Twisted Ties of Love

Izabella awoke to find a Post-it note on her nightstand.

"Breakfast is in the kitchen, remember to eat."

A small smile formed on Izabella's face as she read the note. The house was silent, indicating that Casey had already left. She didn't know when he had come home back or when he had left that morning.

She got out of bed and walked into the bathroom to freshen up. As she was about to turn on the faucet, she froze when she saw something on her ring finger. It was a diamond ring, neither too big nor too small, just the right size to make her forget its existence.

The design of the engagement ring was simple, but a closer look revealed its intricate craftsmanship.

Casey had prepared the ring a long time ago for a proposal that never happened. They ended up getting married without a formal proposal.

Izabella felt a rush of warmth as she pictured Casey, who was back home late at night and carefully slipped the ring onto her finger while she slept.

Feeling cheerful, she tidied up the room and headed downstairs to the kitchen. The breakfast Casey had prepared for her was kept warm, and she found it to be a selection of her favourite classic American breakfast items - pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon and toast.

Izabella didn't feel quite hungry, so she only had a little of each and stored the rest in the fridge. She could eat them for lunch or even the next morning, they wouldn't go bad.

The morning news was playing on the TV in the living room. Izabella multitasked, washing dishes while listening to the news. When the news mentioned the Windham Group being investigated, she paused for a moment before resuming her task.

The Windham Group was under sudden investigation, and all of its top executives were taken away for questioning. What's more, there were whispers of illegal contraband smuggling, elevating it to an international case.

In the midst of this chaos, the CEO of the Windham Group, Brett, had gone missing. There had been no news from him since the company's lockdown.

Izabella was too preoccupied with her own troubles to worry about Brett. If the investigation found anything incriminating, Brett would be like a rat running from a cat.

At nine in the morning, Izabella was on her way to work when she received a call from Bunny, who wanted to meet her.

"Bella, do you have time today? How about we have lunch together, just the two of us?"

Knowing it wouldn't just be a simple lunch, Izabella agreed. Part of the reason the Dempsey Group was in crisis was because of her, and she felt a responsibility she couldn't shake off. "I'm at the hospital right now, in Mr. Beck's room."

Bunny had chosen a restaurant not far from the hospital. Izabella parked her car in the hospital parking lot and sent a text to Casey, letting him know she was going to have lunch with Bunny near the hospital. As she was about to call Bunny, she spotted her coming out of the hospital. Izabella put away her phone and walked over to meet her.

"Mrs. Dempsey," she waved.

Bunny turned to look at Izabella, her gaze lingering on the ring on Izabella's finger.

"You're married to Casey now, why are you still calling me Mrs. Dempsey? Just call me Bunny."

Izabella hesitated for a moment, not totally ready for the change of her identity. But finally she managed to greet, "Bunny."

Bunny smiled.

She lightly patted Izabella's hand, "Once we get past this crisis, you two will have a proper wedding ceremony. Even if the Dempsey family is not as wealthy as before, we can't skimp on your wedding." Feeling guilty, Izabella shook her head and held Bunny's hand gently, "We can have a simple dinner instead. A wedding ceremony is not necessary."

"That's nonsense, Bella. A wedding is an important event for a woman. You're marrying into the Dempsey family. We can't let you miss out on having a wedding."

Seeing no way out, Izabella nodded.

The restaurant was just a five-minute walk from the hospital. Bunny led Izabella to their reserved booth, and the server began to bring out the food.

Throughout the meal, Bunny would occasionally glance at Izabella, as if wanting to say something.

"Bunny, is there something you want to talk about?"

Bunny hesitated, then nodded, "Yes."

"Go ahead."

"It's about you and Brett."

Izabella's face stiffened, and a wave of unease washed over her. She had expected Bunny to bring up Brett.

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After all, Brett's sudden attack on the Dempsey family was suspicious,

and Bunny would naturally suspect the reason behind it.

Brett had tried to turn Izabella against the Dempsey family, and Bunny must have been aware of this.

Keeping her composure, Izabella looked at Bunny, waiting for her to finish her sentence.

Bunny collected herself, "I called

Brett a couple of days ago, and he

told me some unbelievable things. Į wanted to ask you directly, but I never found the right moment. was afraid it might upset you. Now that

you're married to Casey, I wanted to learn about your past as a family member. If you don't want to talk about it, just forget my question."

Brett always said that people with the Windham blood were naturally bad, that their villainous genes were unchangeable.

Yet Izabella didn't think Bunny was like the Windham family that Brett described.

Just like Casey, Bunny was always considerate.

"Bunny, I had a bizarre past with Brett. I was his ex-wife."

Even though she was prepared, Bunny was still stunned when she heard this "answer" from Izabella.

Earlier when Bunny heard Brett say this on the phone, she thought there was something wrong with his head, that he'd gone crazy, or that he was trying to stir up trouble.

"But wasn't his ex-wife dead? Didn't she die in a fire?"

Izabella admitted, "Yes, I am a person who has died once. It's hard to explain, but have you heard of the phrase 'reincarnation'? I don't know why I died and was able to come back in this body." It was funny that anyone heard about the story would think she was out of her mind, but Bunny didn't.

From a long time ago, Bunny had suspicions about Izabella's identity.

Izabella's original identity "Bell" was concealed by Nathaniel, but it couldn't fool the Dempsey family. If they wanted to investigate, they could always find clues.

The first time Bunny suspected Izabella's identity was when Izabella asked if Casey was Ryker.

At that time, Bunny couldn't figure out the connection. Now that Izabella mentioned reincarnation, all these unexplained things instantly made sense.

Bunny asked, "So, you knew Casey from your past life?"

Izabella said, "Yes, even before I knew Brett."

"I see," Bunny paused, "I always wondered why you were so different from your online persona. So you switched bodies. The person in that viral video was you, wasn't it?"

"At that time, Brett used me as a

bargaining chip and handed me over

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to Nathaniel. That was when Casey was shot and I thought he was. dead. zabella didn't want to talk about the video, but her eyes reddened at the mere mention of it.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

Her calm voice trembled slightly under restraint. Bunny didn't say anything but just sympathetically looked at her.