"You what now?" Caleb's face wore the utmost surprise on his face. Isabella gave a small smile followed by a little shrug as though she didn't just tell him she was married already.

"Are you being serious? Is that why you-?" His eyes roamed her body and even her sudden change took him by surprise even more.


"I got married yesterday." His eyes darted to her left hand and there it was, the ring that bound her to Charles. Even Isabella found it strange.

She never wore a ring while she was with Gabriel. If she did, Isabella was certain she would have felt more suffocated just by looking at it.

As she studied the simple art on the small ring that had Isabella wondering when Charles ever had the time to pick it, Caleb said, "How come I wasn't invited then?"


It hit Isabella. She instantly felt bad. She had been too occupied with readying herself for the wedding, she totally forgot she was supposed to have someone from her side as a witness. Besides, Charles never pointed it out, so it didn't occur to her at all.

"I am so sorry Caleb." She held his hands. "I was too focused on making myself look less crappy and I totally forgot I was supposed to let someone know about the wedding."


"I just wish I could have been there, I would definitely have seen your smile because I can tell how good Mr. Oxford makes you feel."

"I am so sorry Caleb."

"It's fine." He released his hand from her hold and gave the little hair on her forehead a tickle. "I am glad you are finally out of Gabriel's life. That man seemed like poison."

"He was poison. I never got to thank you." She instantly changed the topic. Gabriel was her past and in the past it shall dwell.

"What for?"

"Everything. For standing by me when the company was going through rough times, for making me feel less worried about my life issues, for helping me out during the hearing. I just-" Something choked her and she realized she was about to cry. Or maybe it was just her heart that was being very thankful in an emotional way.

"Hey…" Caleb made her look into his eyes. "Why are you talking like this? You are my friend and I certainly wouldn't have enjoyed seeing you suffer alone. So, quit talking like you are about to die."

"You are a good friend Caleb." He gave her hand few pats.

After seconds of silence in which Isabella composed herself, Caleb asked, "What will happen to the hotel?"

"How do you mean?" She frowned, then it occurred to her she had not bothered about her company's issues in a while. Not that she had the time anyway.

"Are we going to take a break? Is the next plan to restructure? Are we renovating the place? Do you-?"

"Renovating?" Isabella interrupted his seemingly plenty question, her voice almost carrying a sarcastic kind of laughter. "With what money?"

"You don't know?"

"Know what?" Caleb excused himself and left her question in the air. After a quick trip to a room close by, he was back with what Isabella felt was office paper works. "Uhh.. Caleb, I don't think I have the strength to go over office files now."

"Calm down. I am not trying to bombard you with work." A paper got singled out from the stack in his hand. "Not when you are supposed to be on honeymoon. Have this."

His statement about honeymoon got her thinking about how Charles and her spent the night without clothes and she felt her cheeks flush a bit. That was certainly a memory she won't forget easily.

Her eyes finally landing on the piece of paper in her hand, she noticed how figures followed figures but she really wasn't keen on trying to see what it really was about. So, she looked up at Caleb and asked, "Can you just summarize this?"

"That shows the amount Mr. Oxford sent for our debt settlement." Isabella recalled Charles's deal and she almost laughed. Who knew her stubbornness then wouldn't last long. "After we settled with the bank, we had a lot left."

"Uh?" She brought the paper to her view again.

"Correction- we have a lot left. I made sure to pay all of our staff including the ones that got laid off and we still have enough left for even a renovation. It is like an overnight miracle I tell you."

"But…" Her eyes roamed the paper. "Didn't he send what we owed with a million dollars on top?"

"A million? Check that paper well Isa. That says a billion."

"Oh my!" she exclaimed as she finally saw it. "I never knew…" she said to herself.

"So, should we begin to renovate?"

"Let's take a break."

"What?" Caleb looked like she had grown four heads. Isabella mused. Surely her statement wasn't that crazy.

"I want to take a break. I am finally getting a chance to start things all over and I want to do things one after the other." He made to talk but she was quick. "That doesn't mean I am abandoning the hotel. God no! I have suffered too much to give up now."

"So…" Caleb tried to drive out the point from what she just blurted out while her being still found it strange that things had changed so much.

"Let the hotel be for now."

"That's not a good plan Isa." It showed even in his eyes that he wasn't okay with her idea and she wondered why. "You can't just leave that whole company standing without doing anything to it. By the time you come around and decide to pick up from where you stopped, things would have diminished faster than farm products."

"Really?"

He gave her shoulder a small squeeze. "Think this through Isabella so you don't find yourself far behind square one."

Caleb wasn't coming on too strong with the way he painted the potential disaster should she go with her plan, but she felt really hit by the thought of starting all over again, that too in a much worse state.

So, with her head clearer, she faced Caleb and asked, "What should we do?"

Caleb smiled. He was probably glad she didn't use a personal pronoun, instead she showed him they were in it together. "Let's renovate what we can from the money we have. We won't be doing the entire land, so we won't find ourselves in a fix again."

"Okay."

"And I was thinking, after renovating the main places, we could reopen them and re-advertise. Don't worry I will make sure Shades and Cloaks gets a new face and you will definitely love it."

Isabella wore amusement on her face. "Are you trying to say you don't need me?"

He chuckled. "I am saying you need to be enjoying your honeymoon for now."

"Why are you so bent on this honeymoon thing?" She got up as she realized it had almost reached the time Charles's meeting was meant to end.

"Because you need it. Hug?" Caleb asked, got up and stretched his arms. Without a word she leaned into it and thanked the universe for giving such a good friend and secretary. Because, based on how she brutally spilled hot coffee on him in the first year of college, it never seemed like he would ever greet her with a simple ‘hi' talk less be her friend.

"I'll see you later." Isabella bade him goodbye and told him not to bother walking her out. Soon, she was by her car about to enter when her phone rang.

Excitedly, since she figured it would be Charles calling, she dug out the device. As she wondered if he might be calling to tease her ever wanting self again, she decided she was going to be strong and not let the nude image of him affect her.

It was not his ID that was on her screen. It was just a string of numbers. But she picked it anyway.

"Hello?" Nothing but silence came from the other end. "Hi. How can I help you?"

‘Isabella.' She felt her heart jump. It was Gabriel and he did not sound pleasant. But she was free from him already, there was no way she would let her entire being be scared of him.

"What do you want?" she sternly asked.

‘You must be enjoying life right?' The toxicity in his voice, it musn't get her. ‘Your husband is here in jail but you are out there getting married to another man.'

"You are no longer my husband. You never deserved that title to be honest."

His maniac laughter came after and his voice lowered in a menacing way as he said, ‘I am coming for you Isabella. When I am out of this place, I will look for you and when I find you, you'll be sorry you left.'

"We are divorced Gabriel," she drove that fact into his head in case he lost a bolt or two in his head before calling her. "And if you try to hurt me, I will make sure you end up in prison again."

‘Keep telling yourself that babe,' his voice mocked her and she felt like reaching out to strangle him if it was possible. ‘I am watching Isabella. And I will be back for you.'

The call ended and Isabella stood there, almost lifeless because she could sense it- the seriousness of his threat.