The Billionaire's Pretend Wife (Isabella)
Chapter 57 Fifty Seven

The next morning, Jacob found that the red marks made by the scratches were still visible and prominent on his face. He had thought that they would have gotten better overnight, but all it would take was one look and someone would notice them.

Since they were on the side of his face, it wasn't even possible to hide them with a cap, so he had to go to work that way. It made him even more pissed off at Jason, who was about to have it that morning.

Of course, it didn't help that he had a meeting that morning. The moment he walked into the conference room, everybody noticed the scratches. People threw him curious looks and whispered among themselves, but he pretended he wasn't aware of the attention and sat down in his seat, ready to kick things off.

Everything would have gone his way if Jason, who was sitting to his left, hadn't leaned in with a concerned frown on his face and asked, "What happened to your face?"

The entire conference room went silent as everybody wanted to hear his answer. What a bunch of nosy people!

Jacob turned to Jason and glared at him, making his animosity known as early as possible. "A cat scratched me." Jason gulped, noticing the hidden threat in Jacob's glare. He was definitely in trouble. "Uh, naughty cat," he replied. "Yeah, I wonder whether I should put him down or not," Jacob said, narrowing his eyes at his vice president.

Jason didn't miss that threat either. A cold shiver ran down his spine and he attempted a placating smile. "He is just a cat, let it go. He was probably just having fun. He didn't mean to hurt you." "He attacked me!" Jacob snapped, his voice a little loud.

"Sir, you should consider trimming your cat's claws," one person suggested. "I've gotten a few scratches from mine too."

Jacob nodded. "Trim his claws. Sounds like a good idea."

All along, his eyes were on Jason. Jason knew without a doubt that he was the cat in this story. Shit, his advice yesterday must have gone really bad.

When Jacob said he should put the cat down... He didn't really mean he would fire him, did he? And trimming his claws...was he going to get demoted? How badly had he messed things up between Jacob and his wife with his 'expert' advice?

Was it too late to fix it?

Knowing that his job could as well be in the balance, Jason spent the duration of the meeting preparing a defence plan. He sure hoped Jacob wasn't entirely done with him yet.

When the meeting ended, all the other participants filed out of the room, leaving the two men behind.

Jason took a deep breath, fighting the urge to rise and relocate to a seat on the other end of the table, far away from Jacob. "What happened?"

"What happened?" Jacob demanded, his face growing dark with fury. "To hell with you and your cursed books. For all the trouble you've caused me, I should deduct your bonus!"

Jason cleared his throat. A bonus deduction was way better than getting demoted or losing his job. He could work around that. "I'm really sorry," he apologised, adopting the most sombre expression he could. I was in his best interest to show Jacob that he hadn't anticipated that the methods in the books wouldn't work. "Maybe that wasn't the brightest idea."

Jacob snorted. "You think?" He shot to his feet and paced, raking a hand through his perfectly coiffed hair. "Do you think my love life is a joke or something?"

"At this point, I think your only option is to sincerely apologise," Jason offered. He wasn't going to try and suggest any of the other methods he thought worked with other women. Jacob's wife was obviously not interested in some grand romantic gesture. Maybe she was just waiting for him to say the right words. "You've probably already apologised, but did you just say sorry, or did you actually acknowledge the offence you caused?"

He knew there was a difference between just saying sorry and acknowledging the hurt caused. Most times, people only said sorry as a formality, to placate the other person, and not because they were sincerely remorseful for what they had done.

If the other person felt you didn't care about how much you had hurt them, getting their forgiveness wouldn't be easy. Maybe that was what was going on with Jacob's wife.

"What happened last night?" he asked.

Jacob sat back down. "I read the books as you advised, and there was one method in particular that always worked to solve the couples' quarrels."

When he paused, Jason asked, "What method is that?"

Jacob gave him a dirty look, as if he thought Jason was fucking with him. But the guy looked truly curious, so Jacob sighed and replied, "Making love."

"Oh," Jason said, and then nodded. "I see how that would work."

Jacob scoffed. "Has it ever worked for you?"

"For me, it usually seals the deal after the gifts and the flowers."

"Well, in those books, no matter how angry the heroine was, all the hero had to do was seduce her, no matter how aggressively, and she would be putty in his hands."

Jason cleared his throat and looked pointedly at the marks on Jacob's face. "I'm guessing that didn't work for you."

Jacob pressed his lips into a thin line. "I suppose real life works a bit different from the fictional world."

Getting serious, Jason told him, "I think you should study her carefully and figure out what she is thinking. What you did made her mad, but why? Maybe you walked all over her pride, or broke her trust. Make her know you're aware of your mistake, and how it hurt her, and make a sincere apology."

"And if that fails too?"

"You can deduct my salary next month," he said confidently.

"I remember you being just as confident about all your other suggestions," Jacob pointed out, arching his brow.

"When the big things don't work, it's the little things that matter," Jason said. "Think of it like this. You can buy your woman designer clothes and bags and cars and a big house, but at the end of the day, if what she wants is your attention and you don't give it to her, you'll lose her. The heart is a wicked little muscle."

"I also remember you sounding just as well-informed and experienced with your previous pieces of advice."

"That's because I didn't know what you were dealing with. It happens that in your case, you need customised solutions. Show her your heart, and I'm sure she'll open hers to you again."

While Jacob was busy calling bullshit to Jason's previous suggestions, he admitted that maybe this time, he was right.

Isabelle had never been hard to please. Not in the way he had thought it would take to please a wealthy heiress. She was sincere and simple and open. She was also a joy to be around-when she wasn't pissed at him.

He had been going around this issue the wrong way. Complicating something that was as simple as opening his heart to her, showing her how truly sorry he was.

"To be honest," Jason interrupted his musings, "if this doesn't work, you should ask yourself whether there is another issue bothering her. Maybe what you think is your crime isn't your only crime. Or maybe she just doesn't want to be with you anymore and is doing her best to drive you away."

"Take that back," Jacob ordered, even as his heart missed a beat. Jason was wrong. Everything had been okay between them until he had made baseless accusations against her. He was sure he hadn't messed up in any other way. The thought of Isabelle deciding she was done with him—

Jason raised his hands in surrender. "Sorry, I was just looking at the possibilities."

"Keep your possibilities to yourself," Jacob advised, getting to his feet. "And pray hard that I don't have to touch your salary."

Jason winked and gave him a thumbs up. "If this fails, I'll admit I don't know women as much as I thought I did."

Jacob rolled his eyes and walked out of the conference room.