Chapter Fourteen
ThedrivetoOrlando was hell. Micah hadn’t slept more than a few hours and was running on energy drinks and coffee. Luca had come through in a big way. A friend of his owned a company called Calvano Security, and could get him more information than should be allowed. Instead of heading to the front desk at the hotel, he walked straight toward a bank of elevators. Micah never spent a lot of time in Orlando, but he had been up for a few conventions and if you’ve seen one hotel, you’ve seen them all. Stepping inside, he pressed the button for the seventh floor, and realized his hands were shaking. He had never been as nervous as he was, but he also had never been at risk of losing something so important.
Standing in front of room 729, Micah raised his hand and knocked.
“Coming,” he heard her voice behind the door and took a deep breath. When she opened the door the sight of her was like a balm to his soul, until she slammed it in his face.
"Please open up." he pleaded through the closed hotel room door.
"No, go away Micah."
"I'm not leaving Izzy."
"How did you find me anyway?"
“Luca. He called in a few favors.”
“Did you consider maybe I didn’t want to be found?”
“You turned your phone off.”
“For good reason!”
“Just open up and let me explain.”
"There is nothing you can say that is going to make this any better. Leave me alone. Walk away and don't look back."
"I didn't cheat on you. She's my sister, Izzy."
She pulled the door open her fists were clenched at her sides and the scathing tone of voice made it clear he needed to ignore his desire to pull her into his arms, and stay very still, “You don't even have a sister. Why can't you just stop lying? The only thing I asked when you got us into this enormous mess of lies was that you wouldn’t cheat on me. You agreed, and you broke that promise. Now I’m reliving my past all over again, fooled by another man. I know this relationship was fake, but that part was important to me. You betrayed me."
“I am telling you the truth, didn’t cheat on you. I would never hurt you like that.”
“Right. I’m supposed to believe that. The fancy playboy billionaire didn’t cheat. Seriously Micah, how dumb do you think I am? I still don’t understand why I believed you when you promised me you wouldn’t do it. All I keep thinking was the mantra I kept telling myself in the beginning. That if nothing else, maybe you cared enough about me as a human being. That you wouldn’t run my name through the mud. Then, like some idiot, I thought you changed for me. I can’t be the woman who slept with her boss to get promoted, only to be cheated on in public.”
Micah could see the hurt in her eyes and it gutted him. He needed her to understand that he did change for her. She deserved to know the truth, all of it. He stepped forward, to reach for her but she stepped back into the room to escape his gasp. He took advantage of their placement and walked closing the door behind him.
“Who is she? Please Micah, just tell me.”
“My sister, her name is Sofia. That night they took the photo was the first night I met her.”
"How am I supposed to believe that?"
"I have no reason to lie to you Izzy. I can't afford to lose you and you know that."
"You really expect me to believe that you met some long lost sister and took her out to a steak dinner? Not only am I supposed to believe that, but I'm also supposed to ignore the woman who was all over you in your office yesterday?"
"What? Who are you even talking about?"
"The blonde with the short red skirt. Or was I imagining that too?"
Fuck. Micah forgot all about that. Some new hire who didn't know her place, basically threw herself at him yesterday. It wasn't uncommon and he didn't even give it a second thought but thinking back he could only imagine what it must have looked like from the outside.
"No, you weren't imagining that. But it wasn't what you think it is."
"Nothing is what I think it is. You're not who I thought you were."
The pain radiating through his chest was deserved. Micah had ruined what they had together in less then a day and he hadn't even realized what he had done. He walked over to the one of the beds in her room. The other one had her overstuffed suitcases on it.