Chapter 130 Isabella's manipulation

Chapter 130 Isabella's manipulation
Evelyn's Pov

I was staying at Braydon's place, trying to process everything, when my phone buzzed with a text from an unknown number. I opened it and saw a photo of Gyran and Isabella standing on a beach somewhere and they looked happy and in love.

The text said "We had something real and he threw it away."

Another text came through.

"Can we meet? I have more to tell you."

I knew I shouldn't respond, but I texted back, "Where?"

She gave me the address of a coffee shop downtown and I told Braydon I was going out.

When I got there Isabella was already sitting at a corner table with a folder in front of her. I sat down across from her.

"Thank you for coming," Isabella said.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"I want you to know the truth about Gyran," Isabella said and she opened the folder and pulled out some old letters. "These are letters he wrote me when we were together."

I picked up one of the letters and started reading, and it was definitely Gyran's handwriting, and he was telling Isabella how much he loved her and how he couldn't wait to build a life with her.

"He promised to marry me," Isabella said. "He said we'd get married as soon as his contract in Rome was finished and that we'd move somewhere quiet and start a family."

"So what happened?" I asked.

"I got pregnant," Isabella said and her voice got quiet. "And when I told him he panicked and said it was too soon."

I put down the letter and looked at her.

"Gyran never mentioned any of this," I said.

"Because he doesn't want you to know," Isabella said. "A week after I told him I was pregnant, he disappeared, and there was no note and no explanation, and I tried calling him, but his phone was disconnected."

"Maybe something happened," I said.

"That's what I thought at first," Isabella said. "But then weeks went by and then months and I realized he wasn't coming back and I was alone and pregnant and terrified."

She pulled out another photo, and this one showed her looking thin and sad, standing in what looked like a hospital room.

"I had a miscarriage," Isabella said. "Three months after he left, and I was alone in a hospital in Rome, and the baby was gone, and the man I loved had abandoned me."

I felt sick.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"Are you?" Isabella asked. "Because you're still with him and you're still defending him."

"I don't know what to believe," I said.

"Then ask him," Isabella said. "Ask him if he remembers me telling him I was pregnant."

I stood up because I needed to get out of there.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked.

"I'm trying to show you who he really is," Isabella said. "He did this to me, and he'll do it to you, too."

I walked out and sat in my car for twenty minutes just trying to breathe.

I drove back to Braydon's place and found Gyran waiting for me in the living room.

"We need to talk," I said.

"Okay," Gyran said and he looked nervous.

"Isabella says you got her pregnant," I said. "And that you left when she told you."

Gyran's face went pale.

"That's a lie," he said. "She was never pregnant and I never knew anything about a pregnancy."

"She has photos," I said. "Of her in a hospital and she says she had a miscarriage after you left."

"I don't know anything about that," Gyran said. "She's lying to turn you against me."

"How do you know she's lying?" I asked. "You weren't there and you left without telling her anything."

"Because I was recruited by the Junkies," Gyran said. "I had to leave immediately and I couldn't tell anyone where I was going."

"But she was your girlfriend," I said. "She deserved an explanation."

"I know," Gyran said. "And I should have found a way to contact her but I thought it was better to make a clean break."

"A clean break," I repeated. "She was in love with you and you just disappeared."

"I made a mistake," Gyran said. "But I never knew she was pregnant and that part is a lie."

"How can you be sure?" I asked.

"Because she would have told me," Gyran said. "Before I left, and if she was really pregnant, she would have said something."

I wanted to believe him but I didn't know if I could trust anything he said anymore.

"She has letters," I said. "Love letters you wrote her and you promised to marry her and build a life with her."

"That was five years ago," Gyran said. "Before I met you."

"But you still lied to me," I said. "You never told me about her or about the life you had in Italy."

"I know," Gyran said and he stepped toward me. "And I'm sorry but I was trying to protect you."

"Protect me from what?" I asked. "The truth?"

"From my past," Gyran said. "From all the mistakes I made before I met you."

"Well your past is here now," I said. "And she's working with the FBI, and she knows things that could destroy us, and I don't know if I can trust you anymore."

Gyran looked like I just punched him.

"Evelyn please," he said.

"I need time," I said. "I need to figure out what's real and what's not and I can't do that with you around."

"How much time?" Gyran asked.

"I don't know," I said.

Gyran nodded and walked toward the door, he turned back to look at me, and left.

"I love you," he said. "And everything Isabella is telling you is designed to tear us apart and don't let her win."

He left, and I sat down on the couch and put my head in my hands because I didn't know what to believe anymore and the man I married felt like a stranger.