After dinner, some of them returned to the hotel, and some of them took a ride home. Isabel, the director, and some of the crew members returned to the hotel. The director asked, “It’s the weekend. Do you guys want to shoot over the weekend, or take two days off, and we can continue on Monday?” The remaining actors looked at each other. The male lead said, “I’m okay with anything. It’s your call, director.” The others echoed in agreement. The director then looked at Isabel. “Isabel, what about you?” Isabel said without a second thought, “I don’t want to take days off either.” Only when working, she would not think of Roland, therefore she could not stop. The director smiled. “Alright. We’ll continue shooting then.” Isabel said good night to her co-stars and the director before she returned to her room. She spent the entire day shooting, and it was tiring. She just wanted to have a bath and rest. It was then she received a call from Amanda. Amanda sounded worri
Isabel’s light tone was proof that she was not affected by the comments online. Caprice felt relieved. She no longer insisted on visiting anymore and simply said, “Okay.” Sylvia told her to rest properly other than working hard. After the brief family chat, Isabel put her phone down and went to sleep. The night was quiet. When she closed her eyes, her head uncontrollably thought of Roland. It annoyed her. She tossed and turned on the bed and still could not fall asleep. She got up, switched on the lamp next to her bed, and went on her phone to check the comments online. Someone took a video of her that night when she broke up with Roland. She went drinking at the restaurant, got drunk, and was dragged away by Amanda and Carla. As soon as she tapped on the video, she could already hear herself crying. Even through the screen, she felt embarrassed. The netizens gloated at her. “Did the girl break up with her boyfriend? It’s so funny how she cries.” “I’m sorry. I c
Decker’s deep eyes contained different feelings. He stood outside the door for a while before he returned to the study room. His assistant followed him to the study room as well. Decker sat down on the chair and went online to see the video of Isabel crying. When he broke up with her a few years back, she did not even cry this terribly. He frowned. His gaze turned frosty. His assistant noticed the change in his expression and asked, “Mr. Rockwell, should I stop Ms. Houston?” Decker returned to his usual elegance and said, “Just let her be.” Now that Isabel had broken up with Roland and entered a slump in her career, she must be feeling terrible. If Decker could appear by her side in a timely manner, she might return to his side once more. …A busy weekend later, Isabel finished shooting all her scenes. After the last dinner with the crew and director, she returned to Westchester with Carla. It was late at night. The car was driving on an empty freeway. The car
With Sylvia’s company, Isabel had a good night’s sleep. Since Isabel had a commercial shoot later in the day, she only had breakfast with her mother before she parted ways with her and left with Carla and the bodyguards to the next destination. As soon as the car hit the road, Carla moved closer to Isabel with a mischievous grin. “Isabel, your mother looks so young and so beautiful! I bet you got your looks from her.” Isabel smiled. If her mother was not beautiful enough, she would not be that beautiful either. Carla continued, “But I somehow find your mother familiar, it’s like I’ve seen her before.” Isabel’s eyes fluttered. Other than being Isabel’s assistant, Carla had many hobbies, and enjoying paintings was one of them. She had seen many famous painters and read many art magazines. Since Sylvia was a famous painter, she was a regular in art magazines, so Carla must have seen her on the cover or whatnot. A quick thought later, Isabel said, “Maybe I look like my mo
Noticing Isabel’s silence, Amanda asked, “Isabel, are you okay?” Isabel exhaled and said, “Amanda, I’m fine. You don’t need to worry about me.” She was not a weak and fragile girl anymore. “I’m glad you’re holding up,” Amanda said with relief. She added, “Isabel, the brands and clients that we worked with before are still with us, and the movies and dramas that we’ve gotten are still progressing as planned. That person just messed up our recent plans, so why don’t you take some time off? I’ll think of a way.” Isabel pondered and said, “Alright. Amanda, take it easy. If we lose the recent ones, just let it be.” She suddenly wanted to have a good rest. She wanted to go back home, eat the food that Aunt Tonya cooked, watch her mother paint, and play with Liam and Caprice’s baby. Amanda noticed Isabel’s sudden tonal shift. She sighed and said, “Alright. I’ll do whatever I can. You take care.” “Alright.” The call ended. Isabel leaned back and said to Johnny, “Turn around
Decker stared at her. “Isabel, I’m just here to see you, nothing else.” Isabel was not in the mood to talk to him, so she ignored him. Decker noticed the frosty reaction. He sighed and said, “I know you just broke up with Roland and seem to have lost all your commercial work.” With both love life and career in a slump, she should be devastated. Just when she thought Isabel would look devastated or break down in tears, Isabel stared at the elevator door coldly and did not respond to his words. She did not look sad or devastated at all, which surprised Decker. He refused to believe Isabel did not feel anything. With Roland gone and her commercials lost, no one was there for her. The confidence of a woman with no background would surely be dented no matter how strong she was. How could she feel nothing? His eyes fluttered. He sighed and added, “Isabel, I know you’re feeling terrible. There are the two of us here. I won’t laugh at you and you don’t need to hide your emoti
Decker pulled Isabel closer to him with a grim, scheming smile. "Isabel, Roland has gone and dumped you. He’s not going to help you anymore. Besides, even if he wants to help you, there’s nothing he can do for you. I’m the only one who can help you now. If you want to save your acting career, you should be wise enough to know to not get only my nerves,” he said with gnashing teeth. His gaze was dark and ominous. If Isabel did not give in to him, he was going to do everything in his power to ruin her without repair. Isabel grimaced tightly and promptly proceeded to spit right in his face. “Ptoo!” Her spit splattered directly on his face. Decker winced instinctively when he felt the projectile slap across his face, and his expression darkened like never before. Before he could open his eyes again, Isabel kicked against his knee with the shin of her knees. Argh! Decker yelped in pain and let go of her. Isabel took the opportunity to shove him away from her, then
Sylvia led Odell by his hand as she happily strolled into the living room. Caprice followed them closely. Liam was there as well, holding a child no more than four months old. It was his and Caprice’s son. Flint followed behind him with a feeding bottle in hand. Isabel was not expecting everyone to be at home. She found herself overcome with a warm and wholesome feeling and smiled brightly at the sight of them. Sylvia went up to her and gently took her hand into hers. “Don’t you have work today? Why did you suddenly come home without notice?” Isabel followed them to the couch in the living room. She told them, "I pushed back my schedule for a few days. I decided I need some rest.” Sylvia remarked with a supportive smile, “I see, it’s a wonderful coincidence that your brother and Caprice are going to stay at home for the next few days as well. Flinty has several days off too. It’s a good chance for all of you to spend some time together. Isabel smiled and seemed
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