One Month with the Magnate by Michelle Celmer

but he loved you.”
    â€œLenny is dead.” Even if he had intended to absolve her of guilt, he couldn’t do it from the grave. It was too late.
    â€œSomething will come up. Some new evidence. Everything will be okay.”
    She looked so sad. Isabelle wished she could tell hermother the truth, so at least she wouldn’t have to worry about her own freedom. But she’d promised Emilio.
    Isabelle glanced at her watch. “I really have to get back to work.”
    â€œOf course. Thank you for the groceries. You didn’t have to do that.”
    â€œMy living expenses are practically nonexistent now, and as you said, I like helping people.”
    She walked Isabelle to the door.
    â€œThat’s a nice car,” she said, gesturing to the black Saab parked in the lot.
    It was, and it stuck out like a sore thumb amidst the vehicles beside it. “I’ll drop by again as soon as I can.”
    Her mother hugged her hard and said, “I’m very proud of you, sweetheart.”
    The weight of Isabelle’s guilt was suffocating. But she hugged her back and said, “Thanks, Mom.”
    Her mother waved as she drove away, and Isabelle felt a deep sense of sadness. Hardly a week passed when they didn’t speak on the phone, or drop by for visits. They were all the other had anymore. What would her mother do when Isabelle went to prison? She would be all alone. And she was fooling herself if she really believed Isabelle could avoid prison. It was inevitable. Even if Emilio wanted to help her—which he obviously didn’t—there was nothing he could do. According to her lawyer, the evidence against her was overwhelming.
    Isabelle couldn’t worry herself with that right now. If she did the dread and the fear would overwhelm her. She had a household to run. Which was going more smoothly than she had anticipated. Her latest attempts in the kitchen must not have been too awful, either, because Emilio hadn’t accused her of trying to poison him since Monday,though he’d found fault with practically everything else she did.
    Okay, maybe not everything. But when it came to his home, he was a perfectionist. Everything had its place, and God help her if she moved something, or put it away in the wrong spot. Yesterday she’d set the milk on the refrigerator shelf instead of the door and he’d blown a gasket. And yeah, a couple of times she had moved things deliberately, just for the satisfaction of annoying him. He did make it awfully easy.
    Other than a few minor snafus, the housekeeping itself was getting much easier. She had settled into a routine, and some of her chores were taking half the time they had when she started. Yesterday she’d even had time to sit down with a cup of tea, put her feet up and read the paper for twenty minutes.
    In fact, it was becoming almost too easy. And she couldn’t help but wonder if the other shoe was about to drop.
    Â 
    Emilio stood by the window in Adam’s office, listening to his colleagues discuss the accident at the refinery. OSHA had released its official report and Western Oil was being cited for negligence. According to the investigation, the explosion was triggered by a faulty gauge. Which everyone in the room knew was impossible.
    That section had just come back online after several days of mandatory safety checks and equipment upgrades. It had been inspected and reinspected. It wasn’t negligence, or an accident. Someone wanted that equipment to fail.
    The question was why?
    â€œThis is ridiculous,” Jordan said, slapping the report down on Adam’s desk. “Those are good men. They would never let something like this happen.”
    â€œSomeone is responsible,” Nathan said from his seat opposite Adam’s desk, which earned him a sharp look from his brother.
    Somber, Adam said, “I know you trust and respect every man there, Jordan, but I think we have to come to terms with the fact