The Billionaire's Pretend Wife (Isabella)
Chapter 51 Fifty One

The sound of Jacob's voice surprised Isabelle, and she turned around to face him. What was he doing here? Had he followed her? Why? To see whether she would go to wherever it was he thought she had exchanged his ring at?

But instead of confronting her, he was looming over the security guard who had been about to throw her out of the shop threateningly. She supposed he felt it was his duty to defend her. His eyes flickered to her, and avoiding his gaze, she walked past him and out of the shop.

As Isabelle ignored him and walked out of the shop, Jacob frowned. Of course, she was still mad at him for accusing her of selling his mother's heirloom. But before he could go after her and apologise, he needed to have a talk with the one who had conned her.

Turning to the owner, he said, "You had better return the ring you stole from my wife."

"Like I've told your wife, I did not exchange her ring. She gave me her ring for a maintenance service and when I was done, I returned it to her. If she thought I had exchanged it, she should have let me know back then."

Jacob folded his hand into a fist and banged it on top of her desk, fixing her with a stern glare. "I'm not interested in playing your little mind games. That's not the ring I gave to her, and I'm advising you return it right now before I take further action."

The woman looked visibly shaken by his firm insistence, but she pushed the computer towards him and said in a haughty tone, "Why don't you check the surveillance footage and show me exactly when I replaced the ring? Your wife checked it and didn't replace anything. What other kind of proof do you need?"

One look at the footage on the monitor was all Jacob needed to know it would be useless to watch the video. The woman must have installed low quality cameras to give customers a false sense of security. If she conned them and they came back to make claims, she could confidently show them the footage, knowing well enough that she would not be caught. She probably scammed many people this way. Well, her days were now numbered.

"Maybe you should ask your wife where she got her fake ring," the woman told him. "She refused to sell it to me when she was here. Maybe she got a higher price elsewhere and finally parted with it."

"Watch what you say about her," he warned the woman, enraged by her words about Isabelle. It was funny that hearing someone else make the same accusations he had made about her made him so mad. Mad, and disgusted at the fact that he too had entertained such thought.

"Whatever," the pawnshop owner said. "This is none of my business. If you don't leave, I'll call the police."

"Go ahead," he shot back. He leaned towards her, and even though there was a desk between them, she still cowered and took a step back. "One way or another, I'll make sure you end up in jail. That'll teach you a thing or two about scamming your customers."

While Jacob confronted the shop owner, Isabelle stood near the entrance, listening to their conversation. So he finally believed her, huh?

He must have heard her entire conversation with the owner. Her pulse shot up when the woman suggested that maybe Isabelle had sold the ring elsewhere and gotten a replacement.

She almost turned and walked away, not willing to hear him agree with a stranger's accusation towards her. He himself had accused her of the same, hadn't he?

But she froze when he immediately defended her. She felt relief that he believed her side of the story, but that was not enough to rid of the hurt and anger he had caused when he accused her of exchanging the ring.

When he turned around and walked towards the door, she started down the street. Would he start asking questions about why she had needed to come to a pawnshop?

Last time, she had explained her cash shortage away as a result of reckless spending and said that she only needed to watch her spending for that month. He must wonder why she was resorting to such means to get money even after she had received her first salary.

He quickly caught up with her a few paces from the pawnshop.

"Are you still mad at me?" he asked, his voice calm.

Isabelle looked at him and saw the hopeful expression on his face. He hadn't even apologised, and he just expected her to forgive him?

Sighing, she looked away and kept on walking. She wondered when he would stop making wild accusations against her.

Even if he apologised for this incident and she forgave him, she was sure soon, he would accuse her of something else. They really should have stayed out of each other's personal affairs like they had agreed to do when they first go married.

That way, he wouldn't have the power of hurting her whenever he misjudged her. She had allowed herself to trust him and even depend on him, and maybe that was a mistake.

"I'm really sorry for accusing you of selling the ring," he finally apologised. "I should have asked what happened first."

Damn right he should have.

When she didn't say anything for a long moment, he reached out and held her arm, pulling her to a stop. In a frustrated tone, he began, "Isabelle-"

But she interrupted him. "Thank you for defending me back there," she told him, unable to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. Did he think doing so would earn him her forgiveness? Freeing her arm from his grip, she turned around and walked away.

Jacob sighed as he watched her go. He really should watch his tongue in the future. Letting her walk ahead alone, he took his phone out and called Kevin.

When his assistant received the call, he gave him a description of the stolen ring. He then instructed him to check whether there were any identical rings in the market.

His mother's sapphire ring was an antique, and there weren't many like it around. If the pawnshop owner put it up for sale, it would be easy for Kevin to come across it. Once he found it, it would be easy to trace it back to her.

She probably thought that she had gotten away with it when he and Isabelle had left. She would have gone scot-free if she had messed with a different person. Him? He wasn't going to rest until he proved her con to the police and had her arrested.

After making the call, he made his way back to the house. Isabelle arrived ahead of him and disappeared into her room. He wondered how long it would take her to forgive him. Maybe he could try begging harder.

About two hours later, Kevin called him with the news that an identical ring had been sent to an antique auction that day. Apparently, the seller was a woman from a second-hand luxury shop.

Right away, he knew it must be the woman from the pawnshop. He instructed Kevin to gather evidence about the identity of the woman who had sent the ring to the auction and to have it ready by the next day. When he confronted her again, she wouldn't be able to hide behind her horrible surveillance footage.