Chapter 388: Excellent Actress
"Is that so?" Horatio’s voice carried a note of skepticism. As a man, he knew whether George was sincerely cool with that or not, but he wasn’t going to press any further. He was sure with ti, everything will be revealed.
"Mm-hmm. And just to clear up any doubts, Steffan and I are officially back together." Her words carried a conclusive edge that Horatio couldn’t help but fleep that Lauren had drawn a curtain over the conversation, not just today but in the future.
anwhile, across the room, George observed Lauren’s table from a distance. Once they were seated, he turned to Isabella.
"So, what do you think of Lauren? She’s a darling, isn’t she?" His voice was light, almost offhand, but his eyes were sharp, searching for any crack in Isabella’s carefully composed exterior.
Isabella’s response was asured. "She seems nice enough." Though her tone was neutral, George could pick up on the faint tension in her words.
"But there’s definitely a vibe between you two," Isabella added, her gaze briefly flicking toward Lauren’s direction.
George allowed a wistful smile to spread across his face, playing the part of a man lost in bittersweet mories. "Lauren and I... we’ve got a lot of history. It’s complicated." He left the words hanging, waiting to see if Isabella would press for more.
Instead, she hesitated for a mont before asking a question of her own. "But... Dr. Rosse... they look quite close. Did they get together after you and Lauren broke up?"
George’s brow furrowed. "Broke up? We never broke up." He watched Isabella’s reaction closely as he delivered the line, observing the flash of confusion that crossed her features.
"And as for Dr. Rosse," George continued, leaning back slightly as if recounting old gossip, "they were supposed to be married months ago, but sothing happened. Now they’re still just... lingering. Who knows when they’ll finally tie the knot?"
Isabella’s brows knitted together as she tried to piece together the information. George saw the confusion deepen in her eyes and decided to push further, this ti dipping his questions into more dangerous waters.
He needed to confirm whether she had any involvent in the disastrous events at Lauren’s wedding... that was his sole aim of goig against his principles and bringing her to the dinner.
So far he hadn’t noticed any unusual reaction from Isabella apart from the initial coldness she gave off when they first t Lauren at her table.
That might probably be because she was a bit jealous as his supposed date seeing how enarmoured he seed to be with lauren while interacting with her, but apart from that there was nothing suspicious about her yet.
Which might be one of two possibilities... Either she was innocent, or she was an excellent actress.
As the evening wore on, George made sure to keep the conversation flowing smoothly, using non threatening questions to probe her involvent in the cri.
He casually ntioned details about that wedding day, slipping in subtle hints about events only soone involved in the plot would know. Each ti, Isabella’s responses seed genuine with just the right blend of ignorance and curiosity.
But George wasn’t satisfied with just surface-level answers.
"You know, that was a day I’ll never forget," he mused, his tone distant as if reminiscing. "Everything was perfect until it wasn’t. One mont, everyone was smiling, and the next... chaos." He turned to face Isabella, searching for any flicker of recognition in her eyes.
"Chaos? What exactly happened?" Isabella finally asked when she couldn’t place why Grorge seed so fixated on the damned wedding.
Wasn’t he supposed to be happy seeing that the wedding of the woman he loved with another man didn’t work out?
Or better still, wasn’t he supposed to be getting to know her better while strategizing on how to take her to his bed? Why would they waste their ti talking about another woman’s wedding when they were on a date?
Or... wait! Did he bring her to the dinner just to spite Lauren?
Isabella’s voice carried genuine confusion, but George noticed a flicker of sothing else in her eyes—was it curiosity or unease?
He leaned in, lowering his voice to draw her in further. "Just when the vows were about to be exchanged, a woman burst through the doors abd aid a gun at the couple. Everyone thought it was just a stunt to stop them from going through with the wedding. But who would have imagined that there was a real bullet in the gun."
He let the weight of his words settle before continuing. "The groom got shot. A real bullet, not a blank."
Isabella’s eyes widened, her hand flying to her mouth. "That’s horrible! Is the groom okay?"
"He’s alive, just that he had to spend a few months in the hospital. He’s fine as you can see."
"Yeah," Isabella nodded ruefully, casting a gaze in Steffan’s direction.
"I’m surprised you heard nothing about such a sensational event at a wedding. It made the rounds in the papers." George said coolly, watching as Isabella cast a quick glance toward Steffan.
"Maybe it’s around the ti I traveled out of the country."
"When exactly are we talking about?" George finally asked, seeing a breakthrough.
"That should be about three months ago. I had to leave the country earlier than scheduled because sothing urgent ca up."
"Now that I think of it, a friend ca around a day before the wedding saying sothing about attending a wedding the following day and not wanting to gatecrash on a family friend so had to stay at my place."
"I never got to ask her about the wedding though... wait! I hope it wasn’t the sa wedding? Isabela asked with a horrific expression.
"There’s a possibility but we wouldn’t know," George said with a hint of satisfaction "The wedding your friend told you about, where was it held?" George asked
Isabella’s brow furrowed in concentration. "Can I still recall that? Em.... I think she said sothing about a church... yes, the one beside J and J shopping Mall.
George’s pulse quickened, but he maintained his composure. "Did she attend alone?"
"Yeah, although another friend who was in town for work wanted to join her. But Benita declined... said she just wanted to drop off a gift and leave quickly as she had sothing important to do afterwards and won’t be returning to the house."
George was quiet for a mont, weighing her words.
The pieces were starting to fall into place, but there were still gaps in the picture.
Either Isabella was unwittingly providing useful clues, or she was remarkably good at keeping up her facade.
She’s been back for over a week, hadn’t she heard any news on her friend who’s been in police custody for months now?
Deciding to test her further, he said with a wry smile, "You’re quite the generous host, taking in all these transient guests."
"It’s nothing really," Isabella said with a bashful smile, seizing the opportunity to score points with him.
George’s smile turned sly. "So, what do you say I spend the night? I seem to be stranded."
Isabella’s expression changed instantly, shutting down the suggestion. "No, you can’t."
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