“I can’t believe it,” Skye said as she rushed forward to hug Izzy. “I can’t. He seemed so nice. Oh, Izzy. I’m sorry. This is my fault. I made you go there.”
“Always the martyr,” Lexi said, taking her turn hugging her sister. “We both decided sending Izzy to Nick was a good idea. You don’t get all the guilt, Skye.”
“But my former assistant is the one who recommended Nick.”
Izzy held them both. “I’m sure if you do a little checking, you’ll find she has some connection to Garth. It’s nobody’s fault but mine. You sent me there so I would find the courage to have the surgery. Which I did. The falling-in-love part shouldn’t have been on the agenda.”
Her sisters stepped back and stared at her with identical wary expressions.
“Real love?” Lexi asked quietly.
“As opposed to the fake kind? Yes. Real love. Stupid but true.”
Skye twisted her hands together. “I’m glad you finally opened up to someone, but I’m sorry it was him.”
“Cruz wants him dead,” Lexi said. “If that helps. Or at the very least beaten and left on the side of the road.” She glanced at Dana. “You didn’t hear that.”
“Hear what?”
Izzy sank onto the plain dark blue sofa in Dana’s modestly furnished living room. “I’m fine,” she said as Lexi sat on one side of her and Skye sat on the other. Thankfully Dana took the chair opposite. She couldn’t handle them all crowding around her.
“You’re not fine,” Skye said.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“You know what I mean. You must feel terrible. I know how I felt when I thought Mitch was working with Garth.” She balled up her hands into fists. “But this is worse. It sounds like Nick is Garth’s best friend. I hate them both. I’ve never hated anyone before but I really hate Garth the most.”
“I know,” Lexi muttered. “It’s so damn personal. What is up with that? He can’t just attack our businesses? No. He has to go for the heart.”
“I’m going to get him,” Dana told them. “I’ve been talking to my friends at the Dallas police department and they’re getting close. I’m going to be the one bringing him in for questioning. I promise you all that he will pay.”
Dana looked fierce, which Izzy appreciated. She had love and support. That was something. She would make a new life for herself. None of what had happened with Nick changed her mind about college or what she would study. Obviously the fantasy about working with him on his ranch was over, but she could still make a difference.
“Thanks,” she told them all. “I’ll get through this.”
“You will,” Lexi promised. “You’re strong. Stronger than you know. In time, the pain will fade. Then you have to deal with the anger. Eventually you get back to normal.”
Izzy couldn’t imagine ever being normal again.
“You’ll find someone else,” Skye told her.
“Ever the romantic,” Dana said, rolling her eyes.
“She will. She’s opened her heart once. Now she knows how.”
“Lucky me,” Izzy murmured, thinking she would never fall in love again. It wasn’t worth it. Love was pain. She’d learned that as a child and had only gotten into trouble when she’d allowed herself to forget the truth.
Loving and losing Nick had fundamentally changed her. It was like a loss of innocence. She doubted she would ever be able to trust anyone ever again.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
THE NEXT DAY Dana didn’t want to leave Izzy alone, which Izzy knew in theory was very sweet but she didn’t need one more person watching over her.
“Go to work,” Izzy told her. “We need you to bring in Garth.”“Call me if you need anything.”
“I promise.”
“Don’t start looking for a job. Not for a few more days.”
Izzy ignored that and pulled out the paper as soon as her friend left.
The fastest way to earn money would be to go back on an oil rig. In three months she could save enough to support herself for at least a semester of college. But that felt too much like returning to who she’d been before. As if she hadn’t changed at all. She didn’t want that.
“Money or principle,” she murmured to herself as she poured more coffee. “Is that always the question?”
There was a knock on the front door of Dana’s condo. She looked at it, hating the swell of hope she felt inside. It wasn’t Nick. He wasn’t the type to come after anyone. But that statement didn’t stop her heart from thudding hard in her chest as she walked to the door and pulled it open.