Page 140 of Bling

Garrett shook his head. “I’m not. At least not right now. I may feel differently when I wake up in the morning and it hits me that my entire family is gone, but right now, I’m feeling like I would have pulled the trigger myself if given a chance.”

“Oh Garrett, your entire family isn’t gone. You’ve got everyone at Solitaire. You’ve got me.”

For the first time since he’d dropped her off at the hospital, he felt a glimmer of hope.

“Do you mean that, Isabelle?”

“OK, honey. It’s safe, you can get up.”

A sob escaped her throat and she bolted from the chair and ran to him. He wrapped his arms around her and let her cry. “Shh. It’s OK, baby. You’re safe. I’ve got you. I love you.”

• • •

Isabelle held Carmen’s hand as they walked into the house together. Garrett had indeed bought the place and insisted her family stay in it. There was a bit of grumbling from her father, but Uncle Henry had talked some sense into him.

It had been a week since Maddox Oliver tried to kidnap and kill her, and she still had nightmares. Today though, they were bringing her sister home after making a full recovery. The judge who signed off on her release and the governor of Colorado had both called to personally assure her that Carmen would not be going back to prison.

As for her relationship with Garrett, she had reverted to taking things slow, much to his disappointment. But he was taking it in stride. Tonight, they were going to ramp things up though. She was going to the high protocol dinner at Solitaire as his submissive.

He’d spent the last week trying to make up for what happened with his brother and he’d been more open with her than ever before.

“This place is amazing,” Carmen said as she looked around. “Where am I going to sleep? I want to lay down I think.”

“Catarina wanted to move back into a room with Sarah and let you have her room, but you can share my room.”

Carmen smirked. “I have a feeling you’ll be moving out soon anyway.”

Isabelle just shook her head. “Stop that. I’m not going anywhere. Garrett and I are starting over and taking things slow.”

“Right,” her sister said, skeptically.

“I think you better go take that nap,” Isabelle said. “Just let me get a few things out of there for later. I don’t want to disturb you if you’re still sleeping.”

After getting her sister settled, she curled up on the couch with her phone. Garrett was working, cleaning up the mess his brother had left behind. There were still a few things they didn’t know, and Jeff had killed him before they could get answers, but from what they could piece together, Maddox had been infiltrating the Colorado facility since he bought it.

They didn’t know who his benefactor was, but the men on the board of Solitaire seemed to agree that it was likely Grant Sterling or Nicholas Sutton. Isabelle wasn’t familiar with either of them since she’d only been a member of Solitaire for the last six months or so, but she felt confident they would keep her safe and keep her from being outed if they could. So far, no one else had asked her about Solitaire.

Her phone buzzed and Garrett’s name flashed across the top.

I’ll see you at Solitaire at seven. I love you.

She smiled and messaged back.

I love you too, Sir.

Her plan was to be there at six to get ready. She was planning to surprise him with the outfit Jasmine had given her, and Holly was going to help her with her hair and makeup.

At the club, she went straight upstairs to Holly and Elijah’s suite. They weren’t planning to attend the dinner as formal D/s protocols weren’t a huge part of their dynamic, but they were in town for the weekend parties. Tonight was a special Thursday event that was only open to the couples who’d purchased tickets.

“This piece is so gorgeous,” Holly murmured as she fingered the sheer fabric. “I’ll have to see about getting Jasmine to make me a few more things. She outfitted me for my honeymoon and let’s just say Elijah was quite pleased with her work.”

Isabelle giggled. “It is very exquisite. The price tags still blow me away sometimes, but I’m getting used to Garrett’s idea of shopping, I think.”

Holly grinned at her in the mirror as she pinned her hair back. “It is fun to shop at the expensive stores but believe me, it still boggles my mind a bit and my family had money.”

Ten minutes later she was declared perfect.

“I think the submissives are waiting in the parlor rooms off the bar,” Holly said, giving her a hug.

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