The Billionaire's Pretend Wife (Isabella)
Chapter 50 Fifty

As Isabelle walked past him and made her way to the door, Jacob shut his eyes briefly and cursed. Had he been too quick to make the accusation?

Her reaction, her words, her tone... She didn't sound like a guilty person who had been caught. More like she had been wronged. Like she hadn't expected him to make such accusations against her. Where was she going to get the ring back? Had she really not known it was not the one he had given her? Had someone lied to her?

He left the kitchen and fetched his coat. He then left the apartment and hurried after her, hoping she hadn't gone too far. It was already dark outside.

He caught sight of her outside their community, and he followed her as she made her way towards the city centre. She walked briskly, and he didn't have to see her face to know that she was fuming. He had really angered her, hadn't he?

Had he really wrongfully accused her? It would explain her anger. Would she forgive him?

Isabelle kept walking for a long while, and Jacob started wondering whether it wouldn't have been better for her to take a taxi. Eventually, though, she walked into a shop with a sign outside that indicated it was a pawnshop.

Seeing that, Jacob figured she must have been conned at the pawnshop. It was either that, or she had really exchanged the real ring at the shop knowingly and acquired a fake one as a replacement.

Jacob hang near the entrance as Isabelle walked to the reception area and started talking to a woman who was waiting there.

"Give my real ring back to me," she demanded, her angry voice carrying across the shop and towards the entrance.

"I'm sorry, what?" the woman at the desk asked. "I gave you your ring back this evening, and you're wearing it right now," she said, pointing to Isabelle's hand.

Isabelle removed the ring from her finger and showed it to the owner. "This is not the ring I gave you to service. My ring had an engraving of initials, but this one does not. Please give me back my real ring, or I'll call the police."

At the door, Jacob folded his hands into fists. Had that woman conned Isabelle of her ring? It now made sense. Since she hadn't known about the engraving, she wouldn't have checked it to ensure she got the right one back.

He suddenly felt like the lowest of scum for accusing her of deceiving him. Had he not seen enough of her sincerity to know that she wasn't capable of lying to him like that?

He had decided long ago to not judge her based on what he had heard about her before they married. So why had he done that this time? He should have at least asked her to explain herself before rushing to make accusations.

"Ma'am," the woman said, "please stop causing a ruckus at my shop. I should be the one calling the police. The ring I gave back to you is the same one you gave me. You checked it when I gave it back, right? You should have said something back then if you thought I had replaced it."

"Let's check the surveillance footage," Isabelle requested, remembering that the owner had told her she could do so if she was afraid of losing her ring. She must have said that only to settle her worries and make her less vigilant.

"Alright," the woman said, pulling on a computer on her desk to give Isabelle a view of the monitor.

A few seconds into the footage that the owner pulled up, Isabelle realised she had been tricked. The footage was of such low quality that she couldn't really tell what was going on. "Are you satisfied, now? Did you see me replace your ring?" the owner asked. "If you have nothing else to say, please leave my shop, it's still business hours and you're disrupting." Isabelle looked at the woman and felt disgusted at her shamelessness. But if she couldn't prove that the shop owner had exchanged her ring, how could she demand it back?

Even if she went to the police and there was no evidence, who would believe her? And the owner had a point when she said if her ring truly had an engraving, she should have noticed when she gave it back. If only she had known.

She bit her lip, deep in thought. If she went back without the ring, what would she tell Jacob? He would truly believe that she had exchanged his mother's heirloom for money. Worse, she couldn't even compensate him as she had promised. It would either take years to amass that kind of money, or she would have to get a loan. Aa loan she would spend even more years paying off.

"Are you leaving or should I ask the security guard to escort you out?" the woman demanded, glaring at her.

Remembering something from that afternoon, Isabelle said, "I'm willing to sell the ring to you now. You said you could give me two million for it."

The owner had expressed her desire to get her hands on the ring strongly enough. If she wanted to insist that she had given the real ring back, then she shouldn't have any objection towards paying the price she had quoted for it earlier, right?

The woman shook her head. "I'm not interested in the ring anymore," she told her. "You should have taken my offer when I gave it the first time. It's too late now."

"Really? Are you sure it's not because you know this is not the real deal and isn't worth much?"

The owner sighed and looking towards the door, called for the security guard to drag her out.

Isabelle looked back and saw the guard walk forward, his gaze locked on her. No. She couldn't let them throw her out without the ring. But what could she do? She couldn't fight the guard, and if she caused trouble, she had no doubt the owner would involve the police.

"Let me watch the surveillance footage again," she begged the owner, "I must have missed something the first time." Even if the video quality was horrible, maybe she would be able to pinpoint the moment the woman exchanged her ring if she watched closely enough.

"Don't waste any more of my time," the owner said. "And never come back to my shop again. If you really think I stole your ring, why don't you go to the police?"

"Come with me," the security guard now called to her as he got closer. She gave him a panicked look.

Isabelle stepped back away from him.

"Don't make me use force," the guard instructed, holding one arm out. "Please leave the premises."

"Just throw her out," the owner ordered, "she has wasted more than enough of our time."

The guard made a lunge for her, but suddenly, a tall man appeared and stood between them.

"Move out of the way," the security guard demanded.

"Touch her and you'll regret it for the rest of your life," Jacob threatened, not moving an inch.

The guard froze and looked up at him, terror filling his face as he finally took in the terrifying aura of the man who had interrupted him.

Where the hell had he come from?

Jacob glared down at the guard angrily, silently daring him to go ahead and place a hand on Isabelle.

These people had tormented her enough for one day, he wasn't going to let them humiliate her further.