Isabel returns home early to find her wealthy husband, Paul, with his mistress, Jane. Unfazed, Paul boldly moves Jane into their home. Paul is powerful and dangerous. Isabel can’t leave but soon demonstrates her strength against him.
Isabel stepped into her home, her arms laden with bags and gifts to surprise Paul for his birthday. Her excitement faded when she heard voices from their bedroom upstairs and saw a woman’s clothes on the floor.
Isabel climbed the stairs, her heart racing. Her world came crashing down when she peered through the ajar bedroom door and saw her husband sharing their bed with another woman…
“Would you like to do it again?” Paul asked the woman, Jane, not noticing Isabel.
When he finally saw her as she dropped her bags in shock, he was as cool as a cucumber.
“Hey! Jane, this is my wife, Isabel,” he said calmly.
“Hi,” Jane said, not caring she was in a married man’s bed.
“This is insane!” Isabel shouted. “How could you…”
“Relax,” Paul said. “Why are you back so early?”
“That’s my robe she’s wearing, Paul, and she’s in our bed!” Isabel cried, pointing at Jane. “And you care about why I’m early?”
“You said you’d be back by seven. It’s not even 5:30,” Paul said, avoiding the issue. “Pick your stuff up and get lost for a couple of hours.”
“Yes, you have 10 seconds to disappear, honey,” Jane added, lying in bed confidently.
Isabel was devastated. She decided to leave Paul forever and grabbed her spare clothes from the guestroom.
As she was packing her things downstairs in the living room, a voice distracted her.
“Why are you packing?” Paul asked angrily.
“I’m leaving you! The kids will stay with me!” Isabel said. She would never see this man’s face again in her life!
“Leaving me? And where exactly are you going?” Paul taunted her, reminding her she had nowhere to go. Her mother was dead; Isabel had fled her hometown with Paul, and she had no friends.
“And Julia and John? What will happen to them when I block your cards?” Paul threatened, using their children against her.
“You have your mistress. What could you possibly want from my children and me?” Isabel cried.
“They’re my children, too. And don’t forget, honey, without me, you’re nothing,” Paul said cruelly. He was right. Paul was a powerful man; he had connections, and he was wealthy. Isabel? She was just a housewife who sacrificed her life, career, and dreams to be there for her husband and children.
“I’m leaving, Paul, and that’s final!” she said, gathering some courage.
“If you want to leave, be my guest. But you’ll never see your children again,” he threatened.
Hearing that froze her in place. If he said she wouldn’t see her children again, he would go to any lengths to do that. Thank Heavens; the kids were sleeping at one of their friends’ houses and didn’t see this.
Isabel decided to stay, but she wouldn’t let Julia and John become a part of this, so she sent them to summer camp the following day. With their ongoing vacation, they’d been insisting on visiting the camp. She knew Paul hadn’t returned home the entire night; the last time she heard him was around midnight when he left with Jane.
When Isabel was preparing breakfast, Paul and Jane returned, acting like nothing was wrong.
“Hello to the wife,” Paul chirped. “Sweetheart, how are you doing?”
“Hi, Isabel,” Jane said arrogantly.
“Babe, where are your manners? Say hello to our guest,” Paul told Isabel, who just glared at him.
“I guess you’re not in the mood for pleasantries. Well then, set the table for three, please,” Paul said, gently taking Jane to the dining table.
Isabel felt hurt after seeing her husband with another woman but said nothing. Yes, Paul turned out to be a jerk, but he was the same man she had once loved with all her heart.
During breakfast, Paul bragged about his business deals and connections, trying to upset Isabel, but she didn’t react. Then, he suggested something shocking.
“We should make this a regular thing. Jane should move in,” Paul announced.
“What?” Isabel cried.
“Finally, the spectator speaks. What? Is there a problem?” Paul looked at Isabel. “Thought so,” he smirked, ignoring her.
“I think that’s a great idea! Will you help me move my stuff, darling?” Jane asked Paul.
“Of course, why not?”
Isabel felt even more betrayed. She and her children deserved better!
When Paul and Jane left the house, Isabel called a divorce lawyer named Charles. She had found him online. She was nervous but explained she needed help to keep her children safe from Paul.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Yeats, I can’t take your case. Your husband is too powerful and dangerous. Everyone knows him,” Charles explained.
“Please, I’m begging you,” she cried.
“Fine. Find something against him and call me back. I have to go,” Charles advised before hanging up.
How am I supposed to do that now? she thought. When Jane moved in with her luggage later that evening, Isabel felt even more lost. Was she going to be stuck in an unhappy marriage where she had to tolerate her husband’s mistress? Isabel couldn’t sleep that night, thinking about how to protect her children and herself from Paul.
The next morning, she was making coffee in the kitchen when Jane walked in.
“Coffee?” Isabel asked her, a plan forming at the back of her mind.
“Yeah, sure,” Jane said, sitting down.
“That’s my cape you’re wearing, right?” Isabel pointed out.
“Yeah, it’s gonna rain,” Jane replied, unbothered.
Isabel handed Jane a cup of coffee.
“I hope it’s not poisoned,” Jane quipped. Isabel took a sip from her cup and smiled.
“What’s this about?” Jane asked, sensing something was up.
“I know why you’re with Paul. It’s for his money, right?” Isabel said.
“Paul loves me,” Jane claimed, but she sounded unsure, and that was exactly what Isabel needed.
“Paul only loves himself. Help me, and I’ll make you rich,” Isabel proposed. “I don’t need his money. I want freedom for myself and my kids. Once he leaves me, we’ll split everything I get. 50/50.”
Jane seemed deep in thought. “Well… let’s do 70/30, and I’m in.”
Isabel paused. “Okay, deal,” she finally agreed.
Two days later, Jane and Isabel met again to discuss their plan. “Did you get any evidence against him?” Isabel asked. Paul was away, so she knew they wouldn’t get a better time to discuss this.
But right then came a startlingly familiar and entirely unexpected voice. “Get WHAT?”
Isabel’s heart skipped a beat, her body jerking forward in shock and disbelief. It was Paul. She hadn’t heard him return.
“Pau-paul,” she gasped, her voice faltering as she turned to face him.
“You thought I’d help you? Paul’s connections can get me so much more!” Jane smirked.
“Paul, whatever she must have told you isn’t true,” Isabel stammered, scrambling to salvage the situation.
“Give us a minute, Jane,” Paul said calmly, and once she left, his demeanor changed drastically.
“I won’t hit you and give you a weapon to use against me, but I promise to make your life unbearable!” Paul hissed, his face inches from Isabel’s, his breath hot with fury.
“Paul, please. I promise to be obedient from now on!” Isabel pleaded, her voice breaking as tears streamed down her cheeks. She knelt before him, her body trembling. “Please, don’t keep me away from my children!” she blurted.
An expression of cruelty spread across Paul’s face as he stared into Isabel’s tear-filled eyes. “Thank you. Thank you for the suggestion. Until I decide what to do with you, you’re not allowed outside,” he declared coldly before turning and leaving the room.
In a last-ditch effort to escape her husband’s clutches, Isabel scrambled for her phone and called Charles. But he refused to help her.
“Don’t ever call this number again! I refuse to endanger myself and my family!” Charles said and hung up. Isabel was stuck. What will I do now? She understood Charles was probably threatened by Paul.
Weeks passed, and Isabel’s situation only got worse. Paul watched her every move, and Jane acted like the lady of the house. Isabel couldn’t even see her kids when they returned.
“Don’t worry, I told them you were sick. They’ll see you when you’re better,” Paul told her.
Feeling trapped and desperate, Isabel begged Paul to let her see her children. “Paul, why are you doing this? I’ll let you be with Jane if that’s what you want!” she cried.
“Jane is just my assistant. She’s here to help me take care of you,” Paul mocked Isabel, dismissing her offer.
Feeling angry and helpless, Isabel could only cry in frustration. But when Paul went on a work trip with Jane days later, Isabel decided she had enough. She made a plan to escape and find evidence against Paul.
Dressed as a servant, Isabel sneaked out of the mansion and went to Paul’s office. She used a key card she had taken discreetly from home to get in and started searching his desk for anything illegal.
As she was looking through some papers, her phone rang again and again. When she finally checked it, her face paled. It was Paul calling her. She looked up and noticed the cameras in his office.
She panicked, realizing Paul knew she was there. She quickly took photos of all the documents she found.
Isabel sent those photos to the police, media, and everyone she knew, hoping someone would help her. She then rushed to leave but saw Paul coming in with security. She didn’t know he was returning from the trip that very day.
“Take her! She’s my wife, and I can attest that she’s crazy. She broke into my office, and who knows what damage she has done to the files I keep there,” Paul commanded the officials behind him.
“Paul, what are you doing? You know I’m not crazy! Stop this!” Isabel yelled as security grabbed her. Her eyes darted around the lobby, seeking any sign of help or sympathy from the onlookers, but all she got was Jane’s smug grin of triumph.
At that moment, despair gripped Isabel. She felt confident this was the end – that Paul would have her vanish into the obscurity of a psychiatric ward.
But just as this bleak realization settled in her mind, the entrance doors burst open, and police officers rushed into the lobby. “Mr. Yeats, you’re under arrest,” an officer said, handcuffing him. The security stopped, confused about what to do with Isabel.
As Isabel watched Paul being led away by the police, she couldn’t help but wonder who had acted with such swiftness. She knew someone had sifted through the documents she had sent out and helped orchestrate Paul’s arrest. But who?
That’s when she spotted a familiar figure standing beside the police cars into which Paul was being ushered. Charles, the very lawyer who had vehemently told her never to contact him again.
“I guess he’s a good man after all,” Isabel mused silently, her heart swelling with gratitude. As she stepped outside, she couldn’t help but notice the shock on Jane’s face. “I should have taken your offer,” she murmured loud enough for Isabel to hear.
Isabel paused, turning to face her. “I wouldn’t have given it to you. You deserve to have no part of my money,” she replied, her voice steady and imbued with a newfound strength.
As she walked away, Isabel felt a sense of liberation that she hadn’t experienced in a long time. She had fought against overwhelming odds and emerged victorious. She would start a new life with her children, and things would be in her control this time, not Paul’s or Jane’s.
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