The sound of Jacob’s voice surprised Isabelle, and she turned around to face him. What was he doing here? Had he followed her? Why? To see whether she would go to wherever it was he thought she had exchanged his ring at?But instead of confronting her, he was looming over the security guard who had been about to throw her out of the shop threateningly. She supposed he felt it was his duty to defend her. His eyes flickered to her, and avoiding his gaze, she walked past him and out of the shop.As Isabelle ignored him and walked out of the shop, Jacob frowned. Of course, she was still mad at him for accusing her of selling his mother’s heirloom. But before he could go after her and apologise, he needed to have a talk with the one who had conned her.Turning to the owner, he said, “You had better return the ring you stole from my wife.”“Like I’ve told your wife, I did not exchange her ring. She gave me her ring for a maintenance service and when I was done, I returned it to her. If she
By the next day, Kevin had gathered enough evidence to prove the identity of the woman who had sent the ring to the auction. He made a report at the local station, and she was summoned for interrogation.When Jacob arrived at the station, he saw that it was indeed the woman from the pawnshop. He stood in the next room, watching her interrogation through a glass window in the wall. A speaker in the room allowed him to hear the conversation in the other one.“What am I doing here?” the woman asked, looking at her wrist watch impatiently. “I should be opening my shop right now.”Jacob’s mouth twitched. She didn’t seem rattled that she had been summoned to the police station. She must have plenty of experience getting away with screwing people over.“We’ve received a report that you stole a ring yesterday and put it up for auction,” the officer replied, gathering a few sheets of paper in his hand.“A ring?” The woman asked, her tone implying that what the officer had said was incredulous.
Jacob found Jason in a bar, surrounded by several beautiful women. Jason was a total ladies man, and he knew how to keep his women happy. That was the reason Jacob had thought about him as the best source of advice on how to placate Isabelle.As Jacob approached his booth, Jason drove the women away, and they left, albeit hesitantly. It appeared that they loved his company as much as he loved theirs. Jacob took that as a sign that he had come to the right guy.“What’s going on?” Jason asked him after he sat down and ordered a drink. “I’m assuming it’s not about work because otherwise, you wouldn’t have met me at a bar.”Yeah, had it been about work, he would have had him hurry his ass back to the office. Other than being his vice president at the company, Jason also happened to be his friend. That was why he was seeking such personal advice from him.“I pissed off my wife,” he revealed, “and no matter what I do, she won’t forgive me. What do you think I should do so she can stop being
When Jacob called Jason, he was still in bed, with his lover lying in his arms. His first thought at seeing Jacob’s call was that there was an emergency at work, but then he remembered their meeting the previous night.If that was why Jacob was calling him in the morning, his plan to patch things up with his wife must have failed. Unless he was so happy with the outcome and couldn’t wait to share the good news.Shifting away from the woman lying next to him, he received the call. “Morning,” he greeted, his voice sleepy and raspy. “What’s the news?”Jacob didn’t bother with greetings, he just went straight to the point. “She doesn’t want my money.”Jason scratched his morning stubble. “Well, that’s a tough one. If gifts or money don’t work, then you should aim for the heart. If you’ve hurt her feelings, trying to use money to get forgiveness might make it worse.”“You think?” Jacob said grouchily. “And you didn’t think to say that last night?”“Well, I mean money sure helps, but you ne
The flowers were so many, that by the time the couple finished cleaning them up, it was already midnight.Isabelle made a comment about how they were so much more than she had initially thought, but she didn’t ask how much they had cost again. Which was good, he thought. She would probably have an aneurysm if she knew.Once they were all packed into bags, he made a call to Kevin to bring a couple of his subordinates to come and get them. It would take a few men to carry them all out of the apartment within the shortest time possible.By the time they arrived, Isabelle had gone to the bathroom to take a shower. When she had gotten back from work, she wouldn’t have guessed that she would spend the evening cleaning up flowers. She wondered whether they had been delivered with a lorry or something.After taking a shower, she walked back to the kitchen to find food. It was very late, but she was yet to have dinner, and all the flower-gathering activity had left her feeling famished.She wa
When Jacob got home that evening, he was determined to solve the issue between him and Isabelle once and for all. She retreated to her room early in the night, and when he went to see her, he found that she was drawing some designs.“Can we talk?” he asked, standing beside her desk.“I don’t have time right now,” she replied, indicating her paper. “I’ve got work to do.”“Okay,” he said, knowing she wasn’t going to like it if he interrupted her work. “We’ll talk when you are done.”“I have a lot of work,” she let him know. “I might not finish until very late.”“I’ll still wait,” he told her. He didn’t want this matter to go on for much longer. By the end of tonight, he wanted it all to be behind them.She gave him a curious look, but didn’t object further. When he settled on her bed with his back against her headboard, she frowned. “You can wait in the living room,” she suggested.“I’m good here,” he told her.She nibbled on her lip, and while the action was innocent enough, the though
The next morning, Jacob found that the red marks made by the scratches were still visible and prominent on his face. He had thought that they would have gotten better overnight, but all it would take was one look and someone would notice them.Since they were on the side of his face, it wasn’t even possible to hide them with a cap, so he had to go to work that way. It made him even more pissed off at Jason, who was about to have it that morning.Of course, it didn’t help that he had a meeting that morning. The moment he walked into the conference room, everybody noticed the scratches. People threw him curious looks and whispered among themselves, but he pretended he wasn’t aware of the attention and sat down in his seat, ready to kick things off.Everything would have gone his way if Jason, who was sitting to his left, hadn’t leaned in with a concerned frown on his face and asked, “What happened to your face?”The entire conference room went silent as everybody wanted to hear his answ
When Isabelle got home that evening, she found Jacob in the kitchen, cooking dinner. She hadn’t known that he could cook, so she was surprised to find him busy minding the pots as if he knew exactly what he was doing.“I didn’t know you could cook,” she said, making her way to the refrigerator. Opening it, she took out a bottle of water and uncapped it.Jacob looked at her and gave her a small smile. Small or not, it was enough to cause a riot of butterflies in her stomach. But just as quickly as they had appeared, they disappeared. The memory of last night reared its ugly head, and the giddy feeling was replaced by sadness.“I used to help my mother when cooking,” he replied, opening one pot and stirring whatever was cooking. From her spot, she caught the mouthwatering smell of steak. Her stomach growled in response, and he chuckled. “It’s almost ready. Busy day?”She nodded. “Yeah,” she replied, and then hooked her thumb towards the bedrooms. “I’ll go clean up and join you.”Maybe h
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