Blindfold Vol. 1

  I scowled. No, she most certainly could not. “Employees address me as Mr. Lang.”

  Isadora ignored my comment and continued, her smile tightening the way it did when she was upset. “She’s right, by the way. You can’t possibly decide who'd be best for me to work with because you're more interested in having people hover over me than talk to me.”

  There was a hint of displeasure, maybe even hurt, in her voice, but she looked away before I could figure out just what I’d seen. Scowling, I went to jam my hands into my pockets before I stopped myself. I wasn’t in the jeans I preferred to wear when I wasn’t working. I was still in the suit I’d put on that morning, and tailored suits weren’t exactly designed for men to shove their hands into the pockets. Ruined the lines.

  Focusing back on what Isadora said, I slid Toni a look.

  No, she definitely wasn't a man.

  I gave myself a mental shake. I didn’t think she was amazing either. People around my sister needed to be scared of me, not dismiss me like I didn't matter.

  “We’ve talked about this,” I told Isadora as she turned her attention back to Toni.

  Neither of them said anything to me as Toni went back to explaining whatever idea it was that she'd had. I waited a few more moments, expecting them to draw me into their conversation. People did that. People wanted my involvement. They wanted my input. They wanted my approval, and more often than not, my money.

  Isadora didn’t need the money, but she usually sought my approval. I'd raised her since our parents died and we had an odd combination of a brother-sister, father-daughter relationship. In some ways, I was the only parent she'd ever know. But she didn't even look my way.

  After a few more moments of being ignored, I turned on my heel and stalked out of the room. I was going to have to dig into this woman’s background. Since I hadn’t hired her, I had no idea what kind of person she was or what kind of skeletons she was hiding.

  As I came out of the parlor, I caught Doug’s eyes and indicated with a jerk of my head that he was to follow me. He gave me a differential bob of his head, but it didn’t do shit to cool my