Blackmailing His Runaway Bride by Dance-is-me (carter reed .txt) 📗

Forty Three

“You what now?” Caleb’s face wore the utmost surprise. Isabella gave a small smile and that was followed by a little shrug that made light of the fact that she just told him that she was married.  “Are you serious? Is that why you...?” Caleb's eyes roamed her transformed body and he looked more surprised.  

“I got married yesterday.” 

Caleb's gaze darted to her left hand and there it was, the ring that bound her to Charles.

 Despite the thrill within her, Isabella found the ring a strange sight 

She never wore such a binding ornament while she was with Gabriel.

And thank goodness she did not. If she did, Isabella was certain she would have felt suffocated just by looking at it. 

Isabella wondered when Charles got the time to pick the ring as she studied the simple art of the jewelry.

Then, Caleb asked, “How come I wasn’t invited?” 

His question hit Isabella and she instantly felt bad.

 She had been too occupied with readying herself for the wedding, she totally forgot she was supposed to have someone from her side to witness the union. 

It just didn’t occur to her at all. 

“I am so sorry, Caleb.” Isabella reached for his hands. “I was too focused on making myself look less crappy. I forgot I was supposed to let someone know about the wedding.” 

Caleb didn't look angry but Isabella kept feeling like she had strongly wronged him.

Smiling softly, he said, “I just wish I could have been there. It would have been nice to see your beautiful smile.” 

“I am so sorry, Caleb.” 

“It’s fine.” He released his hand from her hold and gave the little hair on her forehead a tickle. “I am glad you finally got rid of Gabriel. That man seemed like poison.” 

“He was poison. I never got to thank you.” Isabella instantly changed the topic.

 Gabriel was her past and in the past, he shall dwell. 

“What for?” 

“Everything. For standing by me when the company was going through rough times. For making me feel less worried about my life issues, and for helping me out during the hearing. I just..." Something choked her and Isabella realized she was about to cry. Or maybe it was just her heart that was feeling thankful in an emotional way. 

“Hey…” Caleb made her look into his eyes. “Why are you talking like this? You are my friend and I certainly wouldn’t have enjoyed seeing you suffer alone. So, do me a favour, and quit talking like you are about to die.” 

“You are a good friend, Caleb,” Isabella whispered and he patted her hand assuredly. 

After seconds of silence in which Isabella composed herself, Caleb asked, “What will happen to the hotel?”

 “What do you mean?” Before a frown could deepen her forehead, it occurred to Isabella that she had not been bothered about her company’s issues in a while.

Well, with the battle she had to fight, what time could she have had for the company?

 “Are we going to take a break? Is the next plan to restructure? Are we renovating the place? Do you...?”

“Renovating?” Isabella interrupted Caleb's plenty questions, her voice almost carrying a sarcastic kind of laughter. “With what money?”

“Don't you know?” 

“Know what?” Caleb excused himself and left her question in the air. After a quick trip to a room close by, he walked back into the room with some documents. “Uhh... Caleb, I don’t think I have the strength to go over office files now.” 

“Calm down. I am not trying to bombard you with work.” A paper got singled out from the stack in his hand. “Not when you are supposed to be on your honeymoon. Have this.” 

His statement about the honeymoon got her thinking about how Charles and she spent the night without clothes and she felt her cheeks flush a bit. That was certainly a memory she won’t forget easily. 

Isabella's eyes landed on the piece of paper in her hand. She noticed how figures followed figures but she wasn’t keen on trying to see what it really was about.

So, she looked up at Caleb and asked, “Can you just summarize this?” 

“That shows the amount Mr. Oxford sent for our debt settlement and for funding the business.” Isabella recalled Charles’s deal and she almost laughed. Who could have thought that the stubbornness she possessed back then wouldn’t last long? 

Caleb continued, “We have settled the debts but the amount left for the funding is quite a lot.” 

“Uh?” She brought the paper to her view again.

 “We have a lot left. After paying all necessary taxes, I made sure to pay all of our staff including the ones that got laid off and we still have enough left for a renovation. It is like an overnight miracle, I tell you.”

“But…” Isabella's eyes roamed the paper. “Didn’t he send what we owed with a million dollars on top?”

 “A million? Check that paper well, Isa. That says millions of dollars.”

 “Oh my!” she exclaimed when she finally saw the total. “I never knew…” she said to herself.

 “So, should we begin to renovate?”

“Let’s take a break.”

 “What?” Caleb looked at her as though she had suddenly grown four heads. Isabella almost grinned at his reaction. Surely her statement wasn’t that crazy. 

“I want to take a break. I am finally getting a chance to start things all over and I want to do things one after the other.” He made to talk but she was quick to stop him. “That doesn’t mean I am abandoning the hotel. God no! I have suffered too much to give up now.” 

“So…” 

“Let the hotel be for now.”

 “That’s not a good plan, Isa.” He didn't hide his dislike for her idea. “You can’t just leave that whole company for a long time without doing anything to it. By the time you come around and decide to pick up from where you stopped, things would have diminished faster than farm products.”

 “Really?” 

He gave her shoulder a small squeeze. “Think this through, Isabella. To prevent falling to square one, you have to think this through.”

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