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

Isabella sat up immediately, her face wearing a frown as she tried to find put one and one together in her head. After a minute filled with memories about bank visits, she finally said, "It was about two months after I got married to Gabriel." Charles blinked. "Why do you ask?"

His huge hands started to run through her butt cheeks as he asked, "Did you check for any document that could have recorded the debt your father owed?"

"No."

"Wait..." His green eyes sharply pierced hers. "You didn't even know how much your father was owing?" Isabella shook her head. "Why did you agree to marry Gabriel in exchange then?"

"I..."

"What amount could it have been that you allowed yourself to be bargained off that way?" 

"I don't-"

"Bella..." The anger in his eyes got replaced with softness and he held the sides of her face gently. "Why did you let them use you that way? Uh? Why did you give in to them?"

"He was my father. I had to help him," Isabella uttered with distress in her tone. 

While she tried to keep the distress from ruining her face, she wondered why Charles was bringing up that topic. She was certain he also wanted the issue to be a thing of the past.

"Your father?" Charles scoffed and she recognized the look on his face as the same one he had when he informed her of her father's death. "Your father was nothing but a fool."

"Charles!" Isabella jumped off him in anger. 

Yes, her father had his faults, but did he have to call him that kind of name?

Swiftly, Charles reached for her hands and said, "Listen to me carefully, Isabella. Your father is not the person who owed the debt. He was used."

"What?" She frowned and fully faced Charles who had now gotten up and was looking down at her with a gentle look.

"It is Ben Idoh that owed the debt your father mentioned."

"B-ben... Uncle Ben?" Her lips quivered as she spoke. Eyes feeling itchy, Isabella started to feel lightheaded. "Charles..." He held her by the shoulders. " Are you sure? A-Are you sure about this?"

"Would I lie to you, love? I just found out myself. Ben used your father."

"What?"

"Your father had a secret Ben Idoh used against him. That secret is the reason your father wasn't able to fight the idea of you getting married to Manifold's son."

"B-but-" Amid the thudding in her heart, her brain tried to figure things out. But the sudden information was too much. It hit her in a way that made her feel weak so much that she had to hold on to his arms for support.

"Isabella? Look at me." She did as he said but almost absentmindedly. "I know this is hard to hear but there is more and you need to hear them."

"What?"

 What else could it be? Some grand secret her late mother used to have? Isabella sarcastically wondered within her tired mind.

"Your father... He didn't die of natural causes." Isabella's eyes widened. " He was drugged to death."

"Oh Lord!" she cried, her legs so close to failing her. But she still held on to Charles.

"And, I think the person that killed him is Ben Idoh."