Eve had booked them on separate return flights so they'd said their goodbyes at the chalet. And what a farewell it had been. As Isla waited to board her plane, she still had that lightheaded, slightly drunk feeling that came with being in Marlowe's arms. She was grinning, she knew. The kind of grin other women understood and envied. She looked around at the other passengers in the terminal and felt sorry for them — the teenagers with backpacks, the businessman typing on a laptop and the mother chasing a toddler down the corridor, another baby strapped to her chest — they all looked so weary, while she stood there grinning.
And yet, there was a hint of sadness in it all. The weekend was over. The protective bubble that Seduction had created, where nothing bad could happen and no one could get hurt, was transitioning into reality. In that moment she understood why there was a rule about revealing their true identities. Marlowe was all hers. He existed in a fantasy world with no baggage, no responsibility, and no other life tugging at him. But Colin was a different man with a life that excluded her — a son whom he obviously adored, and heaven only knew what else. He was a man with secrets.
With Colin she was vulnerable. With Marlowe she was safe.
Isla turned her mind to work. The irony of needing a distraction from her distraction was too much to deal with, so she pushed it aside and focused on what would be waiting for her back home. The partners had a meeting with the lawyers in the morning and by now, Lisa would have forwarded her all the material to review in advance.
She took out her phone and checked her inbox for the first time in two days. Fifty messages began to download, many of them with urgent flags attached, and most date-stamped in the last twenty-four hours. Lisa had sent her one with a video attached. She dug around in her purse for her headphones and listened to a breaking news story from New York.
"Three people have died and dozens more are injured following a structural collapse in the Wellman Building in SoHo. Sandy Miller has the story."
Images of a building partially in ruins filled her screen. Paramedics carried victims away on stretchers and people with blankets over their shoulders huddled together in groups.
"Emergency crews were called to the Wellman Building in SoHo on Friday evening when part of the fourth floor collapsed. It's unclear what caused the accident, but witnesses say it happened without warning and was followed by calls for help from inside.
As tragic as this accident is, it could have been far worse. The main floor houses several retail outlets, and the rest of the building is office space for upwards of ten companies. Since this happened around eight o'clock in the evening, the building was mostly vacant. Three people tragically lost their lives in the collapse and dozens more were trapped in the rubble for hours, waiting for rescue personnel to save them.
New York's Municipal Historical Society says the accident may have been avoidable."
And there was Marian in all her glory.
"This building was renovated recently by the same company that did the work on the Midshipman Building. In fact, it was the same managing partner, Robert Walters — the man who wants to be our next mayor — who signed off on the project."
The picture switched to a headshot of Sandy Miller holding a microphone.
"Ms. Leo said she's worked with the company, Kenroy, Morgan and Walters, several times and has great faith in their junior partner, Isla Foster, who was not involved with the Wellman Building renovation. She worries, though, that Mr. Walters's political ambitions may be distracting him from his other responsibilities. Sandy Miller, EyeWitness News. SoHo."
(Turn the page for Part 5)
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