“Agreed. Your reputation says you’re worse. Now tell me—what kind of atrocities did you commit to make that woman hate you so much?”
“She doesn’t hate me!” I snapped, louder than I intended.
“If you say so…”
I looked at Isabelle again. She irritated me to no end, yet somehow she fascinated me too. As defiant as she was, I couldn’t help but admire her courage. Standing up to me wasn’t easy—and she did it without flinching.
“I’d like to introduce myself,” Henry announced suddenly.“Name’s Henry.”
Son of a—
Before I could react, he was already standing next to Isabelle, introducing himself… all smiles, of course.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Isabelle.” She glanced at him from the corner of her eye, clearly uneasy.
“Oh, don’t worry about him. Colin won’t bite just because I’m talking to you. He’s a tyrant, sure—but with me, he’s harmless. No reason to be scared.”
“Henry!” I barked, though I already knew it was pointless.
“Ah, right, Colin hates honesty too,” he said with a grin.
Henry gets on my nerves ninety percent of the time—and that’s me being generous. His knack for breaking the ice with people infuriates me, mostly because it always happens when I least want it to.
“I should get back to a few things around the house. Nice meeting you, Henry.”
“The pleasure’s all mine.”
The bastard leaned in close and kissed her on the cheek… or maybe it was her cheek and part of her lips?
I’m still not sure if I saw too much, but it damn well looked like he tried to take advantage of the moment.
As soon as she left the room, I locked my gaze on him without blinking once.
“What?”
“What do you think?” I shot back.
“I like her. A lot, actually.” He winked, and my blood pressure spiked.
“Don’t you dare go near Isabelle! Do you hear me?!”
Henry looked at me, eyebrows raised, genuinely surprised.And only then did I realize what I’d just said. Isabelle means nothing to me—at least not enough to justify that tone. I had no idea why those words came out so fast.
“Guess someone else already plans to,” he teased.
I was ready to fire back when I noticed Helen calling me from across the room.
“Well, I just wanted to check in on you. You might not think so, but I actually worry about you—ever since… you know.”
“It’s fine. Thanks for stopping by, even though I’m terrible company.”
“Oh, I know you are,” he said, smirking. “I just feel sorry for people in general.” He started walking off. “See you soon, oh mighty tyrant Colin Adams.”
What a lunatic.
I spent at least thirty minutes circling Isabelle around my own mansion. I had to do it…
I’ll kill James…
