“Bring him to the car.”
Isabella’s hand remained on the waitress’s shoulder, squeezing it in shock. After breaking free of her grip, the waitress let out a startled cry and dashed behind the counter.
“What’s wrong? Why don’t you look at me?”
From behind her, she heard a gentle voice. Isabella didn’t look back, but she could imagine how Jasper appeared at the time. He’d be dressed sharply, with his tie undone and the first button of his shirt undone. He’d be looking at her with his hands in his pockets and a smile on his face.
Isabella was struggling to keep her cool. She turned around and smiled, realizing that her assumptions had been correct.
“Jasper,” she greeted him.
“All right, let’s go back home.”
Jasper attempted to take Isabella’s hand, and she dodged. He didn’t feel awkward and simply raised his hand to his assistant, who was following him, and said, “Take him to the hospital. I’ll drive back home myself .”
“I’ll go with you,” Isabella said as she followed the assistant out the door. After she got into the assistant’s car, Jasper yanked her down and said, “No. You’re coming home with me.”
Isabella sat in the passenger seat, struggling a few times before getting a headache. She gradually felt dizzy and then lost consciousness.
In his Bugatti, Jasper focused on driving while Isabella scratched him like crazy. She ripped open his shirt and scratched a few red marks on his muscular chest. She then began to babble incoherently.
“Why did you eat all my cookies? You son of a biscuit!”
“Ah! Give me back my head!”
“Where’s my head? Where the hell is my head?”
Jasper felt resigned as Isabella finally let go of him and began to cry loudly. She appeared to be going through a difficult time. Her big beautiful brown eyes were filled with tears as she looked up, and her cheeks had turned rose-colored as she drank too much whisky. After a brief hesitation, she sniffled and wiped her nose on Jasper’s suit.
“Isabella! Stop it!” Jasper couldn’t hold back his rage anymore. But before he blew off steam, she leaned back in her seat and fell asleep.
An hour later, he drove back to his mansion. A maid opened the door for him as soon as he stopped his car.
Jasper slammed the door open. His hair was slightly unkempt, and his shirt was on the verge of falling off. As he stepped out of the car, he quickly removed his suit jacket and tossed it to the ground.
Nobody had any idea what was going on. Sarah, the maid, bent down to pick up the jacket.
Jasper turned back, waved his hand and said, “Never mind. Just throw it away.”
After throwing away the jacket, the maid returned and saw Jasper carrying Isabella out of the car.
Jasper’s hurried steps came to a halt as he stepped onto the second floor and felt a warm breath slowly creep down his spine.
Isabella swayed on his shoulder and said, “I’m so drunk! Why is the world spinning around?” She said as she wrapped her arms around him.
Her breath sprayed into his ear, making his heart begin the race, and his body began to heat up. After sending Isabella back to her room to relax, Jasper took a cold shower in the bathroom.
The little girl he rescued from the island had grown into a mature woman all these years. He sensed that it was time to keep his distance from her. But just as he was thinking this, here came another trouble.
He had just exited the bathroom when Lisa, a maid, approached him and said, “I finished bathing Isabella, but she refused to take the antidote. I’m at a loss for what to do because she keeps crying and fussing. Why don’t you go see her, Mr. Thomas?”
“Okay, I will check on her.”
Jasper then went to Isabella’s room. The moment he opened the door, he saw Isabella, who was dressed in her nightgown and lying on the bed. After shutting the door, Jasper walked toward Isabella and helped her tidy her hair.
At the time, Isabella felt that the alcohol burned through her like a flame. She felt like she was dreaming and thought she had soft ice on her brow. She instinctively grabbed it and tried to place it in the warmest part of her body.
“It’s scorching.” She murmured sadly.
Jasper was stunned as Isabella grabbed his hand and reached for her breast. Her breasts heaved up and down with her jumbled breathing, and she wore a thin champagne-colored silk nightgown.
He then withdrew his hand with difficulty. Suddenly, he thought of what she said to her at Anna’s wedding as he broke her grip–“I’m a grown-up”.
Isabella, who had lost her “ice”, whimpered like a child robbed of a beloved toy. She said, “You are not my father! I don’t have a father! Why did you choose to adopt me? I don’t want to be your adopted daughter, and I don’t want you to be my father…”
Isabella’s tears streamed down her cheeks as she spoke, and her tears left stains on the beige sheets.
As he watched this, Jasper became flustered. He regretted that he had come to check on Isabella. So, he stood up and attempted to get out of the room as soon as possible. However, he’d just taken a step when she grabbed his hand and dragged him to the edge of the bed.
Her soft brown hair brushed against his shoulder the next second. Her warm, pink lips came up to his, along with the faint odor of alcohol.
It felt familiar to him. What surprised him the most was that he did not feel uncomfortable as Isabella touched him. He felt an unusual emotion that he had never felt before surging in his heart at that time.
“Stop, Isabella!” Jasper had to force himself to calm down and stop her. He ducked away, and her lips brushed against his ear.
Unwilling to let him go, Isabella hugged him tightly and rested her head on his shoulder. She took off half of his robe, and she felt their hearts beat separately through the thin clothes.
For a brief moment, Jasper’s seemingly impenetrable defenses were shaken. But, it was only for a brief moment.
Suddenly, there was the sound of a glass breaking outside the door. Jasper and Isabella both looked up and saw Lisa standing in the room’s doorway with an empty tray looking at them in astonishment.
The sound of the broken glass saved Jasper from his impending mental breakdown. Isabella also appeared to have come back to her senses a bit unexpectedly. She squinted unhappily toward the doorway and saw Lisa’s shocked expression. She muttered softly as her eyelids became heavy, “I’m thirsty. Give me some water.”
Jasper then placed Isabella on the bed. He returned his gaze to Lisa, and he appeared to be upset. “Please have Sarah bring another glass of water.”
Lisa shuddered nervously and then dashed away.
Jasper eventually left the room as well. His phone rang a few times before he hung up. Later, his assistant had to text him to remind him: Sir, the Manhattan office wants to have a video conference with you about project financing. They’ve been waiting for you for quite some time.
Exhausted, Jasper sat in his office chair in the study. He started the video conference after a few sips of coffee. However, he abruptly suspended and postponed the meeting halfway through.
After that, he lit a cigarette in the dark. The strong odor of smoke permeated the air, and the smoke obscured his vision.
***
Isabella was hungover the next day and slept until noon. Sarah brought her lunch at noon. And Isabella ate a few bites absentmindedly before falling asleep again.
She had a hazy recollection of what happened the night before, and those disconnected memories continued to irritate her nerves. So, before Jasper returned to her room, she resolved to quietly sneak back to Anna’s house.
Jasper later offered to take Isabella back to Manhattan several times, but she declined each time. And Anna dealt with him for her the whole time.
During the same period of time, Andrew took care of Mona discreetly every day. Knowing how worried he was, Anna let her take early maternity leave. As a result, Anna had to take over Mona’s job when she left the company.
And Anna was taking her lunch break to negotiate an order when Andrew called to tell her that Mona had been in an accident.
After rushing to the hospital, Anna approached Andrew, who was crouching on the floor along the long corridor and facing the hospital’s operating room doors with heavy steps. His hands were folded across his brow, and his eyes were tightly shut. He clenched his teeth, and his curved spine made him look fatigued.
“Andrew? Are you alright?” Anna asked with concern.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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