Page 47 of Isabelle’s Forbidden Love

Did that mean that Samson had looked into his past? Had he found something? Or why else would he suddenly tell Isabelle that he considered him dangerous. Samson had entrusted him with the safety and security of his family, his loved ones, before and never claimed that he was dangerous. Something or somebody had changed his mind.

If he were an honorable man, Orlando would tell Isabelle what he’d done in Montreal, but if he did, she’d leave, and then he couldn’t protect her from the person who was trying to destroy him by taking everything from him: Scanguards, his new family, his freedom, and Isabelle, the woman he loved. It didn’t matter that Isabelle wouldn’t look at him with affection in her eyes anymore, once she knew the truth—his enemy would make her suffer nevertheless, just because Orlando would suffer if anybody hurt Isabelle.

He had to find his adversary first, and destroy him, so Isabelle was safe. And only then, he could tell her the truth.

“Orlando?”

Isabelle’s voice pulled him from his reverie. “Sorry, I’m just thinking about what to do next.”

“Did you get any leads after I dropped you at the auto repair shop?”

“I made some inquiries. A lot of the people who I know from Montreal are dead now. It’s been over forty years, it’s not a surprise. But there’s somebody who’s still around who might know something. I’m working on figuring out where she lives now.”

“Who is she?”

“A housekeeper. She worked for Margarite’s family. She always knew all the gossip going around in Montreal.”

It was only partially the truth. Ines had been the Arnaud family’s housekeeper, yes, but she hadn’t been a gossip. On the contrary, Orlando suspected that she’d kept all of Margarite’s secrets. Maybe now, over four decades after Margarite’s death, Ines was prepared to reveal the secrets she’d kept so loyally for the woman who’d caused so much pain.

“Let’s hope you hear back from her soon.”

Orlando nodded. “How about you? Have you gotten any hits on the fingerprints I sent you?”

“I have a contact in Ottawa. He’s with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and he set me up to run the fingerprints through their system. I figured we have a better chance finding the man who’s trying to frame you in the Canadian databases, rather than the FBI’s, right? I mean, if it has something to do with Montreal, it’s much more likely that we’ll find that person’s prints in the Canadian records. But when I left HQ, there weren’t any results yet. And I can only check the system from a computer linked to Scanguards’ internal network. Thomas keeps putting more and more security measures in place.”

Orlando lifted his arm to point at a computer nook. “Doesn’t Grayson have a secure terminal here?”

“Not anymore. When he and Monique moved to New Orleans, Thomas insisted on taking it out, because the condo is empty most of the time.”

“Damn it. How else are we gonna get into the system? I have literally no hacking skills at all.”

“Maybe I can sneak back into HQ later and use one of the computers on the medical center level. Nobody will see me there.”

“Out of the question,” Orlando snapped, and noticed that his pulse was racing at the thought of Isabelle leaving without his protection. “There must be another way.”

“I could ask Patrick to log into the system for me and send me the data, but I can’t be sure that he won’t tell my father. And my computer is at home. Mom will communicate with Dad the moment I enter the house. I don’t think that’s smart—”

“That’s it!” He cupped Isabelle’s shoulders. “Does Damian have a Scanguards computer at home?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Because we can use his. You can log in from his, right?”

She nodded. “But Naomi will be home. She’s not gonna let us use it without talking to Damian first.”

“She won’t be at home after midnight. Damian has organized a surprise pre-birthday party at the Mezzanine for her. She’s supposed to show up there at midnight.” He glanced at the clock. “That’s in a little over two hours.”

Isabelle smirked. “How are your lockpicking skills?”

Orlando grinned. “I got into Grayson’s loft without a key, didn’t I?” Then he pulled her closer.

“Good. Cause I love a man who knows how to work with his hands.”

“Is that so?” He tugged on her top and pushed it up.

“How much time have we got?”

“Plenty to make you come twice.”