The Billionaire's Pretend Wife (Isabella)

Chapter 90 Ninety

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 dipped. “I guess your sister kept it to herself, huh?”

At the mention of Naomi, Isabelle jerked her arm from his grip forcefully and stepped away from him,

until her shoulder bumped into the side of the elevator. “Look, whatever is going on between you and

her…I won’t come between. I’m leaving. Let’s process the divorce papers as soon as possible and I’ll

be out of your lives.”

That headache that had started at the lobby made a comeback. What the fuck was she talking about?

She had him so twisted he couldn’t think straight.

“What are you talking about?” he demanded.

“She sent me a picture,” she replied.

“What picture?”

“Of you two.”

“We two? Me and…me and your sister?” He pressed his fingertips to his temple and took a deep

breath. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. What exactly are you accusing me of, Isabelle? I’ve

never taken a picture with that woman.”

“Well, you were asleep when she took it, so you wouldn’t know,” she replied, her tone scathing.

As he stared back into her angry eyes–the fear and nerves were all gone–the pieces slid into place.

Naomi had taken a picture of him while he was sleeping. Naomi, who had been seen slipping in and

out of his hospital room when they checked the security footage while looking for the diamond ring

thief.

Was that when…

His eyes narrowed. “What kind of picture was that?” Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

Isabelle huffed and then reached into her bag. She retrieved her phone, unlocked the screen, tapped a

few times, and shoved the screen in his face. “This picture.”

Jacob frowned as he took it in. And then he read the message below it. Well, now Isabelle’s anger

made sense.

And he now knew for certain that Naomi was the thief who made away with the ring. Since there

weren't any cameras inside his ward, there hadn’t been proof that she was the one who had taken the

ring.

So he had instructed Kevin to monitor her and report if the ring showed up on the market. They never

called to ask about her appearance in his hospital room–they wanted her to believe she had gotten

away with it. That way, she wouldn’t be cautious while getting rid of the ring.

“Is that where you’ve been with her, all this time? I came by the apartment. Were you at a hotel with

her?”

“What do you mean came by the apartment?”

“I moved out.”

“What?” Jason hadn’t mentioned that. While reporting about her whereabouts over the weekend, he

had told him that Isabelle had spent the two days at their apartment and didn’t go anywhere.

“Why does it matter now? You know I lied, and you’ve decided to be with her. Let’s not complicate this

any further.”

The doors opened into the lobby of the executive floor. He walked out, but she remained inside the

elevator.

“Jacob, I told you–”

Sighing, he reached for her hand and pulled her out. The secretary rose to greet him as he passed,

and Isabelle gawked at her as they went.

“Jacob, I don’t understand–”

He stopped at his office door, swiped his key card, and pushed it open. Isabelle barely caught the sign

reading ‘Logan Larson, CEO’ on the door.

Jacob pulled her into the room, closed the door, and then pushed her against the wood. Her wide

confused eyes stared back at him. “Jacob, what–”

He swooped down and kissed her, cutting off her words. Her gasp got lost between their lips, and he

managed to get two kisses in before she pushed him away, and then slithered her body beneath his

arm and escaped to the other side of the room.

He turned to find her wiping furiously at her lips, as if his kiss had sullied her.

“What do you want from me, Jacob?” she demanded, her brown eyes flashing with anger. She looked

around the office. “And why are we here? Do you know Logan Larson?”

He gently rubbed the heel of his hand on his chest where she had pushed him. He might be out of the

hospital and moving around, but there were still a few sore areas in his body. “First you tell me, what is

this I hear about you leaving with that college senior of yours? I get into a coma for two weeks and you

are already cosying up to another man?”

Her brow puckered. “Coma?”

“Yes, Isabelle. I got into an accident that night while I rushed to see you when my assistant told me you

got back to our apartment. I left the hospital this morning.”

Her frown deepened, and then she shook her head. She reached out to support herself on the back of

the sofa nearest to her. “Jacob, I…I don’t…what are you saying?”

Her anger seemed to have seeped out of her, and she suddenly appeared uncharacteristically pale.

He stepped closer to her, and his voice softening, said, “I looked all over for you that day. I ran a red

light and got hit. My head got pretty banged up and I was unconscious for two weeks. First, please, can

you forget about that photo from your sister? She sneaked into my hospital room and took it, making it

seem like we were in a hotel. I can show you the surveillance footage if you want. I had your ring in the

room, and she took it.”

Isabelle supported herself on the sofa as she moved around it and took a seat. Her head was

swimming. Jacob was in an accident? And then a coma? And Naomi had lied? And…and they were

currently sitting in Logan Larson’s office? She shut her eyes and took a couple of deep breaths. She

couldn’t keep up.

When she opened her eyes, Jacob was standing in front of her, a concerned expression on his face.

“Isabelle, are you okay? You look sick.”

After everything that had happened, why was he so concerned about her? She had assumed he had

been calling her that day because he was angry. She never would have thought he looked for her. But

why? Naomi told him what she did. “I don’t understand,” she whispered. “She told you what I did.”

“And I chose to not believe her and hear it straight from you.”

Oh, so that was it. He still had faith in her. Somehow, he believed that she wasn’t capable of deceiving

him like that. Just when she thought she couldn’t hurt him anymore. “She was telling the truth,” she told

him.

“You don’t even know what she told me,” he countered.

She sighed. “I did marry you in her place so that I could get money to pay for Ruth’s medical bill.”

“From me?” he asked, and she looked up at him.

“What? No. She pretended to be pregnant by another man, so her parents asked me to marry you in

her stead. They promised to pay Ruth’s bill in return. I was desperate to get that money, so I agreed.”

“And they never paid, did they?”

“No,” she replied in a small voice, “they didn’t.”

“See? That’s not what your sister told me.”

“What do you mean?”

“She spun a tale about how you demanded to marry me so that you could get money from me to pay

for Ruth’s treatment.”

She scoffed. She should have known Naomi would twist the story to paint herself in a good light and

Isabelle in a bad one. “Rather, she refused to marry you because of the reputation that precedes you.

Her mother had been begging Francis to cancel the marriage agreement for years to save her from a…

a…you know.”

His lips turned up slightly. “From a worthless husband.”

She nodded.

“And why didn’t Francis cancel the agreement?” Jacob asked.

“Cancel and anger the Garcias?”

“You do know that my family is a hundred times worth more than yours, right? A marriage with the

Cruzes doesn’t benefit us in any way. We would have happily cancelled the agreement had the Cruzes

breathed a word of wanting to do so.”