Filled with guilt, he grabbed his phone, urgently dialing Isabella’s number. After a long, disheartening tone, the emotionless recorded voice responded, “Sorry, the number you dialed is no longer in service…”
He hung up and tried again, but the result was the same.
+25 BONUS
Chapter 9
Isabella hadn’t rejected the call–she had turned her phone off.
He tried texting her, but all he got in return was a glaring exclamation mark in the message bar.
She had deleted and blocked him. Even if he tried to send a friend request, it wouldn’t go through.
Desperate, Samuel scrolled through his long contact list, finally spotting a number he recognized. It was one
belonging to a mutual friend of his and Isabella–Yvette Carter.
Since they used to be classmates, they knew each other’s friends really well.
But as time passed, old friends inevitably drifted apart. After Samuel became CEO, his business obligations took over, and he lost touch with those outside the business world.
He gritted his teeth and dialed Yvette’s number, his voice strained with urgency.
“May I know if Bella is with you right now?”
Yvette’s tone was sharp and tinged with annoyance. “Isabella is your wife. If you need something, shouldn’t you be calling her directly?”
Samuel didn’t want to explain himself, so he just asked, “Has she mentioned any plans for a trip? Or has she been acting strange lately during your recent get–togethers?”
“So, now you notice she might have been acting out of the ordinary?” Yvette mocked from the other side of the line. “Mr. Grant, here’s some advice–If you don’t want others to know, you shouldn’t have done it in the first place.”
Those words hit Samuel hard. His voice cracked as he asked, “When did Bella find out? Please tell her it was all just a fling, that my heart belongs to her…”
Yvette cut him off with a sneer. “You know exactly what you’ve done wrong.
The line went dead.
11
Frustrated and desperate, Samuel dialed the number again, but all he heard was a few beeps before the call was automatically disconnected.
With no other options left, he dialed every number he could think of, even those of people he had barely spoken to.
Some picked up, others didn’t, but the result was always the same.
His heart sank lower and lower, and some people’s responses left him speechless.
“Sorry, I have no idea where Isabella is.”
“She hasn’t contacted me in a while.”
“You two used to get along so well. Did you have a fight?”
“Isabella is so gentle–she wouldn’t get upset like this. Did you do something to make her angry? Here’s some advice–apologize. It might help.”
Samuel knew he was in the wrong, but he couldn’t bring himself to admit it. He mumbled a few vague words and ended the call quickly. “Thanks, I understand.”
That was the last number he could think of that might connect him to Isabella.
As the minutes ticked by, the last shred of hope he was holding onto slipped away.
