One month later
At the party held by the Harris family, many upper-class people from Ithaca town came.
“James, I’m sorry, truly sorry!” Emily interrupted him, her emotions getting somewhat agitated.
“I know the necklace you gave me was very important. I originally left it in a drawer, and I don’t know why it ended up around Isabella’s neck. I asked her for it, but she said the necklace was hers… I also know that the bracelet your mother gave me is a family heirloom, and I kept it carefully locked in the cabinet. But somehow, it ended up in Isabella’s room, and I found it when it was already broken!”
As she finished, she was left choking up, her eyes teary and pitiful.
James, however, looked utterly bewildered. “Are you saying that Isabella broke my mother’s bracelet and stole the necklace I gave you?”
“I…” Emily choked up and couldn’t speak.
In fact, she didn’t say anything; James came to these conclusions on his own.
“I’m going to ask her to clarify this.” He walked towards Isabella with a grim expression on his face.
Isabella was listening to Olivia gossip when James and Emily suddenly appeared in front of her.
He wore a sullen expression, as if someone owed him millions of dollars. Emily was standing behind him, her eyes red, resembling an innocent white rabbit.
“Is there something you want?” Isabella set aside her juice, cast a casual glance at them, and asked.
James initially wanted to give her a chance to explain. However, when he saw the diamond necklace around her neck, he suddenly became furious.
In his impression, she was a simple and lovely girl. Had he misjudged her, or did their breakup cause such a dramatic change in her personality, to the point that she would commit such disgraceful acts?
“Isabella, I don’t want to pursue the matter of the bracelet. I hope you return the necklace I gave to Emily.” He said, his face stern and his voice colder and more impatient than ever.
She looked at him calmly, blinked her eyes, and replied in a bewildered tone, “What necklace are you talking about? You mean the necklace my sister gave me?”
“Taking back something you’ve given away, is the Brown family really in such a dire situation? It’s ridiculous!” Olivia scoffed beside them.
James was momentarily taken aback and instinctively turned to look at Emily.
She bit her thin lips, her eyes were red, and tears were brimming. “James, the necklace is the one I gave to Isabella. Please, don’t force her.”
The sight of Emily, in James’s eyes, was an act of supplication, an attempt to make peace.
He reached out and hugged her, and his eyes were full of tenderness.
However, when he turned to look at Isabella again, his gaze was icy. “Isabella, I admit that I wronged you. I liked you once, but liking isn’t the same as love. It was only when I got together with Emily that I truly understood what passionate love is. You can hate me, but please don’t hurt her. The Harris family has always had good manners, so I hope you respect others and also maintain your own dignity.”
Isabella furrowed her delicate eyebrows and remained silent. She had nothing to say to this man she had once thought of entrusting her life to.
Olivia, on the other hand, was furious. She had seen shameless people but never such an outrageously shameless one.
“James, how do you manage to say such shameless words with such a righteous air!” Olivia sneered.
James, however, didn’t pay any attention to Olivia. He had always looked down on Isabella’s friend, considering her to be beneath his standards.
He kept his gaze fixed on the diamond necklace around her neck, and he extended his hand, holding it out in front of her. “Isabella, I’m asking you to return the necklace to Emily. If you don’t take it off willingly, I’ll have to take it off for you.”
She stood up from her seat, and though she was a head shorter than James, she held her chin high with a proud posture that matched her spirit. “The necklace is mine, so why should I take it off for you? James, you spoke very well just now, and I’ll return those words to you now. I hope you respect others, and I also request that you maintain your dignity.”
He furrowed his brow, looking at her as if she were unyielding. Annoyed, he reached out and pulled the diamond necklace from Isabella’s neck.
“Hey!” Olivia wanted to stop him, but it was too late.
“James, you have no class if you lay hands on a girl! This necklace is the one Isabella’s mother left for her. Can you afford to compensate if you damage it?” Olivia was so angry that she rolled up her sleeves; she had long wanted to beat up James, the scumbag.
James held the necklace in his hand, only to realize he had made a mistake. As a man, he was not sensitive to jewelry, and the designs were similar. He naturally assumed they were the same necklace.
However, the fact was that the necklace he held was not the one he had given to Emily, as this one had an engraving.
“Isabella…” James looked at her apologetically.
“You’ve gone too far!” Isabella said, her eyes misty with disappointment, before turning and running outside.
“Wait, Isabella!” James was almost instinctively about to follow her, but he suddenly found Emily’s fingers tightly clutching his suit sleeve.
She ran out of the villa and found that it was raining outside.
Standing alone in the drizzling rain, an inexplicable sense of desolation welled up from the depths of her heart.
The weather was awful, her mood was terrible, and everything was just terrible.
She walked aimlessly without a purpose. She passed through a quiet alley and entered a bustling street.
The street was bustling with traffic, and she stood on the roadside waiting for the signal.
Her phone, which she held in her hand, suddenly rang, and she answered it, putting it to her ear.
On the other end of the phone was Olivia’s voice, saying, “I knew Emily couldn’t have just given you the necklace for no reason; she must have had ulterior motives. Fortunately, you’re smart; otherwise, we wouldn’t even know how you died.”
How you died? Wrongfully accused, that’s how! She thought with a cold smirk.
Emily had never been kind to her; how could she generously give her a necklace worth hundreds of thousands of dollars? It was unusual, and she had to be cautious.
Though Isabella hadn’t directly exposed Emily today, anyone present with half a brain should have figured out the situation.
“What’s going on over there?” Isabella asked. Although she had run out on her own, she had left Olivia at the Harris family’s residence.
“What can happen? James questioned me like he should, and Emily shed a few crocodile tears. Then, they embraced each other again,” Olivia said with a disdainful tone.
“Men lose their reason when they see a beautiful woman. James was blinded by her beauty, but David is no fool. After making such a scene in front of the guests today, he lost face, and now that anger will be directed at Emily and her mother. They won’t have it easy.”
She hung up the phone, and the traffic signal in front of her had turned from red to green. But she was still standing there, her clear eyes somewhat vacant.
Her intelligence and resourcefulness had allowed her to avoid Emily’s scheming, but had she truly won?
Perhaps, from the very beginning, she was destined to be a loser.
“James…” she mused, savoring the name with a touch of mockery.
At this moment, on the second floor of a cafe across the street, a man’s gaze casually fell on the window, pausing on the delicate figure outside.
She stood in the drizzling rain, her hair disheveled by the wind. The orange streetlight shone down from above, casting a long shadow behind her, full of a taste of loneliness and desolation. It was inexplicably heart-wrenching.
“What are you looking at?” Sitting across from him, Caleb Mitchell extended his hand and knocked on the table in front of Andrew, then leaned forward to look out the window. The street outside was bustling, but Caleb couldn’t find the focus of Andrew’s gaze.
“I was talking to you; are you even listening?” Caleb withdrew his gaze, sounding a bit impatient.
Andrew’s deep and calm gaze scanned over him, and he picked up the white porcelain coffee cup in front of him. After taking a sip, he said, “I’m not interested in the Utica New Town case.”