When Isabelle got to the Larson Group building, she headed up to the floor she had been on the previous day. However, when she emerged at the waiting room leading to the room she had been interviewed in, a well-dressed lady approached her.“Are you Isabelle Cruz?” she asked politely.“Yes, that’s me,” Isabelle replied.“Welcome to Larson Group, Ms Cruz. I’m Linda, the vice president’s assistant. Please come with me, the vice president is awaiting you.”Isabelle blinked. “The vice president?”“Yes. I’ll show you the way.”Isabelle went with the lady, surprised at the turn of events. She had expected to be led to an interview room. Why did the vice president want to see her?As they went, she noticed that many people stared at her. Did they know her? The previous day, nobody had really paid her any attention. But then she thought of the apology email from the company. Maybe the people here knew about what had happened with her interview?Linda came to a stop in front of a door and pushe
When Ann was asked to see the vice president first thing in the morning, she never could have imagined it would be concerning Isabelle’s interview and subsequent rejection. After having the panel reject her the previous day, she had slept like a baby, happy that she had finally executed her revenge.Keeping Isabelle out of the company almost made up for that time in college when she lost the scholarship to her. And, not only had she managed to cost her a job at the prestigious Larson Group, but also tarnished her reputation at the same time. She had been certain that once the word spread in the industry, Isabelle would have a hard time finding a job elsewhere.So, she hadn’t foreseen what was currently happening–sitting opposite a righteous-looking Isabelle, under the strict scrutiny of the Larson Group’s vice president.Why was Jason paying so much attention to Isabelle’s case, anyway? The man rejected hundreds of applicants daily and forgot about it. If he was acting as he usually d
Kevin shot a curious glance at his boss in the backseat and quickly looked away. He had just brought the luxury car to a stop outside the house that his boss frequented nowadays. He couldn’t, for the life of him, figure out what Jacob was up to.Especially as he removed his designer suit and pulled on a shabby jacket over his shirt.He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, wondering whether to ask the questions in his mind or not. He didn’t want to cross any boundaries, but this was beyond astonishing, he couldn’t help the curiosity. Plus, he wasn’t getting paid to stick his nose into the boss’s personal business…In fact, sticking it where it wasn’t wanted would be a sure way of losing his pay.After changing into the jacket, Jacob went ahead to remove his Italian leather dress shoes and replaced them with work boots.Kevin’s attention went back to the neighbourhood outside. Surely, the car looked out of place in such a place, and especially outside the shabby home his boss was
Finally, Isabelle completed the third round of the interview at the Larson Group and was officially hired.After the debacle with Ann was out of the way, the rest of the process had been smooth, and she completed her interviews confidently knowing that she would be judged fairly. Eventually, she passed all three rounds and signed an employment contract with the company.On the morning of her first day at work, she went by the flower shop to buy herself congratulatory flowers. She was so excited to begin her career at the company she had always wanted to work at, and getting herself a bunch of flowers seemed well in order. They were the perfect way to symbolise the new beginning in her career. And hopefully bring more luck her way, she hoped.She had just started looking around the shop when an attendant in a bright orange apron approached her. “Welcome to our shop, Miss. Is there anything in particular that you’re looking for?”She wished she could spend more time admiring the beautif
Isabelle came to her feet when Jason got to their table, and so did Seth beside her.“Good afternoon. Ms Cruz,” he greeted. “How is your first day going?”“Good afternoon, Mr Del Mundo,” she replied, smiling at him. “Good so far.”“Are you having any problems? Is anyone giving you a hard time?” he asked, a serious look on his face.His serious expression and firm words surprised Isabelle a little. Sure, he had been so helpful during the interview process so it shouldn’t be a surprise, but he sounded very concerned. His manner implied that he was concerned in her not just because she was an employee, but almost as if he had a personal investment in her.Before she could assure him that she wasn’t having any trouble at all, Seth spoke to him. “You don’t need to worry about that, Mr Del Mundo. If Ms Cruz runs into any problems, I’ll help her through.”Jason turned to Seth and noticed how he hovered over Isabelle, as though protectively. He cleared his throat and looked between the two. “
Jacob scoffed as Isabelle narrated how she thought Seth was the one who helped her with the interview. Had he gone through all this trouble to give her a fair shot at the job only for her to think it was another man who helped her? She must think really highly of the guy.“Did he tell you that?” he asked, crossing his arms across his chest. At that point, they were just standing in the middle of the alley, immersed in their argument.“No,” she replied, blowing away stray strands of hair from her face. “But it makes sense. Nobody else at the company knows me personally, so he’s the only one who could have spoken for me against Ann. He’s a head designer, so I think he’s close to the vice president. Plus, he comes from a powerful family. He probably has some influence around here.”The more she talked about the guy, the more Jacob’s irritation grew. Did she say he was her senior? Did she have a crush on him or something? Just because he was not her lover didn’t mean she wasn’t interested
Jacob and Isabelle turned around at the sound of the voice. Their eyes fell on Naomi, standing near a black BMW that was parked outside the nearby building. Beside her was a man Isabelle had never seen before.“Hi, Naomi,” Isabelle greeted her tersely, ignoring her earlier words. She wasn’t interested in having a fight with her sister in front of Jacob. Just a few minutes ago, she had told him that everything was fine with her family. If Naomi didn’t back off, he might get the idea that she’s hiding something.Instead of replying to her greeting, Naomi turned to the man beside her and hooked her arm through his. “Babe, this is my sister, Isabelle.” Turning back to Isabelle, she said, “This is Arnold, my boyfriend.”She didn’t even bother introducing Jacob, but that was the last thing on Isabelle’s mind. New boyfriend? What on earth happened to Raymond? Wasn’t she supposedly pregnant with his child? As she looked from Arnold to Naomi, her sister gave her a pointed look, her lips stretc
“What is going on?” Isabelle asked when Jacob didn’t offer any explanation about the sudden change in their means of transport. “Whose car is this?”Jacob shifted in his seat to look at her. “Since it’s your first day at work, I wanted to do something special for you. So I hired this car to pick you up.”Isabelle didn’t know what to say at first. Of course, the only way he could pick her up with such an expensive car was if he rented one. But why would he go to such an extent? They weren’t a real couple. Still, it warmed her heart that he wanted to do something special for her on her first day at work.“Thanks,” she told him. “It’s a nice ride.”It was better than nice. It was the kind of car only the very wealthy drove—and she knew that meant the renting fee had to be quite high. While it was nice that he thought to do this for her, she couldn’t ignore the financial implication. She was out of cash and he was making money on a part-time job.They couldn’t afford to splurge on unneces
Four Years Later“Mummy!”“Daddy!”“Mummy!”“Daddy!”As the two toddlers rushed through the room trying to outdo each other with the screaming, Isabelle turned away from her laptop and got ready to receive the three-year-old boy who came barreling into her arms.On the other side of the room, Jacob put away the tray of vegetables he was carrying outside to the barbecue just before their daughter barreled into him and wrapped a tiny arm around his legs, the other pointed accusingly towards her brother.“Daddy, Raul is being mean to me again!”Jacob reached down and scooped her into his arms. “Is he? What did he do this time, Ruthie?”Now secure in his mother’s arms, Raul turned to glare at his twin sister. “It was my turn. You never let me have my turn!”“But then you called me ugly!”“Did you call your sister ugly, Raul?” Isabelle asked.He looked at her, blinked, and then shook his head dramatically. “I didn’t.”“You did!” his sister claimed. And then she started crying.Raul stared
Isabelle swallowed nervously and took a step back. “I…we–”“We?” he interrupted, his gaze hardening. “Are you two a couple now?”“Let me explain,” she told him, lifting a hand to slow him down. “I left the apartment that night. I didn’t know there was a storm coming, and that the bus services had been suspended. He saw me at the bus stop.”When she stopped, he arched an eyebrow and asked, “And?”“He took me to his house–”“His house?” he cut her off once again. He paced, his jaw tense. “I knew it. That shameless jerk…” He suddenly changed direction and headed for the door. “I’ll finish what he started right now.”Isabelle rushed after him and grabbed his arm before he got to the door. “I’m not done yet.”“Do I need to hear anything else? If you’ve been living with that man–”“I only stayed for one night,” she told him hurriedly. “I didn’t have time to look for somewhere to move into because of the storm. I stayed just that night, in his guest room. The next day, I got a room in Hillsi
Isabelle frowned. “What was the point of the arrangement, then?”“It was your adoptive parents who wanted a share of the Garcias’ wealth, fame, and glory. The pact was their condition to an old business deal. If they had really wanted to cancel it, I would have obliged them in a second.”“But…they were afraid of your wrath. They acted like there was no way out of the arrangement. Besides Ruth’s issue, that’s why I agreed…they had adopted me and taken care of me. If I could do that one thing for them…” she trailed off and sighed.“Then, it appears that your adoptive father was determined to marry one of his daughters into the Garcia family, come what may. You happened to be the ideal backup when their eldest claimed to be pregnant.”She immediately shook her head. “No, my… Francis would never do that. He…in that household, he was the only one who treated me decently.”“Are you sure he wouldn't? I’m assuming he is the only one who knows the true nature of the marriage agreement. If his
Isabelle couldn’t stop her body from trembling as she hurried to the elevator and pressed the call button. What was he doing here? Why had he come to look for her at her work? He was already with Naomi. Was that not enough to get back at her for lying?Jacob walked past her and pressed the call button for the executive elevator.“We can’t use that one,” she told him.“We can,” he said as the doors opened. He reached for her arm, wrapped his fingers firmly around her, and pulled her into the elevator with him. He pressed the button for the executive floor.“What are you doing?” she asked, attempting to free her arm from his grip.“We’ll talk in my office,” he said, setting a steely gaze on the closed doors.“Office? What are you talking about?”A small part of her was convinced she was dreaming. Or hallucinating. None of this made any sense. She knew Jacob was bold, but this was pushing it. He couldn’t just come to her company and do whatever he wished.He looked down at her, one brow
Jacob brushed Seth’s hand off his shoulder, irritated. “Is that any of your business?”“It is,” Seth said, getting in his face. “If you’ve come to cause trouble at her work.”Jacob narrowed his eyes. What did this man know? He had been civil enough during that dinner. Why did he look ready to give him a beating?“If you must know,” he told him flatly, “I’m here to get my wife. Why, do you have a problem with that?”Seth pointed a finger in his face. “You’ll not get anywhere near her.”Jason stepped towards Seth and pulled him back, about to warn him to watch his mouth if he still wanted to keep his job.Seth beat him to it. “Do you know this asshole, Jason?”“Shut up, idiot!” Jason seethed, standing directly between the two men. “What do you think you are doing?”Seth indicated Jacob. “Call security to throw this man out.”“Why would he do that?” Jacob asked, stepping closer and putting a hand on Jason’s shoulder to push him aside.“She ran away from you so you came to cause trouble a
Jacob spent the next two days in the hospital and left on Monday. They were the longest two days of his life, and only Jason giving him multiple updates per day about Isabelle’s whereabouts kept him from saying damn it all and leaving against the doctor’s advice.He left the hospital in Jason’s company, with Kevin driving them. It was only a few minutes’ ride to the company, but he felt like it was taking forever.Jacob looked at his watch. It was twenty minutes to nine o’clock. He knew for a fact that Isabelle was already at work because Jason had her department director report to him the moment she showed up.He exhaled heavily. He couldn’t wait to see her face…hear her voice…hold her…If she would let him.He tapped his fingers on his thigh rapidly. The memory of that day at the hospital flashed through his mind. How she had run away from him, and the accusations her sister had made.The fingers on his lap curled into a fist. He refused to believe it. His sweet Isabelle would never
Isabelle had thought she knew what heartbreak felt like. But even when she had caught her ex in bed with her sister, it hadn’t hurt this way. Not even close.All of a sudden, sitting at the kitchen table with her shoulders drooped and her sobbing face in her hands, she realised the true extent of her feelings for Jacob.All along, she had held her feelings for him back because she had known she was lying to him. She hadn’t allowed herself to take a moment to feel their depth. Now…they hit her like a tornado.She was in love with her pretend husband.But it didn’t matter, because she had lost him.She had known from the beginning he didn’t belong to her. She had known a day would come when her deception would come between them. And, she had known she would hate hurting him. But she hadn’t thought she would be left with a broken heart.She squeezed her eyes shut as an image of the photo Naomi had sent her shuttled through her mind’s eye. She couldn’t stand it. She couldn’t bear the thou
When Isabelle left her hospital room accompanied by Seth, Naomi appeared from behind the corner she was hiding in.She watched the backs of the two as they left, unaware that she had been at the door while they talked, and she had heard everything.Isabelle was pregnant with Jacob’s child? Naomi clenched her teeth and huffed. She was going to do everything she could to make sure that her adoptive sister left the city as soon as she could. Before Jacob woke up, and before Isabelle found out Jacob was actually Logan Larson.Naomi wasn’t going to let her win this time. She was the one who was supposed to marry Jacob in the first place. And now that she knew his real worth, she wasn’t going to let her stupid adoptive sister keep him. If Jacob woke up and found out about the baby…She shook her head. That couldn’t happen. She wanted Isabelle out of his life completely. When he woke up, she would be nowhere to be found. Once Naomi let him know that his wife had eloped with another man, it w
After the doctor left, Isabelle convinced Seth that he didn’t need to stay the night. She was safe now, and she didn’t want to inconvenience him given that he had work the next day.From the look on his face, she could tell that he was deeply worried about her, but he said nothing regarding the news her doctor had just delivered.He told her that he would be there first thing in the morning to see her. She told him he didn’t need to trouble himself, but he insisted.Once he was gone, she was finally able to process what the doctor had said. She was pregnant. With Jacob’s child. She thought they had taken enough precautions when they slept together, but obviously they hadn’t been careful enough. Was it that morning they ditched protection?Whatever had happened, it didn’t matter. She ended up pregnant anyway, and that was what she needed to think about.Whenever Isabelle had thought of having her own family, she had imagined a home with a loving husband and happy kids. She wanted her k