The phone rang, its dial tone echoing through the car for a while.


    Seconds ticked by, but no one picked up on the other end.


    Victor''s brows-perfectly sculpted as if by an artist''s hand-drew together into a faint crease.


    Was that little pig still asleep? Or maybe she was just too exhausted fromst night? Had he been too rough with her?


    Victor had never been the type to crave passion or intimacy all that much. But ever since he crossed paths with Isadora again, everything had changed.


    As long as she was near, even the smallest thing-a fleeting, feminine gesture, a glimmer in her eyes, a simple touch of her hand-could shatter the iron willpower he''d always prided himself on.


    He lounged in the back seat, tugging at his perfectly straight tie. His eyes were dark and inscrutable,shes low, his expression impossible to read.


    Just then, the phone he''d set down moments ago began to ring again.


    Victor''s gaze, usually cool and indifferent, suddenly lit up with anticipation. He grabbed the phone, but as soon as he saw the caller ID, the spark faded, reced by his usualzy nonchnce.


    He answered the call.


    On the other end, Deanna''s warm, affectionate voice came through.


    "My dear boy, you''ve been back from Solstrand for ages now and still haven''te to visit your old grandmother. I''ve missed you."


    Victor''s lips curled in a wry half-smile. "What, you can''t get enough information from your sources? Now you need to see me in person?"


    "Oh, you troublemaker, what a thing to say! It''s just that you nevere by the old house anymore-what''s a grandmother supposed to do? If I didn''t check up on you this way, I''d never know how you were."


    A hint of awkwardness crept into Deanna''s tone.


    Victor knew all too well that she had eyes and ears nted throughout the Fitzgerald Group, but he hadn''t expected her to be called out on it so bluntly.


    Deanna pressed on: "Why don''t youe by tonight, hm? Nannie''s juste back from abroad, and she''s even learned how to make those sweet treats you liked as a child. Come have some with your grandmother."


    Victor tapped the dashboard twice, his handsome face utterly unreadable. "Since when did I ever like those sweets?"


    Deannaughed, undeterred. "You tried them once when Pattie made them, remember? You said they weren''t bad."


    Victor''s voice waszy, almost amused. "Anything Pattie brings me is different from what she actually makes."


    It didn''t matter if the recipe was the same-when someone else made it, it just wasn''t right. How could anyonepete with a housekeeper who''d been with the family for over fifty years?


    Standing off to the side, Nannie held a tray of freshly made sweets, looking more than a little embarrassed by the exchange.


    Deanna tried again, cheerfully, "At leaste have dinner with your grandmother, will you? These days, I have to book an appointment just to share a meal with my own grandson."


    Victor narrowed his eyes, silent for a moment. "I have things to take care of tonight. I''lle by another day."


    With that, he hung up.


    Slouching back in his seat, Victor closed his eyes, feigning sleep.


    In the front passenger seat, Kemp sat stiff as a board, nervously holding up three fingers in a gesture of innocence.


    "Sir, I swear on everything I didn''t leak a word about you to the Fitzgerald family."


    Victor''s eyelids fluttered open, his gaze sweeping over Kemp''s desperate attempt at sincerity.


    He snorted. "Even if you had ten times your nerve, you wouldn''t dare."


    Victor''s feelings for Deanna wereplicated.


    His parents, Cassius and Doris Fitzgerald, had died when he was very young. Deanna had stepped in, ying both mother and grandmother, raising him herself.


    He was well aware that the elders of the Fitzgerald family had a fierce need to control and possess him. They were always pulling little stunts behind his back.


    Most of the time, as long as they didn''t cross the line, he let it slide.