You're Fitting In Well Around Here

Sterling

I drove the Lamborghini out of the parking garage. Isabelle sat in the passenger seat looking out of the window. Our meeting with my father was a few hours ago. Once it was over we had to get back to work and we barely finished up.

I placed my hand firmly on her thigh. "You know you're fitting in well around here. My father seems to approve of you already."

She broke her attention away from the window and looked at me. "Well I would assume so, the man did go out of his way to track me down and bring me back to Nashville."

A small chuckle escaped my lips. "By far the best thing he's ever done for me in recent years."

"I'm just glad it's worked out so far." She flashed me a small smile. "Trying to be indifferent to you was exhausting."

"I bet it was." I responded as I focused on the road in front of me.

"Do you think he's right?" Isabelle asked. "Do you think this is just a political game or do you think there's more?"

I thought for a moment before answering. It was a damn good question. With how persistent Elise has been, my gut says there's more to it. There has to be.

"I do think he's onto something." I answered honestly. "I think that's only scratching the surface unfortunately. With how Elise acts I just know there's more to this."

"Hopefully Alexandra wants to meet up soon and talk." Isabelle was hopeful her plan would work, I was too. Alexandra spilling details would make everything a little easier.

"You're going to have to keep me updated on that." I glance over at Izzy for a moment and then back to the road. "Any little detail, no matter how small it is would be an advantage for us."

"I know." Isabelle nodded. "I'm going to do my best. I'll give it a few days and if I don't hear from her I'll call to check in."

"Just make sure Elise doesn't know." There was a slight warning in my tone.

I just wanted to remind her that after all Alexandra is on Elise's payroll. While we think she'd make a great ally she could also end up being our worst enemy. From what I knew of the girl she didn't seem like the type to cause trouble, but in this situation keeping Elise in the loop would ultimately be a tactic to save her ass from being belittled.

"I'm well aware." Isabelle responded. "That's why I plan to call later in the evening, they should be separate and after a long day of dealing with Satan she'll probably agree to a drink in a heartbeat."

I couldn't help the chuckle that escaped. "I see you've decided to use one of Scar's many names for her."

"I mean, it is fitting." Isabelle shrugs. "Speaking of Scarlett, does your dad know about the dress fiasco?"

"No." I shook my head.

I wasn't about to throw her under the bus to him. She and I talked the next day when I went over. We both apologized for how the situation was handled and we've moved on. I wasn't about to revisit it and start a whole different fight with Scarlett.

"You still think she was wearing it for Killian?" Isabelle asked curiously.

"Oh, one hundred percent." Scarlett didn't have to admit it for it to be painfully obvious. She never would have worn something like that to go with her friends. The one time she knows my father will be gone and Killian will be over she just so happens to slip it on, it definitely wasn't a coincidence.

"Do you think he knows?" Isabelle questioned further.

"I don't know." I confessed. He's never said anything but I didn't know if that was to save Scarlett from embarrassment. "If he does he sure as hell plays it off well. What do you think?"

"I'm not sure myself." She answered. "Sometimes when I watch them interact it's like he's oblivious to how she acts which is odd considering he knows what flirting looks like. Either he doesn't pick up on it because it hasn't crossed his mind or he's too distracted by chasing the women he can have."

"Well as long as he keeps it up we won't have any problems." Killian may be one of my closest friends but I wouldn't hesitate to kill him if he ever laid a hand on my little sister.

"Can I ask you something?" I got the hint that Isabelle was ready to change the topic of conversation.

"Of course. You can ask me anything." It was all part of trying to mend things, I wanted her to view me as an open book with nothing to hide.

"Who exactly is Meredith Bushemp?" My stomach dropped as the question left her lips. "Sounds like your dad has some real animosity towards her."

So much for the open book thing. I couldn't exactly tell her all the details I had learned. One, it was my parents' business. Two, I didn't want to scare her away. There was no telling on how she'd react to the things my parents have done.

"She's Kaydence's grandmother." I answered. I can at least give her some truth here. "She's from her dad's side. She owned this big company out of Dallas that was tanking. They used to do business with Tipton Enterprises so I've been told. Then there was some embezzlement that happened and all ties were cut."

"That sounds bad. Understand why we don't like her." Isabelle responded as she took in the details.

"Well, after my father married Kaydence she came into town." I proceeded to give more details. "She figured that since the families had joined, she could do business with Tipton Enterprises again or at least get some financial backing. She was wrong and tried to have my father killed over it."

"Holy shit." I could hear the disbelief already in her voice. If she thought that was bad she definitely wouldn't want to hear about their demise.

"After that my father pretty much destroyed any chance of their company being saved." That happened before the shooting, but it still happened regardless. "She went crazy after that and well, you know the rest in news articles. Their company then went to Kaydence who signed it over to my father and that's the one my cousin Justin's been running for years."

"Wow. Sounds like some major family drama." Isabelle responded.

I felt a little guilty for not telling her the entire story, I wanted to be honest with her but this was a touchy subject and I needed to protect her from it as long as possible. She'd find out one day. It wouldn't be for awhile as we still were mending things. When the time came and she decided to join our family, that's when she would get to know it all. That way she would know the extent of the burdens that may come with Tipton name.