Chapter 148

The steamy session between the couple went on for almost two hours before Michael finally tapped out from sheer exhaustion.

"Honey, you were incredible!" Isabella murmured, snuggling against Michael's chest and tracing the lines of his muscles.

Michael was breathing hard, holding Isabella's hand, looking like he just ran a marathon. This was way more exhausting than fighting off mercenaries in Evernia.

A crazy thought popped into Michael's head. 'God, please give us a kid. At least then I'd get a ten-month break.'

While Michael and Isabella were basking in their afterglow, Isabella's parents were busy updating Bianca about their chat with Isabella.

On the phone, Jasper grinned and told Bianca, "Bianca, Isabella's on board. She's gonna talk to Mason for you, and he'll definitely let you marry John."

But on the other end, Bianca wasn't buying it.

'No way. How could that witch Isabella agree so easily? She's gotta be up to something,' Bianca thought, her face showing a hint of suspicion. She couldn't believe Isabella would just go along with her plan.

"Jasper, cut the crap. Did Isabella really agree, or is there more to it?" Bianca asked, dead serious.

Jasper hesitated, then awkwardly admitted, "Well, she didn't exactly say yes, but she said she'd think about it. Since she didn't say no, that means yes, right?"

Bianca rolled her eyes so hard she almost saw her brain. Did Jasper even know what he was talking about?

"Jasper, ever think that Isabella might be stringing us along? She could be playing us," Bianca said bluntly.

Jasper shook his head. "No way, Isabella's not like that."

Bianca rolled her eyes again, gripping the phone so tight her hand shook. How could someone as smart as her grandpa have such a clueless son?

"Jasper, if you don't believe me, why don't you call Isabella and push her for an answer? Remember who put you two in jail. If she could pull that off, she'd surely deceive you about this too." Bianca said before hanging up, confident Jasper would follow her advice.

Sure enough, after hanging up, Jasper's face turned serious. He called Mia over and asked, "When Isabella said she'd think about it, what was her expression like? Did she seem hesitant or like she didn't care?"

Jasper wanted to figure out what Isabella was really thinking from her expression.

Mia had been pretty happy, but Jasper's question made her start to doubt.

"I can't remember exactly, but she seemed really indifferent. Her face didn't show much," Mia said, unsure.

"Damn it, that woman might really be playing us." Jasper's face darkened, and he immediately grabbed his phone to call Isabella.

But after trying a bunch of times, the call just wouldn't go through. It hit Jasper then-Isabella had probably blocked him.

Mia, now freaking out, tried calling Isabella from her phone, but she was blocked too.

"That damn girl is definitely playing us. I'm her mother! How dare she mess with me?" Mia fumed, trembling with anger.

"She ratted us out to the authorities; there's nothing she wouldn't do," Jasper sneered. He then grabbed the landline and dialed Isabella.

This time, the call went through. Isabella hadn't blocked the landline number.

"Isabella, why are you messing with us? How can you be so heartless? I already stopped pushing you to marry John. Why won't you give Bianca a chance? Have you forgotten all the hard work your grandfather put into building this family?" Jasper yelled into the phone.

On the other end, Isabella had just finished a cozy moment with Michael and was feeling pretty good, only to have her mood wrecked by this call.

Before Isabella could say anything, Michael snatched the phone and coldly said, "Jasper, if you had any brains, you wouldn't say such dumb things! Who was the idiot that wrecked everything your father built? A monkey could've done a better job as chairman and kept the family afloat for two decades. But you? In just a few years after your father's death, you ran the family business into the ground! Was that Isabella's fault? What the hell was her role in your sinking ship of a company anyway?"

Michael's words left Jasper speechless.

Isabella had never held any position in the family business. Jasper was a selfish guy who wouldn't share power with his own daughter or brother. Yet, this fool thought he was a business genius. His series of ridiculous and laughable decisions ultimately doomed the entire family empire.

Jasper stood up and angrily shouted into the phone, "What do you know? Do you even understand business? Do you know how much effort I've put into the company? I've been living and eating at the office every day, and I've lost a lot of weight because of it!"

"You're just a pompous, clueless fool! Even if you lost ten pounds, you'd still be a fool! In fact, you're worse than a fool because a fool wouldn't be in a position to make such laughable decisions!" Michael's words were brutally direct, reducing Jasper's business acumen to less than that of a fool.

Jasper was so enraged that he blacked out.

Isabella and Michael caught the sound of something crashing on the line, then Mia's panicked wails echoing in the background.

"Honey, what's wrong? Don't scare me! Help! My husband has fainted! Help!" Mia screamed.

Michael hung up the phone and turned to Isabella. "Your dad has fainted. Do you want to go check on him?"

Isabella shook her head. "I'm not going. If he wakes up and sees me, he might faint again."