After I Stopped Loving Him novel Chapter 154

Natalie watched Isabella in silence. Something about her felt different now. She seemed more confident, more assertive, nothing like the timid girl Natalie remembered.

Out of nowhere, Natalie reached for Isabella’s face, but Isabella slapped her hand away without hesitation.

“What are you doing?” Isabella shot back, her tone sharp.

Natalie stayed quiet, but inside, she took Isabella’s reaction as proof that something was off. She started to wonder if this Isabella was even real.

Natalie had known Isabella ever since Cynthia married into the Lane family. Back then, she loved picking on her. Isabella used to be painfully shy, her voice so soft it was barely there. She always wanted to join in when Natalie, Ethan, and the others played, but they were five years older and always left her out.

Ethan was a little nicer, but Jordan couldn’t stand Isabella at all. He thought Cynthia and her daughter were just there to steal his dad and wreck his family. Because of Jordan, even the servants treated Isabella badly. Of course, when Cynthia was around, everyone pretended to get along. No one dared be mean to Isabella in front of her mother.

At first, Isabella would run to Cynthia whenever she was bullied, but that just made things worse for her. Eventually, she stopped telling anyone, hoping that staying quiet would mean less trouble. She'd always been easy to push around.

But now, after just a month, Isabella was standing up to Natalie. She ignored her demands, talked back, even hung up on her. Natalie couldn’t believe someone could change so much so quickly.

It didn’t add up. The only explanation Natalie could come up with was that the real Isabella was gone. The girl in front of her had to be an impostor, maybe someone who’d had surgery to look like Isabella or was wearing an incredibly realistic mask. Maybe it was some kind of plot. Maybe, when Ethan started showing interest in Isabella, someone took her place, copying her voice, her walk, even her habits. With a mask like that, even Cynthia wouldn’t notice the difference.

Natalie kept all these suspicions to herself. She picked up her glass of juice and glanced around. Nobody seemed to be watching them.

But Natalie stuck to her story, looking as hurt as ever. Her scream had already caught everyone’s attention. Jordan and Ethan rushed over right away.

“Natalie, what happened?” Jordan asked, already by her side, his concern obvious.

Ethan arrived a second later and took one look at the juice soaking Natalie’s dress. His expression turned cold.

Isabella scolded herself silently. She should have seen this coming. Natalie had picked the perfect moment to set her up, and now nobody would believe her side of the story. Unless they checked the security cameras, there was nothing she could do. She knew Natalie was up to no good. Every time Ethan showed her a little bit of kindness, Natalie just had to stir up trouble and pull him back to her side.

“Jordan, don’t blame Isabella,” Natalie said, voice trembling. “It’s my fault. I just kept talking, nagging her. She got annoyed, and I should have stopped…”