All Chapters of bound by deception: Chapter 41

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE — "Trump Card"Isabella's POVI saw him before he saw me.That was always the advantage — arriving at a read before the subject knew they were being read. Derek stood at the edge of the ballroom with a champagne flute in his hand and the specific stillness of a man who had stopped performing enjoyment and was simply standing inside his own thoughts.His eyes were fixed across the room.I followed the line of them.Ira.Of course.She was speaking to one of the overseas clients — laughing at something, her hand touching the man's arm briefly, the gold dress doing everything it had been designed to do. Completely unaware of Derek's gaze. Or performing unawareness — with Ira it was sometimes impossible to tell.I looked back at Derek.His jaw. The set of it. The way his hand had tightened on the champagne flute without his noticing.There it is.The specific expression of a man watching something he wants being wanted by someone else. Raw and unmanaged and completely