Her expression tightened abruptly. "Decker?" She turned around and glared at him. "This is the women's washroom. What are you doing here?" Decker stood near the foot of the door with a wicked smile. "I came to find you." As Isabel frowned, her gut feeling was telling her something was wrong. She asked icily, "Did you spike my wine?” "As expected of my favorite Isabel, you’re as smart as I thought.” With that, he took a step towards her. Isabel immediately cried out, "Stop! Don’t you dare come here!” Decker smiled wickedly and continued pressing on toward her. He was tall and imposing. Isabel had witnessed firsthand how strong he was that other night outside her house when he had pinned her to the wall. There was no way she could fight him off. Her two bodyguards were outside the hotel, and they were not going to be there to help her any time soon. The effect of whatever Decker spiked her drink with was making her lose control of her body and her senses. Sh
“What are you doing here?” Decker asked with his face wrought in apprehension. Roland stepped out of the elevator and ignored his question. He looked at Isabel who was in his arms and said in a deliberate, harsh voice, "Put her down." Decker narrowed his eyes. "She’s my woman. What goes on between us has nothing to do with you. I advise you to mind your own business and get out of here." He hugged Isabel tightly like she was a prized treasure. Isabel continued to stretch her hands out desperately at Roland. She could feel every cell in her body burning, but the only thought that occupied her mind was to cry out for Roland’s help. She asserted firmly, "Roland, nothing is going on between me and him! He’s my ex-boyfriend. I broke up with him a long time ago!” Roland's expression tightened as he looked at Decker coldly and repeated, "Put her down!" Decker lowered his voice to a dangerous growl, "Roland, you have no right to order me around. Get out of the way." Roland
She would inevitably be recognized at the hospital. If that happened, news of her drink being spiked and her having to go to the hospital would spread online like wildfire by the next morning. Roland pinned her down so she would stop wriggling around, then he turned to his assistant and ordered urgently, "Go to my house, now!” The assistant promptly got into the driver's seat and took off. They were not far from his place, so it only took a ten-minute drive before they arrived. But to Isabel, it felt like ten years of torment. Roland kept her pinned down to the backseat, so all she could do was sit idly like a puppet. She could not even inch closer toward him. Fortunately, her hands were not bound. And move them she did. She kept fondling Roland and felt around his waist constantly. Roland continued holding her down. He frowned tightly and seemed to have trouble containing himself. He was stoic and quiet. Isabel could not make out his expression inside the dark
Isabel told herself that she was going to do it with Roland tonight regardless of whether he was reluctant out of principle or out of sheer unwillingness. To her surprise, before she could apply the seduction techniques she had learned online to practice, the man vigorously turned around and faced her. She barely had a glimpse of the look in his eyes before he palmed her face in his hands and drew in abruptly. His face instantly enlarged in her lens just before their lips locked tightly. He did not seem to be a very adept kisser. He moved around back and forth a few times around her lips before he managed to slip through her teeth and enter her tongue. She felt his palm seething with heat pressing against the small of her back, and with a quick toss, her feet were thrown into the air. He hugged her and kissed her hungrily, then he flung her onto the bed. At some point amidst their passion, Isabel seemed to hear him growl, "Isabel, you were the one who started this.
Roland gently brushed his fingers against Isabella’s face and spoke in a low, gentle voice, "Isabella, I'm a businessman. That’s what it is at the end of the day.” "I understand. I am the one who was too paranoid,” Isabella said as she pressed closer into him, her voice quickly growing sultry. “Let me keep you company tonight.” She drew her lips toward his neck while skillfully unbuttoning his collar with her hands. Decker’s mind continued replaying the scene of Roland snatching Isabel away from him. At the time, Isabel looked irresistible. He could remember how rosy her cheeks were, like the bright red shade of a ripe rose waiting to be plucked. Only for Roland to swoop in and steal her away! His face darkened as he suddenly shoved Isabella, who was just about to climb on top of him, away. Thump. Isabella fell over on the couch and nearly landed on the floor. She sat up feeling abashed, then she turned to Decker who had risen for the couch. She asked in a com
Isabel certainly took her time. It was not so much that she wanted to keep Martha waiting, but there were countless marks on her neck left behind from the activity last night. She scrambled for a way to cover them, but all the clothes she had were no good for the task, so she ended up wrapping a scarf around her neck. Upon seeing Isabel come out of the room at last, Martha quickly brought her a bowl of soup as well as a healthy portion of food. She motioned with a smile. "Isabel, you must be starving. Have a seat and dig in.” Isabel smiled awkwardly. "Aunt Martha, where's Roland?" It did not seem like he was inside the house at all Had he stormed off because he was upset with her? “Roland went to work." Martha glanced at the silk scarf tied around her neck and remarked, "He didn't mean to leave you behind. He’s been waiting for you to wake up since this morning. Then, he received several phone calls from work and had no choice but to leave to attend to something impor
Isabel heaved a sigh of relief. Through sheer will, she made herself forget about the passionate scenes from last night replaying in her mind endlessly. She was truly unlucky to have met someone as scummy as Decker. As if his cheating on her five years ago and slapping her was not enough, he tried to do something so vile to her last night! Although his plans were foiled, she was still upset that it happened at all. More importantly, she did not know how she was ever going to face Roland again! Ahh, how embarrassing! Ding! Suddenly, her phone rang. She reached for her phone and immediately recognized the name on the display: Roland. The name immediately spurred memories from last night, of scenes of him kissing her hungrily. Even now, she could recall the heat of his sweat trickling onto her cheeks. Her hands trembled, and the phone slipped out of her hand and landed on her thigh. “Isabel, are you okay?" Carla asked worriedly. The two bodyguards turne
The director’s primary concern was not so much that Isabel could have had some indecent affair with Decker. He was more concerned about Isabel having chased Decker off by hitting him or worse. Isabel immediately put her acting skills to practice. She flashed a look of confusion. "What? Decker left last night?" The director seemed startled by this as well. “Do you know where he went off to?” Isabel replied calmly, "I wouldn’t know." It was the truth. She had no idea where Decker went off to after Roland took her away. "Okay, I'll call back and check up on him. I’ll let you go prepare for your scene.” “Sure.” She went to her hotel room. It was a decent and remarkably large room. After briefly unpacking her luggage, she walked out of her room and went to the designated area where the actors would get their makeup done. Unfortunately for her, her costumes for the scenes today were all shirts without collars, which meant there was no way she could hide her hickey
She was her usual self in every aspect. She put her heart into her job and never started trouble so long as nobody tried to start trouble with her. The crew cycled through their locations during their shoot. The constant travel made her skin break out slightly, but there were no other concerns otherwise. The shoot progressed very smoothly and within three months, they managed to wrap up everything at the mountainous region previously mentioned. It was nearly evening when they wrapped up the shoot. Holding a bouquet in hand, she took a group picture with the crew and celebrated with everyone. After that, she planned to hitch a ride with another crew member and leave for home. To their demise, some men in uniform who claimed to be the road maintenance technicians showed up to break the bad news to them. They mentioned that they had to repair some of the roads urgently and so the way home was temporarily obstructed. The director took his phone and called the city hotline fo
He remembered his first meeting with Isabel. She was sitting all by herself on the floor, in the middle of nowhere. Her vulnerable expression only made her more endearing. So, he managed to get her to go to his place and installed her in his home. He fell for her and paid careful attention to all her needs. It did not take long before Isabel caught feelings for him as well. The two of them got together in no time. Their days were plain and ordinary, but also very fulfilling, that was until he met Clarice. With the help of his father, his power struggle with Roland had reached a tipping point. It was at that opportune moment when Clarice’s father saw something in Roland and planned to wed his daughter Clarice to him to join up their families, which was a cause for alarm for Decker. He stressed over it for an entire night before approaching Clarice himself the very next day. Clarice quickly caught feelings for him as well. Furthermore, Roland had been foolish enough to reject
Decker was smiling quite earnestly at Isabel. Isabel threw a deeply suspicious look at him, then she glanced at the stack of documents laid out on top of the table in front of her. “Transferal of Shares.” She was dumbfounded. "I've gone through the contract, it’s safe to sign so go ahead.” Roland picked up a pen and handed it to her. "Roland, I..." "Sign it first, I’ll explain when we get home.” Isabel frowned and tried to protest. "I—" "Don't make me have to beg." Isabel did not know how to respond. Fine. She briefly scanned through the contract. The contract stated Decker’s agreement to transfer the remaining forty percent of his shares in Rockwell Corporation to her. Roland must have talked to the shareholders of Rockwell Corporation about this as well. They all regarded Isabel with polite smiles. Isabel had flipped through the final page of the document. She signed her name on one of the marked-out sections. She proceeded to sign all thr
They ended the call shortly after that. Isabel glanced at Martha and was hesitating if she should break the news right away. Martha seemed to have sensed her staring and suddenly turned to her with a flash of concern. "Isabel, what's wrong?" Isabel took a deep breath and broke the news. "Auntie, Master Rockwell just passed away." Martha's eyes widened. After a lengthy silence that lasted more than ten seconds, she started to break out in tears. She covered her face with her hands and expressed amid bouts of tears mixed with laughter, “Wonderful! About time! I hope he enjoys life in the underworld. God knows that someone like him will never deserve a spot in heaven!” Isabel did not know whether she should celebrate with Martha or console her. Soon, Martha began to collect herself. She briefly wiped away her tears and joyfully took Isabel's hand. "Isabel, let’s go shopping! I’m in such a good mood today, I’m going to go on a shopping spree!” "Okay. But Roland w
Isabel held onto Roland's hand firmly during the entire drive home after leaving the hospital. It was because Roland’s hands were cold and rigid. Isabel sat with him and tirelessly rubbed his hand to keep them warm. After one hand was warm, she would shift her attention to the other. By the time she managed to warm the other hand, the original hand would turn cold again. She decided it was easier to take both of his hands and caress them with the warmth of her palms. Roland looked at her with a gentle glow deep within his eyes. “Thank you, Isabel,” he said softly. Thank you for loving him, and for sticking by his side all this time despite circumstances. Isabel smiled. “I’m just warming your hands, it's no big deal. Still, you’re welcome." Roland smiled faintly and left it at that. Soon, his hands began to warm up off of the heat of Isabel’s palms. When Isabel felt that his hands were no longer freezing, she prepared to pull her hand away. That was when
Decker looked nothing like his usual self. The pompous, arrogant man who held himself far above others and who expected everyone around him to kiss up to him because he was superior to them all. It was as if he had been plunged not only to Earth but a pile of swamp. He had completely lost his usual grace. Isabel said crossly, "Decker, have you gone mental? Is everything going on too much for you?” “Yeah, could you help me?” he said with a coy smile, “Just one hug should be enough to take care of it all.” Isabel rolled her eyes. Without warning, he suddenly braced himself and lunged right at Isabel, stepping past Brandon who was caught off guard by this sudden attack. Isabel barely had time to react. Just when it seemed like his hand was about to graze Isabel, a long pair of arms seized Isabel from behind and jerked her backward. It was swiftly followed by a long, muscular leg shooting outward right next to Isabel. Thump! Decker was kicked to the ground.
"How did you and Roland meet?" Decker suddenly asked. Isabel turned away, fully intent on ignoring him. "Did you meet each other at Carter Corporation? Or did you meet him outside of work and gradually fell in love with him, then you decided to set him up with a position at Carter Corporation?” What did he mean by that? Was he insinuating that Roland was relying on her to snake his way into Carter Corporation? She threw a sideways, belittling look at him. "Do you think Roland is anything like you? He wouldn’t latch on another woman to further his goals.” Decker was not upset by this as he continued with a smug smile. "Oh? Then how did he get into Carter Corporation?" “He proved his worth.” Isabel realized that she had been roped in by Decker again. Nevertheless, she continued, “He passed the interviews himself. I was one of the interviewers and initially planned to dismiss him, but he managed to leave a very good impression on my father and the rest was history.” "
"I never meant to kill him! Roland, you have to believe me. Why would I still try to deceive you when I’m in this state?” “In that case, you can go ahead and explain things to him in the afterlife.” Master Rockwell was taken aback by this, his demeanor tightened. "You...you..." Roland looked at him calmly. "Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. It was Grandma and my parents who raised me. They instilled morals and virtue into me and made sure I’d grow into a decent man.” Master Rockwell was briefly relieved to hear this, but before he could rid himself of his trepidation, Roland continued in a dark voice, "But I won’t forget about you and Decker bribing all those media outlets to defame Isabel. I know you manipulated the stock prices to try to kick me out of the corporation. I’ll make sure to settle our score through the legal system.” If convicted guilty, they would have to rot in prison. “Roland… listen to me, Roland. Decker is your uncle. If you want revenge, you can come
Master Rockwell must have heard their shifting movements and opened his eyes. When he recognized the faces of Roland and Isabel, there was a brief glow in his murky eyes. He motioned to the nurse to have her help him sit up from the bed. After he managed to position himself seated up against the head of the bed, he asked the nurse to leave. Then he cast a loving, tender smile on Roland and Isabel. “Roland, Isabel, please have a seat.” Roland said disinterestedly, "We have things to get to, just hurry up and tell us what you have to say." Isabel stayed silent. A look flashed in Master Rockwell's eyes. Then, he turned to Isabel and expressed regretfully, "Isabel, I’m a foolish old man, it was me who told Decker to leak pictures of you two. He had no choice because I forced him to do so. If you have to blame someone, blame me!” Isabel frowned. She was somewhat impressed by how smoothly the old man switched his mask from one to another. From a forlorn and sad state t