After I Stopped Loving Him (Isabella and Ethan) novel Chapter 413

“Isabella, can you stop being so aggressive?” Natalie finally dropped the act. “Yes, I kept your wedding gift at the Lane family house. So what? The Lane family raised you. You owe us for that. You should be grateful.”

“If it wasn’t for the Lane family, do you really think you would have grown up safe, or ever married Ethan?”

“That gift is your way of paying us back. You can forget about getting it back.”

Natalie wasn’t pretending anymore. She had no intention of returning Isabella’s wedding gift. Ethan already told her she didn’t have to. Most of the gifts—cash, jewelry, designer bags—she had already used up. Only the house wasn’t officially in her name yet. The cash was long gone, invested with her own money. Even if she wanted to, she couldn’t come up with that amount now.

So she dug in her heels. She knew Ethan would back her up.

“Natalie, were you not listening?” Isabella’s voice was steady, but there was a sharp edge to it. “Ethan’s wedding gift was given to me. It’s mine, not the Lane family’s, not yours. Not even my mom has a right to it.”

“So you’re really not planning to give it back? Fine. I’ll call a press conference tomorrow. We’ll see what everyone thinks about your actions and whether they’re even legal.”

“And don’t start talking to me about how much I owe the Lane family. My mom married Jackson because it was good for both of them. She spent twenty years in that house raising Jordan.”

“If you want to talk about gratitude, then let’s talk about my mom and Jordan. He was just ten when my mom married Jackson. Jackson was always busy with work and barely paid attention to his son. My mom took care of Jordan, raised him, gave him all the motherly love that should have been mine. If she tried to be nice to me, Jordan would get jealous and throw fits.”

“He took away my mom’s love, and now you’re taking my wedding gift. Honestly, you two make a perfect pair.”

“Don’t even try to get in the middle, Ethan,” Isabella cut him off, her voice cold. “Let me make this clear. There’s no way we’re making peace over this. Either she gives me back my wedding gift or we settle this in court.”

Isabella didn’t give Ethan a chance to say anything else. Her stare was icy, and Ethan looked like he wanted to speak, but couldn’t bring himself to say a word. The guilt was written all over his face.

Natalie tried one last time. “Ethan gave me the gift, and he said I don’t have to return it.”

Isabella just laughed, but there was no warmth in it. “Ethan gave the wedding gift to me. That means it’s my property. Even he can’t just decide what happens to it now. His opinion doesn’t matter anymore.”

Unless Ethan divorced her, that wedding gift was hers and hers alone.