The CEO’s Second Choice

Elena

“I’ll ask it again, who the hell are you?!” Sebastian repeats, and I am left stunned on the bed, unable to move or pull him off my best friend. Isaac was dainty and didn’t know how to fight. Why was Sebastian doing this?! Then Isaac takes Sebastian’s hand from around his throat and twists it before shoving him away gently.

Uh, excuse me, WHAT?!

“I would appreciate it if you did not touch me,” Isaac says in an accent that didn’t quite match him… a Cockney accent. “Isaac… What’s going on?” I ask, flabbergasted at the scene in front of me. Sebastian looks over at me. “Elijah just called me with some interesting news. He’s had Isaac investigated since he showed up at the hospital after your accident. We noticed that my death threats and attempts on my life started after you met Isaac and did some digging. The identity he gave does not exist; there is no Isaac MacGowan.” Sebastian says, and I feel as if my life was crashing down all around me.

Isaac lied to me?

I looked over at the man I deemed my soulmate and best friend and felt nothing but despair. “What is he talking about, Isaac?” I ask, needing to know the truth, even if it hurts me. I was well past disappointment right now. Isaac looked at me with a broken expression and shook his head while giving a sad scoff. “This wasn’t how I wanted you to find out, Elena.” He says, again without his lovely Scottish accent. “Find out? What do you mean?”

“Don’t believe a word he says, Elena,” Sebastian interjects and I shake my head. “I want to hear what he has to say. I deserve the truth after months of lies.” I say and urge Isaac on before Sebastian loses his cool yet again. Isaac sighs and I brace myself for what he deemed his truth.

“I work for the NCA. They put me onto your case after Elise Dumont passed away under strange circumstances. My job was to keep Elena Dumont safe, and I failed.” Isaac starts and I see Sebastian blanch. “Elise… My aunt is dead?! He exclaims with a shocked look on his face. I didn’t know who Elise was, but something made me realise that this would be Robert and Spencer’s sister. Isaac nods. “Yes, I apologise. She passed on last December. However, we discovered that she left her shares in everything to your father, who in turn left everything to you when he passed on. We still have not figured out why they changed their wills at the last minute and left nothing to Robert.” Isaac says, and Sebastian takes a step back, looking shocked. “The NCA is involved in this?”© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

“Yes. Spencer used to be in Intelligence before he settled with Mirabelle, but he’s had surveillance on him ever since. NCA never realised how close the threat was to the man who would have taken over MI5. The man who chose his family over the position as head of British Intelligence.” Isaac says, and I see the cogs in Sebastian’s mind spinning out of control. I look over at Isaac. “How can we believe everything you have said? How do we know it isn’t another lie?” I say with a crack to my voice and notice the hurt in Isaac’s eyes before he blinked it away… Then he smiles.

“I have nothing to hide, Elena. I was simply doing my job and failed to protect you. How do you think I knew about Anabelle and her hatred towards you? I told you about her months ago but you kept her around.” He says and Sebastian’s head snaps towards Isaac. “You told her about Anabelle?”

Isaac nods, “I warned her early on.” He says, and I feel the guilt coming back. He did try to warn me, and I did nothing. I tried to see the good in Anabelle and it almost killed me. I look up at him again. “Who are you really?” I ask, but I honestly don’t think that I want to know. This is when Isaac chuckled. “Are you sure you want to know that, Elena?” he asks, and I am taken aback at how well he knows me. Did I truly want to know? I nod, then his smile drops.

“Very well. The MacGowan’s are my family. They took me in when I was only a day old and raised me as their own. Well, my father was truly Mortimer MacGowan, but my mother was… someone else entirely. An heiress set to marry into nobility when she turned 21. I was the dirty secret she kept, threw away and sold for 3 Billion as a hushed secret but my father got his own back when he named me.” Isaac says with a sad smile and my heart stops when he pins me with a blue-eyed stare.

“My real name is Isaac Mortimer Wilford, and Susanna was my biological mother.”

I should have known. I always joked that Isaac sort of looked like me, especially his eyes. I just never… never knew it was biological. Sebastian takes his cell phone out of pocket. “Could you do a search on an Isaac Mortimer Wilford? Yes, I can hold on.” He says, no doubt to Elijah and a few minutes later he speaks again. “Oh. Okay, thanks. No, we’ll speak about it when I see you.” He concludes his call, then he looks over at me. “Everything he’s said is true, Elena. Isaac is your half-brother.”

I wasn’t sure if I was shocked, elated or sad. Isaac was my brother, a brother I never knew I had, a brother my mother had thrown away because it would have caused a scandal. That sounded like my mother, all wrapped up in a bow. Was this why my father always resented her in the beginning?

Isaac looked at me. “I never wanted to keep this from you, Elena, but they instructed me not to get too close. I never expected to love you as much as I do now and have the relationship with you that I have always craved.” He says and moves closer to me, but I hold up my hand for him to stop. I shake my head. “I can’t… I can’t think right now, Isaac. Please leave.” I say and see the pain in his eyes, a pain that mirrored mine. He nods, then walks out of the room.

Sebastian and I do not talk until we hear his Mercedes speed away.

He walks over to where I sat on the bed and takes my hands in his. “I’m sorry about that, Elena. When Elijah told me that Isaac wasn’t who he claimed to be, I lost it. I was tired of the threats to our lives and assumed Isaac was one too. Little did I know he knew more about my family than I ever did.” He says and I think back to Isaac’s words; Spencer Dumont was a flipping special agent, British Intelligence and all that. Bond, James Bond in real life.

“Spencer used to be cool,” I blurted out without thinking and Sebastian looked at me as if I had grown a second head then he burst into laughter. “Oh, gosh, I’m sorry!” I say, really wishing God would have installed a filter on me. Aaron then woke up at the commotion and I proceeded to tend to my niggly baby.

I felt mentally drained. Too much has happened over the last few weeks that I actually wish I could have my boring days at the villa back. Things used to be easier back then, simpler even, and the only thing that worried me was my growing feelings for Sebastian. But, then again, trauma seems to make the person and I wouldn’t be who I am right now because of it.

I managed to get Aaron settled and Sebastian had to leave for work afterwards. We stationed a nanny next to our room so I wouldn’t need to worry about getting things for Aaron if they were out of reach or if he needed a bottle made and nappy changed.

Then I was alone with my thoughts. Isaac pretended to be someone he wasn’t for over a year. He lied to me, put on a fake personality and deceived me. Could I ever forgive him for this? Would I have my best friend back? Tears fill my eyes as I mourn for yet another lost friendship, but then my cell phone pings an incoming mail notification. I already knew who it was, and my heart raced.

Isaac: The only things I lied about were my name and accent. Everything else is the truth, even my sexuality. You’re my best friend, Elena, and I hope one day you could forgive me for deceiving you. But I guess this is goodbye. Give my godchild a kiss for me, would you? Take care. Xx I xX

I don’t think I even cried this hard when Mirabelle died.