“All of it.” Valerie made a face. “And just looking at the rest of this food makes my mouth water, but now in a good way.”

Isabel finished and Valerie paid. They walked out of the mall and hugged goodbye just outside the entrance. “Promise me you’ll call me as soon as you know something.”

“I will,” Valerie said, lifting her sunglasses and looking past Isabel’s shoulder. “Is that Romero?”

Isabel turned in time to see Romero pulling out of a parking space and turn toward the exit of the parking lot. “Yeah. Hmm. He said he was working today.”

When she turned back to Valerie, her expression matched what Isabel was feeling. She’d mentioned to Valerie Romero’s promise to not return to that jewelry store again or even the mall without her. Not that she’d taken him up on it but she hadn’t exactly turned the proposition down. What’s more, the entrance closest to where he had parked was the one closest to the jewelry store.

Valerie changed her expression quickly and shook her head. “Don’t jump to conclusions. Just ask him as soon as you get home, or better yet call him and tell him you saw him here. Ask him what he was doing.”

Isabel preferred to see his expression when she asked him. He hadn’t lied to her yet, and she had no reason to think he might start now. Not after everything they’d just gone through. She smiled trying to appear unfazed by it. “No, I’ll just ask him when I get home. He goes to MicroTech a lot for all his camera and computer stuff.”

That seemed a good enough reason for Valerie. They said good-bye again and Isabel headed home.

As much as she told herself it was probably nothing and to stop jumping to conclusions, Isabel gave in and called him on her way home. She may as well get the simple explanation now before she began to make herself crazy. He might not be home until later that evening and she’d be ready to throw him out with all the stories she was sure her imagination would come up with by then.

She stared at the beautiful diamond on her finger as she sat at the red light, waiting for Romero to pick up. “Hey, Izzy.”

His voice made her smile. “Hey, what are you up to?”

“Working. It’s been a busy day.”

“Oh, yeah. Where at?”

“I met a client over by the marina. Then had to install some telephone bugs at an office where some paranoid ass, thinks every one of his employees is out to get him. That took a while. I just got one more place I have to stop and take some pictures then I should be heading home.”

Isabel held her breath waiting for him to mention the mall. “Hmm. I had lunch with Valerie at the Crab Shack at the mall.” She hoped that would elicit him mentioning his own stop at the mall.

“God that sounds good. I haven’t even had a chance to eat.”

Now she was mad. “So you were no where else today? Except for the places you mentioned.”

He was quiet for a moment and she knew her tone had taken him by surprise. “Yes.”

“I saw you, Romero. Just now—at the mall. Why are you lying to me?”

She heard him exhale. “Babe, we gotta talk.”

She had no idea what he could possibly have to tell her now but it was enough to garner an incredibly annoying lump in her throat. “You’re damn right we do.”

He must’ve heard the strain in her voice. “I know what you’re thinking, babe but…you know what? Fuck the pictures, I’m going straight home. Meet me there. There’s something I gotta tell you.”

Even after she’d hung with him, the lump remained in her throat. She’d been through too much this week. She wasn’t sure how much more she could take.

CHAPTER 26

BIG mistake

This was not how Romero planned on breaking the news to Isabel about Charles. He didn’t even have all the facts yet. It had started out of sheer curiosity. He’d come to realize through his line of work, that there were two types of people when it came to cheating spouses. The ones who demanded to know the truth and would end things accordingly when they got it, and those who chose to look the other way, living blissfully in ignorance as long as their perfect lives remained unscathed on the surface.

He figured she was so unlike Isabel, Pat most likely preferred blissful ignorance. In that case, there was no point in trying to enlighten her with the truth. She probably already knew or at the very least suspected. But things were beginning to take an unsettling turn.

At first, he’d done this for his own personal guilty pleasure. It’d be nice to have one up on stupid Pat, knowing her life wasn’t as perfect as she liked everyone to think. The very reason why he hadn’t planned on telling Isabel. But now he wouldn’t feel right keeping what he knew to himself. He just wished he could’ve waited until he knew everything before having to tell Isabel.

He got to the apartment before she did. He was just putting his wallet and keys on the counter when the door opened behind me.

“Okay, just tell me. Why were you at the mall? Why did you lie to me?”

Romero turned and walked to her, surprised that she looked ready to cry. “Babe, relax. I wasn’t there to see Cici. I know that’s what you’re thinking.”

“Then why were you there?”

He took her by the hand and led her to the sofa in the front room. “I was there to see a friend who works security at the mall.”

He backed up and told her about seeing Charles with another woman at the birthday party, then about the bank accounts. “My friend at the mall and I go way back to when we were both working bouncer gigs at clubs. He’s now head of security at the mall. But he does some stuff on the side.” He hesitated to tell her the next part because he knew her family must’ve fed plenty of shit to her about the kind of person he must be. “He used to hack into computers back in the day, and though he doesn’t do it so much anymore, I can still count on him to do things for me here and there.” Isabel stared at him, her eyes wide, but at least she didn’t look upset anymore—not at him anyway.