewd businessmen in the whole country, taken in by a young woman. When he spoke again, his voice was low and his anger simmering. Isla heard something else there too. A hurt he tried to mask beneath anger and threat, but he couldn’t hide from her. “You should get your things and leave. Immediately. Before I call the authorities.”
“But, Victor,” Brooke complained. “We can’t let her go like this. She needs to be arrested!”
Victor said, “What she needs is to get out of my house.”
Isla barely remembered leaving the sitting room, her ears ringing with Charli’s accusations, Brooke’s triumphant smirk, and Bennett’s laugh. He laughed her right out of the room. She didn’t take the golf cart. She walked the entire way. For the second time, she had been expelled from the Corrigan home in shame. But this time it was no frame-up.
By the time she made it back to her room, her legs felt like lead.
Her phone buzzed again, and this time she checked it. A series of messages from Nat, saying that Charli was gone.
Isla laughed bitterly. Too late.
She was in the middle of stuffing her belongings into her bags when there was a knock at the door. It was probably security, sent to escorther out. Or what if it was Charli, come to stick the knife in more? Or maybe it was Mae or Lawrence, disappointed and hating her for lying to their face. When she opened the door, Myles was on the other side, his expression a mixture of anger and hurt, a younger image of his father.
They stood watching each other for what seemed like an eternity. Neither wanted to start first or face their truth, but she owed him that.
“I’m leaving as fast as I can. I’m nearly packed,” Isla informed him, keeping her face blank and voice flat.
“That’s good,” Myles said, his fists balled at his sides. “You need to make it quick. I will escort you out instead of security so the rest of the staff doesn’t see.”
Isla was thankful Myles offered her that courtesy. She wanted to ask him why he was doing this when he didn’t have to. She decided that there were some things better left unsaid.
Chapter Fifty-Nine
She passed the staff as they lingered around the building, hoping for more fireworks or more gossip to spill. She passed Lawrence, who nodded his support. Isla wanted out before Charli saw her.
Myles drove her home. Home. She didn’t have a home anymore. She couldn’t go back to the retirement home under Charli’s authority or live in the same house. The relationship they had had been that of roommates from the day she got there. It was understood. Yes, Charli had helped her with a job and a fake ID that aged her two years so that she could work without an issue and begin college courses. Charli had never called child services in Florida to take her away, not that they would have by then.
“Make sure she doesn’t stay at the estate,” Isla said during their long ride, when the silence was too much to bear. “Check your jewelry and fine silverware.”
Myles asked, “Did you really come here to con us?” He kept his eyes firmly on the road. It was as if he couldn’t stand to spare her a look. She imagined what they could have been if they’d had a little more time. And when she did reveal the truth as she knew it, when she eventually did flush out Eden’s true killer, would that make a difference for them?