Chapter 45

To quell her anxieties, Isabel slowly reached out and put her arms around Blake's waist. She could see his smile in the rearview mirror; he was overjoyed.

They returned to the Galvez family home. Isabel went to her room and called Baxter, but the call wasn't connected. Feeling discouraged, she thought, "Mr. Harper is impossible to track down. Every time I try to find him, I can't, and I can't even reach him by phone. I can only talk to him if he contacts me. Well, forget it. I'll ask him about my relationship with Blake when I have the chance."

Just as she was about to hang up, her phone rang. It was an unknown number.

"Isabel, it's me," Rosy's voice rang out. Isabel had blocked her number, so Rosy was using a different one.

"What's up?" Isabel asked coldly.

"Are you free tomorrow? Come by," Rosy said.

"No, I'm not," Isabel replied directly.

Rosy was stunned by Isabel's refusal. She had expected Isabel to be overjoyed. After a few seconds, she said, forcing a smile, "Isabel, I know you don't have classes tomorrow. Just come over, okay? We haven't seen you for a long time, and we miss you so much."

Isabel scoffed, wondering how Rosy could utter such hypocritical words. However, curious about the family's activities, she agreed, "Okay, I'll be there tomorrow morning."

After hanging up, Isabel went out. Few people were home. Hannah had prepared a meal; Jack and Roy were working overtime. "Isabel, Blake, dig in," Hannah said, placing plates of delicious-looking food before them.

"Thank you, Mom," Isabel smiled.

"Thank you, Mrs. Galvez," Blake smiled, feeling that living with the Galvez family was a daily blessing.

The next day, Isabel was about to leave for the Clyde family villa. Blake stopped her. "Isabel, where are you going? I'll take you."

"The Clyde family's villa," she said concisely.

"What?" he exclaimed, surprised. "Do you miss your adoptive parents? Are you going back to visit them?"

"No. I'm going to see what tricks they're playing," Isabel said sternly.

Blake sensed something was amiss. "If I'm correct… you hate them, right?"

"Yes," she nodded.

He said, "I heard things haven't been going their way lately. They were cheated out of hundreds of millions of dollars in business and got involved with some underworld figures. Their feud with the Swanson family is all over the news."

"You're quite well-informed," Isabel glanced at him.

He chuckled sheepishly. "Of course. Nothing escapes my eyes. But Isabel, don't tell me you've got something to do with this…" He had his suspicions, and though Isabel didn't respond, he already had his answer. He was amazed, thinking, My fiancée is something else.

Chapter 45 (continued)

"Actually, Caius isn't cut out for business at all. I'd heard rumors about him back when I was with the Yates family. Oceania Group used to prop the Clydes up, and after the group pulled out this year, the family has never been able to recover," he continued. He was the former CEO of Yates Corporation, after all, and therefore possessed a keener business acumen than most.

"Caius is quite good-for-nothing," Isabel agreed. She knew that even with Oceania Group's backing, the Clydes wouldn't have achieved anything.

After a while, they arrived at the Clyde family villa. The electric bike was slow. Damian Chandler, the servant at the gate, saw Isabel and happily opened the door. "Miss Clyde, you're back."

"Hi, Damian," Isabel smiled.

"It's been a long time. I'm so glad to see you," Damian sighed.

"How have you been, Damian?" she asked.

"Great. Mr. and Mrs. Clyde are expecting you, Miss Clyde. Come on in," Damian said.

As he watched Isabel enter, he sighed again, thinking, Compared to Miss Isabel, Miss Amelia is so rude. Miss Amelia treats servants like me as inferiors and constantly humiliates us. But Miss Isabel is different. She's been here for years and has always been polite and respectful to us. How I wish Miss Isabel was part of the family.

Amelia, upstairs admiring her jewelry, heard the servant's report that Isabel had arrived and immediately perked up. "How did she get here?" she asked.

The servant replied, "She came by electric bike."

Amelia gave a smug smile, thinking, Sure enough, Isabel is so poor. She can't even afford a taxi. I'm going to embarrass her now!

Isabel entered the living room and saw the entire family besides Lucian and Maxwell. Lucian was dejected after his business failures, while Maxwell was still hospitalized after his arm was severed. Seeing Isabel, Rosy enthusiastically stepped forward and took her hand. "Isabel, you're finally back. I hope you haven't lost any weight."

"Isabel, have the Galvezs treated you nicely? If not, do tell us," Caius said hypocritically.

Isabel glanced at him indifferently. "Didn't you tell me not to pester you? Why do you want me back today?"

Caius didn't respond. Usually, he would have been angry, but today, they needed something from her, so he had to endure it. Ethan said, "Isabel, Mom and Dad miss you and want to talk to you."

Roger chimed in, "Isabel, you lived with us for eighteen years, no matter what. We care about you."

Lucas echoed, "Indeed. Isabel, we all miss you very much and worry that you're suffering living with the Galvezs."

Isabel found them all hypocritical. "I'm leaving if there's nothing else," she said.

"Isabel, where are you going!" Amelia came downstairs, adorned in jewelry, intending to make Isabel feel inferior.

To stop Isabel from leaving, Rosy hurried forward. "Sit down, Isabel. We want a word with you. It's true that we missed you, and another reason I called you back is that we have something to discuss with you."

"What?" Isabel said, thinking, Finally, I knew you wanted something.

Rosy said, "We know you must have been suffering living at the Galvez family's home, so we want you to have 150 thousand dollars. You can use the money to buy something for yourself and them. How about that?"

Isabel immediately knew they had an ulterior motive, though 150 thousand dollars wasn't much.

She asked, "Mrs. Clyde, there's no free lunch. What do you want from me?"

Chapter 15 (Note: This appears to be a misnumbered chapter. It should likely be a continuation of Chapter 45.)

Rosy smiled awkwardly. "Isabel, we do have a request. Take the money and walk away so that Amelia can be with Blake again, okay?"

Isabel thought, Blake? Well, well. They're so shameless. They actually want to steal Blake now!