She'd checked her savings—she was still a few million short of fifty million. There was no way around it; she'd have to borrow the rest from her friends.

Sophia Clark sounded incredulous. "Why on earth do you need to borrow money? Are you short on cash? Why not just ask your husband? I bet he'd give it to you in a heartbeat."

By "husband," she meant Andrew Lane.

Ever since Sophia found out Isabella was pregnant, she'd started calling Andrew Isabella's husband without hesitation. The title just rolled off her tongue.

The funny thing was, Isabella quite liked hearing it, and Andrew never corrected her -so Sophia kept right on with it.

Isabella gave her the bare bones: a quick explanation about Larry Mitchell and the recording. Sophia's brows knit tighter with every word.

"Emily Blair is demanding fifty million from you?” Sophia almost shrieked. "Has she lost her mind? That's outrageous!"

Her voice was loud enough to make Isabella glance nervously toward the bathroom. She lowered her own voice to a whisper, "Keep it down, will you? Andrew's here with me. I haven't told him about any of this."

Sophia, ever the sharp one, immediately understood. This wasn't something you wanted your husband to know, not if you could help it. And honestly, the best way to handle Emily Blair was probably to pay her off and be done with it.

Still, the sheer audacity of Emily's demand-fifty million-was enough to make Sophia's blood boil.

She couldn't help but ask, frowning, "When you met with Larry Mitchell, didn't you notice he was recording you?"

That was exactly the sore spot for Isabella. She'd let her guard down and missed the fact that Larry was recording the conversation-now Emily had her right where she wanted her.

What really stung was that Emily had immediately caught Isabella trying to record her in return. She'd stomped Isabella's recorder to bits before she could even react, leaving Isabella with no leverage at all.

Isabella kept her voice low. "Let's not talk about that. Do you have five million? I'll pay you back next month."

Sophia hesitated, then sighed. "I do... but why not just tell Andrew? He might be able to fix this for you."

Sophia knew Isabella held five percent of I&A's shares, and that she'd be able to pay her back, no problem. But the idea of Emily Blair bold enough to ask for fifty million just made Sophia's skin crawl. She couldn't stand the thought of Emily getting away with it.

Isabella, for her part, would have loved to let Andrew handle everything. He cared about her, and she knew he'd do anything for her if she asked. But she couldn't shake the worry that it would change the way he saw her-she didn't want him to think less of her because of this mess. So she'd grit her teeth and deal with it herself.

Her eyes clouded with frustration. "If I tell Andrew, he won't say anything, but he'll definitely think differently of me... Just transfer the five million if you can. I'll pay you back next month."

Sophia understood and let out a long sigh. "Alright. I'll send it now."

A smile finally broke through on Isabella's face. "Thank you, Sophia.”

"Don't mention it."

The call had barely ended when the bathroom door swung open. Andrew Lane emerged, wrapped in a bathrobe, skin still damp from the shower. His head was bowed as he dried his wet hair with a towel, a few dark strands clinging to his forehead.

He met Isabella's gaze, his voice gentle. "Go ahead and take your shower."

She nodded, grabbed a matching bathrobe from the hook, and slipped into the bathroom.