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At the same time, Isabella’s car was smoothly cruising on the road, with Olivia behind the wheel.
Olivia knew about her blind date with Luke, which made her jealous and envious. She slapped the steering wheel in frustration, “What a waste, what a waste! If you don’t want it, just give it to me.”
“I would if I could, but unfortunately, Luke’s ownership doesn’t belong to me,”she replied with a smile.
‘You can still laugh about it? Missing out on the movie king, doesn’t it bother you?’ Olivia asked.
At Olivia’s words, Isabella seemed to seriously ponder for a moment, then pretended to nod, ‘It’s a pity.’
‘Actually, you and Luke are really suitable for each other. Handsome guy and beautiful girl, comparable family background. Why not just marry him?’ Olivia suggested, genuinely thinking that Isabella and Luke looked good together.
‘If I really follow their wishes to marry Luke, that’s me being sold off, happily helping to count the money,’ Isabella self-mockingly laughed.
Olivia looked utterly confused, unable to keep up with the conversation.
She patiently explained, ‘Victoria is typical – no profit, no early riser. She’s so actively pushing for a marriage between Luke and me, it must be for her own gain. Logan oversees construction, and the Mitchell family of the four major conglomerates owns a construction company. They want to manipulate the Miller family through this union, but they’re not foolish. If I guess correctly, Victoria intends to use me.’
“How could she use you? You’re not made of paper,” Olivia still couldn’t grasp the key point.
Isabella slightly turned her head, looking at the scenery outside the car window, which was steadily moving backward. Her clear eyes became diffuse and lost. Olivia didn’t know what she was thinking, but she felt the pervasive sadness emanating from her.
“I had Asher out of wedlock, that’s the biggest scandal. If I really wanted to marry into the Miller family, this matter would have to be buried deep. And this, precisely, has become Victoria’s leverage to threaten me. If I don’t want to ruin my reputation, I can only let her lead me by the nose.”
If Caleb weren’t present, if Logan’s position wasn’t sensitive, she might not have thought of this aspect. Victoria’s scheming was indeed beyond ordinary people’s reach.
After hearing this, Olivia couldn’t help but shiver. Victoria appeared gentle and elegant on the outside, but inside, she was so frightening.
Olivia couldn’t help worrying for Isabella, “What can you do then? Your household registration is still with the Harris family, your dad holding the household registration book. It’s not easy for you to marry whoever you want.”
Isabella shrugged indifferently, “Let it be. I didn’t plan to get married in this lifetime anyway. I have Asher, and that’s enough for me.”
“What about Asher’s father?” Olivia’s words were often straightforward. “You don’t want to marry that jobless vagabond?”
There was a hint of hesitation on Isabella’s face, but she quickly came to terms with it. Her clear eyes looked outside the car window, and she gently moved her pink lips, “For two people who want to be together, that piece of paper doesn’t matter.”
Olivia drove her directly to the airport; she was really busy now. She hadn’t stayed in Ithaca town for more than two days before having to fly to New York for the next episode of her reality show.
Olivia had already taken Isabella’s luggage to the airport, and by the time she arrived, she had already exchanged her boarding pass.
“My princess, you really know how to time things. The plane takes off in twenty minutes,” Olivia said, pulling Isabella along, hurrying towards the security checkpoint.
The two hurriedly went through security and boarded the plane.
After boarding, Isabella realized that she and Luke were on the same flight, both in business class.
“Fortunately, they were not seated in the same row. He was in the front, and she was at the back, so from her angle, she could only see the back of his head. If they were face-to-face, she would inevitably feel awkward.
She had deliberately avoided Luke on the plane, where she could evade him, but when it came to the set, avoiding him was no longer an option.
Isabella maintained a calm demeanor, just like always, respectfully calling out to him, “Mr. Luke.”
On the contrary, he felt incredibly embarrassed, his ears slightly reddening.
Mrs. Miller had even gifted her the white jade bracelet. In his eyes, she was already considered his fiancee. Yet, they hadn’t properly talked about love, and all their interactions were scripted during filming.
This realization left Luke feeling quite defeated.
He had been looking for opportunities to get closer to Isabella but hadn’t found any because the shoot began immediately.
Reality shows had this downside; there was constant filming throughout. In such circumstances, he didn’t dare to exchange more than a few words with her, given the multitude of cameras.
Today’s shoot involved an underwater segment. Luckily, the weather had warmed up recently. Isabella wore warm undergarments under her waterproof suit and found the water bearable after getting in.
Two female guests were invited for the show. One was a newly popular young singer with little fame, while the other was a television drama queen, much older than Isabella by over a decade but quite easy-going and amiable.
Isabella got along relatively well with them.
However, not long after the game began, Isabella fell unexpectedly from a high platform.
Subsequently, she was taken to the resting area and sat there looking defeated. At that moment, she began to miss the recent crying of the young singer. Having someone with you was better than being alone.
She stared at her feet bundled up like a dumpling, wearing a helpless expression.
Bored, she picked up her phone, scrolled through her contacts, and eventually paused at Andrew’s page. After hesitating for a moment, she dialed the number.
After a few rings, a deep and rich voice came from the other side.
“Isabella?” His voice was magnetic, with a hint of confusion.
Normally, she should have been filming at this time. How could she find time to call him?
“Are you busy?” Isabella held her phone, somewhat bored, and asked.
“Not really,” Andrew replied and then asked, “How about you?”
“There was a bit of an accident during filming, hurt my foot, so I can only lie in the hotel room,” she complained.
“Which hotel?” he inquired.
“Hilton Hotel,” she replied. But she felt it was pointless to tell him where she was; even if she did, he couldn’t just fly over.
“Why didn’t you ask how serious my injury is?” she complained.
Even if he didn’t genuinely care about her, he should at least pretend to ask, given that she was the mother of his child.
“Whether the injury is serious or not can only be determined after examination,” he replied in his usual tone, composed and reserved, without any fluctuations.
Isabella was annoyed by his indifferent attitude and immediately hung up the call.
She lifted her leg onto the coffee table, took a photo with her phone, sent it to Andrew, and captioned it with two words: “I’m crippled.”
After seeing the message sent successfully on her phone, she casually tossed it aside and skipped over to the fridge to grab a drink.