Page 97 of Hired Husband

Ryan snorted. “No.”

Colin folded his arms. “I can talk to Basel, Isaac. He’s been calling me nonstop anyway. He still wants you on that project.”

“I’m not taking it,” I said, shoving a hand through my hair. “Look, I appreciate you all being here and trying to support me, but I’m not going back to Egypt. I can’t.”

“Why not?” Ryan asked, his eyes wide and shining with irritation. “You got the bid. You have the contract right there in front of you. Sign it and go. It’s that simple.”

I shook my head, but I couldn’t blame them for not understanding. None of them knew the real reason I’d come back with nothing to show for my time in Egypt. Nothing that mattered, anyway. They didn’t know the real reason I’d gotten that bid either.

Every time I closed my eyes, I still saw Jasmine standing in my apartment, telling me she was going to marry another man. What am I supposed to do, fly back and congratulate them? Fuck that.

Ryan finally stood, the abruptness of the movement yanking me out of my thoughts. “Call me when you’re ready to stop acting like a potato.”

With that, he spun around and stormed out, and I blinked a few times as the door slammed behind him. “How am I acting like a potato? What does that even mean?”

Jane smiled. “I’m not actually sure, but somehow, it makes sense. You’re not being yourself, like, at all, and we’re worried, but we might as well be talking to a potato for all the answers you’re giving.”

“Potatoes have been more useful, actually,” Colin muttered, shaking his head as he backed toward the door. “I have a meeting, but I’m still willing to go with you. Whatever happened, you don’t have to sort it out by yourself. You’re not alone and Basel is more understanding than you might think. Just let me know, okay?”

I made a noncommittal sound and Jane sighed, waiting until Colin left before she reached across the desk and took my hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “He’s right, you know. You’re not alone and you never will be. Alex can help too, and Nate, and Zach. All the Westwoods, actually. If there’s anything you need, just tell us.”

“There’s nothing,” I muttered, blowing out a heavy breath as I looked back at her. “Thanks, though.”

She nodded and stood up but didn’t turn to leave just yet. Instead, she gave me a soft, knowing smile. “We haven’t had it easy for a long time, and I know that Colin and I have been so busy trying to sort out the investigations, and find the money, and put Mallory behind bars that you might’ve felt like you had to fend for yourself, but that’s not true. I know you, Isaac. I know this is your dream.”

“It was,” I admitted quietly. “I’m just not willing to pay the price it costs, but for the record, I know I’m not alone. That’s not what this is about.”

“Do you want to tell me about this price?” she asked gently. “I wasn’t aware the project comes with strings.”

“That’s because they’re not attached to us,” I replied vaguely. “Either way, I don’t want to talk about it. The point is that if I take the job, there really won’t be any going back.”

She inhaled a deep breath, pausing like she was considering pushing the issue, but in the end, she just nodded. “When you’re ready to talk, I’m here.”

After sending me one last smile, she strode out of my office, her phone already ringing before she’d even shut the door behind her. My sister had been carrying so much for so long and she did it so gracefully that most people wouldn’t even realize how massively heavy her burdens were.

The thought made me glance back down at the contract on my desk. It was an instinct I couldn’t fight. If I signed on the dotted line, I could ease Jane’s burden. Even if just a little bit.

Jasmine had known that. She’d known how much this project could mean not only for me and my career, but for my family. That was why she’d put her own future on the chopping block.

Back in the gray, brutalist office I hated so, so much, I kept staring at the contract and thought about what my brothers and sister had said. All of them had raised good points. I was an idiot for not being back in Egypt, preparing to start building. Basel would understand. If I just spoke to him, I knew he’d still let me take the lead as structural engineer. This stack of papers I was staring at was worth millions of dollars. Nearly a hundred million just for the first phase. My cut would make me a very wealthy man right off the bat.

All I had to do was sign. Joseph had already said he wouldn’t do it until I did, which meant I was holding both of our futures—and bank accounts—hostage by not putting pen to paper. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

It felt like I would be signing Jasmine’s life away if I did, even if logically, I knew that wasn’t true. She’d made her own decisions and they were hers to make, I got that, but every time I reached for the pen, I saw the way she’d looked before she’d walked out of my apartment and I dropped it again.

I cursed under my breath and shoved the contract away.

My office door reopened and Ryan came back in.

I sighed. “I still haven’t signed.”

He rubbed a hand over his face. “Yeah, I didn’t think you had.”

“So why’d you come back?”

“To apologize for calling you a potato.” He shrugged and slid his hands into his pockets, regarding me with a strangely analytical look on his face and not moving any further into my office. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Nah, you were right,” I said, managing a small smirk as I hooked my hands behind my head and leaned back. “As soon as Jane explained why she thought you called me that, I realized you had a point. I have been a potato.”