After I Stopped Loving Him novel Chapter 23

“Of course,” Laura chimed in, her tone light and easy. “Mr. Adams runs such a huge company. It makes sense he’s busy all the time. I totally get it.”

She glanced around the parking lot. “Is this spot really okay for you? It’s a bit of a hike from the entrance. If Ethan ends up a little tipsy later, you’ll have your hands full getting him back to the car.”

The driver looked from the car to the bar’s front door. She had a point. It was farther than he’d realized, but there hadn’t been any closer spots when they arrived.

With the driver distracted, Isabella made her move. She slid out of the car, crouched low behind a nearby SUV, and kept moving from one vehicle to the next, careful not to be seen as she made her way toward the bar.

“There weren’t any open spots up front,” the driver said with a tired shrug.

“Yeah, can’t be helped,” Laura replied, still smiling. “My friends and I came to grab a drink, too. We’ll head in now.”

“Alright. Have a good evening, Ms. Charles.”

The driver watched Laura and her friends walk toward the bar, only looking away when they disappeared inside. He glanced back at the BMW, still bothered by the license plate. Something about it felt familiar, but he couldn’t place it. He remembered that Ms. Charles hadn’t driven to Ethan’s wedding, so there was no way he knew her car. But if it wasn’t her car, why had she gotten out of it?

Then it clicked—she’d come from the passenger side. Where was the driver?

He walked over to check, but the car was empty. Maybe the driver had left earlier and he just hadn’t noticed. That seemed likely enough. Shaking his head, he let it go and walked away, no longer thinking about it.

Meanwhile, Isabella slipped quietly into the bar, texting her friends to find out which private room they were in.

“She won’t,” the first friend said, his voice flat. “She’s never going to divorce him. She was never really in love with you, Ethan. She just liked having you there for her, always doing things for her, always making her the center of your world.”

Ethan stayed silent, just pouring himself another drink and swallowing it in one go. He was in a foul mood, and the idea of going home to see Isabella made everything worse.

“Don’t tell me you didn’t even go home to your wife tonight,” someone said.

Ethan’s voice was cold. “Don’t mention Isabella Lane to me. She’s not my wife. She’s just a pawn. I’ve never even kissed her.”

The man next to him, Harold Carter, had known Ethan since they were kids. He and Jordan Lane had never gotten along, even though they’d grown up together. Privately, they avoided each other, their personalities just too different to ever really mesh.