Rachael and William both waited in anticipation of the dark secrets Isabelle was about to reveal. She and Rachael had goals that intertwined with each other. But then, a thought popped up in Rachael’s head- can William be trusted
She glanced warily at him and decided it was best to exclude him from the conversation. His main purpose was to examine Isabelle’s well-being which he had. He was of no use to her anymore.
She glanced at him and asked, “William, don’t you have an appointment with a patient or something?”
The smart William was able to rapidly detect that his service wasn’t needed any longer so he took her question as a cue to leave.”You’re right, I should leave now”
Rachael and Isabelle had their gaze on him till he was completely out of sight and then faced each other to resume the order for the main business.
“Now, Isabelle”Rachael was the first to speak. “I’m listening”
“Rachael I’m telling you this because you’re the only one who can help me and if it leaks out it would give your boss leverage to succeed while destroying my life and the man I care deeply about”Isabelle explained with hesitation in her voice.
“I see where you’re going, Isabelle” Rachael uttered with all levels of seriousness. “If I wasn’t willing to work with you, I wouldn’t have saved your life neither would I have approached you at the very beginning”
“I know for certain that you have good intentions but ….”
“But what, Isabelle?” Rachael interrupted her. “For how long do you want to keep such a dark secret, is it until it ruins you?… Spill it out”
Isabelle inhaled deeply, and with much conviction, decided to speak up.”I had an affair with Max, my fiance’s cousin”
Everything felt like the hands of time had come to a halt. Rachael was stunned at the sudden revelation and couldn’t speak for a while as she tried to process the bombshell that was dropped- Isabelle had slept with her fiance’s cousin. An ultimate weapon that the enemy wouldn’t hesitate to use if they got a hold of it.
After a moment of silence from the shock, Rachael finally found her voice, “Wait. It couldn’t be the time I had saved you, right?”
“No, it wasn’t” Isabelle shook her head in denial before chipping in. “It was way before then. Our intimate affair then, was what he had used in making her go the the cafe to him”
“Darn..”Rachael cursed as she banged her hand on the table. “He blackmailed you”
“Yes, Rachael” Isabelle affirmed it as tears welled up in her eyes. A guilty feeling gradually rose in their heart as she reminisced on those painful moments. “He also said he had a video of her intimacy”
“What!!!. That’s outrageous”Rachael yelled out as anger clouded her thoughts. She hated it when her fellow women were kept at the receiving end of their problems. “We need to find a way to get that video, if Damien gets hold of it, he will use it to his advantage”
“But, how” Isabelle asked with a puzzled tone in her voice. “He won’t let it go just like that”
“Of course, he won’t.. he’s not that dumb”Rachael uttered cultly in annoyance at the meaningless questions coming from Isabelle. “Does your fiance, Liam know about it?”
“No, he doesn’t” Isabelle denied as she stared blankly at a space. “He wouldn’t take it, not in this world. It is a terrible insult to his ego”
“You’re right. Even Damien’s pride is a tiny bit close to his”Rachael acknowledged with a sarcastic smile on her lips.
They were both deep in thought as they racked their brains for a solution, suddenly a thought popped up in Rachael’s head.”Isabelle, we have two options”
Isabelle sat up and gazed intently at her but what she said next through in a state of confusion. “It’s either you seduce him into giving you the video or you tell Liam the truth… Either of those”
“What?????” Isabelle exclaimed with surprise. “Those two suggestions are out of it. I’m not ready to have anything to do with Max… I also can’t bring myself to tell him the truth”
“Then, you’ll have to wait till the video is released to the public and then find a way to pull it down, but that chance is a bit slim. It won’t work. So you will have to choose from the first two options” Rachael explained with a serious tone in her voice.
“But…”
“There are no other options, Isabelle”Rachael cut in shortly.”it’s either you decide or you get ready to face the consequences”
“Alright, when I decide, I’ll get back to you”Isabelle suggested as she stood up to leave. It was late, late enough for him to suspect her. Her thoughts raced at the two options she was given. Now, she was going to go upstairs and take a shower then go to sleep. If only she knew that, what she was expected.
As Isabelle sauntered into the penthouse, she was welcomed by an unexpected gaze of a woman sitting in the living room- it was Liam’s mother. The woman who had left without informing anyone was now back for her usual charade.
“Hmph…..”Rose, Liam’s mother scoffed at the sight of Isabelle walking into the house. “Aren’t you ashamed of staining my son’s reputation?”
“Good evening ma’am” Isabelle greeted instead and tried to ignore her but the woman wasn’t buying it.
“I told you that a gold digger like you wasn’t going to last in the circles of the rich”Rose stated with a disdainful tone in her voice. “Now you had the guts to live in this house when you should have walked out of here in shame”
Those words struck a cord in Isabelle’s heart as tears welled up in her eyes. She felt the woman was somewhat right. She should just agree to end the contract and go away from his life. She had caused him nothing but pain and trouble. She should have listened to Rachael who had warned her to avoid getting entangled in webs of deceit and manipulation.