A Waltz With Wolves (Book II in The Harrison Inc. Series) | ✓

Chapter Fifty-Nine: Almost Strangers

I should tell someone. I should do something. I should say something to someone I trust, but admittedly, I'm too scared. The journal, dark and tattered but still intact, rest on my lap as I sit in my car, too scared to put the keys into the ignition in fear of the car blowing up with me inside it. I've called Isaac and asked him to pick me up from the restaurant due to "car trouble;" I didn't mention the journal to him. He would only tell me that I should have listened to him about moving to Venetia. He would also tell me that this is certainly Garrett's doing—everything I already know being told to me over again.

I don't open the journal again. I feel like I'm invading Sebastian's memories if I were to read it again; he's let go of the drama that's surrounded it. Now that it's back, all of its baggage comes with it. I should burn it. Bury it. Hide it somewhere. Part of me wants to give it back to Sebastian, its rightful owner, but I wonder if he needs this extra weight on his shoulders? Soon, he'll have to deal with the press hounding him about Claire cheating on him. Would adding this journal back into the mix help or hurt him?

I stuff the journal into my purse, get out of my car and lock it. The sidewalk is bustling with people enjoying the day, and I make sure to stick to the crowd. Isaac can't get here soon enough.

After ten minutes, I see a black SUV double park on the sidewalk. When the window is rolled down, I see Isaac in the driver's seat. He doesn't even have time to get out and open the door for me before I run towards the car, get inside and close the door, exhaling.

Immediately, Isaac knows something is wrong. I fake a smile, prompting him to smile in return before driving off.

"Is everything alright, Leslie?" he asks me.

I nod. "Everything is fine."

"You didn't want to call AAA?"

"No, I felt more comfortable with just calling someone I knew."

Silence. We're on the freeway now, and it isn't until we make it to the exit ten minutes later that he asks me more questions.

"What were you doing at Edenborough's?" He's looking at me through the rear-view mirror.

"Just having brunch with a friend." Associating the word "friend" with "Claire" makes me sick to my stomach.

"Oh" is all he replies. I'm sweating anxiously, knowing the interrogation is imminent. When we arrive at my apartment, Isaac offers to walk me up to my unit. It is then that I know what's coming.

I hold onto my purse like it's holding contraband. Up the steps, through the lobby, to the elevator and a quiet descent up to the third floor where my unit is. I open the door, welcomed to Pedro running around my feet when I walk in. Isaac closes the door behind him, and the look of seriousness over his aged features is jarring.

"What's really the matter, Leslie?" he asks me, tone cold and demanding. I stare at him guiltily before kicking off my heels and sitting on the couch. He sits on the other end, patiently waiting for me to confess. I reach into my purse and pull out Sebastian's journal. I set it down on the coffee table and say nothing. Isaac frowns at it for a moment before picking it up and examining it.

"It's Sebastian's journal," I explain to him. "The one that got leaked. I found it on my car seat after I had brunch with Claire."

Isaac does a double take. "Wait, you what?"

"That's probably why it was in my car," I say, ignoring Isaac's surprise. "Because Garrett had it put there to scare me, maybe? For convincing Claire to break up with Sebastian? I haven't seen the thing since I gave it to Ingrid, who obviously gave it to Garrett to leak last year—"