Lucy Cruz was in the master bedroom with her husband when Isabelle showed up at the front door. The master bedroom was on the first floor, facing the front of the house. It had a balcony on which if they stood, they would have a clear view of Isabelle at the door.When the servant turned Isabelle away, Lucy had thought she would go away. She was determined to ignore her and even have the servants lock her out of the house. But when she threatened to tell Jacob Garcia the truth about their marriage, she froze with fear.She wouldn’t really do that, would she? If the Garcias found out that they had deceived them, there would be consequences.“How dare she?” she muttered, pacing beside the king size bed in the room. “We rescued her from that dirty orphanage and gave her a decent upbringing. And a family she could only have ever dreamed of. How dare she threaten to reveal the truth about Naomi?”“We promised her,” Francis pointed out. “Do not forget that she did us a favour by marrying Ja
The next day, despite finally receiving her first salary at work, Isabelle still felt low because the amount was just a tiny fraction of the surgery fee.It was quickly dawning on her that she needed to look for other sources of income.If she didn’t hurry up with the payment, Ruth might end up losing her chance for the transplantation. If she had to wait again to find another kidney that was a match, it might be too late.At the moment, she didn’t know what to do, and it frustrated her to no end. A thought crossed her mind that maybe she should ask Jacob for help, but she pushed it aside. She knew that Jacob would be willing to help her, but she couldn’t risk him finding out the truth about Ruth and her family.Also, it would be incredibly selfish of her to ask his help when she was lying to him about her identity.She had to forge ahead alone, and this time, she would be more careful compared to when she had wanted to take part in the drug trial.She was about to leave the office wh
Seth blinked in astonishment as he looked from Isabelle to the strange man. Had he heard her right? Husband? Her husband? When did she get married?He cleared his throat and leaned back in his seat, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. From the morning he had seen Isabelle at the flower shop on her first day at work, he had been thinking of how to win her affection.Earlier, when she asked him to dinner, his hopes had shot to a new high. Not once did he imagine that she could be married. His eyes darted to her ring finger. No, she wasn’t wearing any. He would have noticed. And she still went by her maiden name. No wonder he had never suspected she was already married.“I didn’t know you were married,” he told her, feeling his throat go dry. His hands curled into his fists on his thighs. “When did you get married?”When had she met her husband? Where had she met him? The questions flew through his mind, but he didn’t dare ask. It was none of his business. Besides, knowing the answers w
Huffing, Naomi lifted her left hand to her chest and gave Isabelle a horrified look. Then, in a loud voice, she exclaimed, “Oh my God, how could you?”Isabelle frowned at her sister’s horrified tone, and her mind instantly went to work, trying to determine what it is she had done. She gave the two men accompanying her an unsure glance, and then turned back to Naomi. “What are you talking about? What have I done?”“How could you be so greedy and shameless?” she cried out, her voice only getting louder. She was aware of other patrons paying attention to the table, while the two men looked between her and Isabelle.Isabelle now looked thoroughly confused, and the frown on her face deepened. “Excuse me?”Naomi wasn’t going to bring up what had happened at their home, right? Had she been at home when Isabelle went to ask their parents for the money?Maybe she was mad at her for insisting that they give her the money. It would make sense why she was calling her the same insults Lucy had. Bu
As more customers started making negative comments about Naomi, she decided to give the bag to Isabelle.“You can have it,” she said, all but throwing the bag into Isabelle’s hand.Isabelle took the bag and opened it. She was not surprised at all to find a bunch of money inside. Sneering, she took it all out and looked up at Naomi. “Look at that, you’re also carrying quite the amount around. Did you get this from our poor parents, too?”If looks could kill, Isabelle would drop dead from the glare Naomi was directing her way at that moment. And if she had been a cartoon character, smoke would be billowing out of her nose and ears. That didn’t stop Isabelle from going on with her little show and counting the money she had found in her sister’s bag.Once she was done, she put the money back into the bag and held it on her lap. “This bag and the money can partly compensate the money you owe me,” she said, looking up at Naomi.Naomi huffed, and then dove for the bag, but Isabelle shot from
“Do you expect me to believe that after what happened? Why would your sister do that to you?” he asked.“My parents owe me money, but they refused to pay me back after I got married,” she revealed. “My sister also doesn’t want them to pay me, so that’s why she likes picking fights with me.”“Is that all?” Jacob asked, still looking at her closely. Her story still didn’t make sense to him. What he would rather know was why her family owed her money. And why they didn’t want to pay her back. Why was her relationship with them so bad?“It is,” she confirmed, and then looked up to meet his gaze again. “What else could there be to it?”He wanted to ask about why she had a poor relationship with her family, but decided to shelve that. If she wanted to tell him, she would.“Nothing,” he said, looking ahead. After they had walked a few more paces in silence, he addressed the other thing that had bothered him at dinner. “You should tell others that you are married,” he told her.Isabelle faced
Isabelle looked at the sapphire ring on her finger and shook her head. “No, I’m not.”“Are you sure? I can give you two million for it,” the pawnshop owner told her.“Two million?” she asked, unbelieving. Was the ring really worth that much? And that was just the price she was getting at a pawnshop. What was its real value? How did Jacob get his hands on such an expensive ring?“Yes,” the owner confirmed. “We can pay for it right away.”Isabelle gnawed on her lip. Two million was more than enough to pay for Ruth’s surgery. If she sold this ring…She shook her head, ridding the thought from her mind. No. She couldn’t sell Jacob’s gift to her.“It’s my wedding ring,” she told the owner, “I’m not selling it.”“Are you sure?” the woman asked as she got ready to leave again. “You look like you could use the money.”Was that why they had offered her such a poor price for the bags? They must have thought she was so desperate.She shook her head again. “If you’re not going to give me a better
Isabelle shut the refrigerator door and turned to Jacob, a confused look on her face. Lifting her hand, she gave a look at the ring on her finger, and then looked at Jacob’s stoic face. “What are you talking about?” she asked.She understood that the ring looked a bit different after she had it cleaned and polished, but did it look so different that he wouldn't be able to recognise it? She was about to tell him about the maintenance service when he reached for her hand.Jacob took her hand in his and took off the ring from her finger. Turning the band of the ring, he showed her the inside of the metallic surface. “The ring I gave you had my mother’s initials,” he told her, pinning her with a glare. “This one has none.”Isabelle frowned and took a look. It was true, there was no engraving on the inside of the ring.“The ring I gave you has been in my mother’s family for ages,” he told her. “It’s an antique, and this one is obviously a counterfeit. I could tell with just a single look.”
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