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

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

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

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

As Isabelle walked past him and made her way to the door, Jacob shut his eyes briefly and cursed. Had he been too quick to make the accusation?Her reaction, her words, her tone… She didn’t sound like a guilty person who had been caught. More like she had been wronged. Like she hadn’t expected him to make such accusations against her.Where was she going to get the ring back? Had she really not known it was not the one he had given her? Had someone lied to her?He left the kitchen and fetched his coat. He then left the apartment and hurried after her, hoping she hadn’t gone too far. It was already dark outside.He caught sight of her outside their community, and he followed her as she made her way towards the city centre. She walked briskly, and he didn’t have to see her face to know that she was fuming.He had really angered her, hadn’t he?Had he really wrongfully accused her? It would explain her anger. Would she forgive him?Isabelle kept walking for a long while, and Jacob starte