After I Stopped Loving Him (Isabella and Ethan) novel Chapter 778

The Cabinda Hotel.

Tonight, the hotel was closed to everyone except a select group of guests. The entire place had been reserved for a private banquet, and the people attending were the elite of Cabinda—business leaders, celebrities, anyone who mattered. You either had money, influence, or both to get an invite.

Laura had never set foot in a gathering like this before, not even as someone’s plus-one. She might own her own business, but in a crowd like this, she barely registered. Isabella, on the other hand, was practically a household name. That was mostly thanks to her marriage to Ethan Adams. Their wedding had been the talk of the city, a luxurious event everyone remembered. Even after their divorce, Ethan’s very public attempts to win her back kept her in the public eye. People still treated her with the same respect they always had.

Jesse picked Laura up at her place. She’d put on an evening gown and the jewelry he’d given her, kept her makeup soft, slipped on a pair of heels, and held onto Jesse’s arm as she got out of the car. High heels weren’t her thing. She remembered Isabella had hated them at first too, but after marrying into money and running her business, Isabella had to dress up for events like this all the time. Now she wore heels like it was nothing.

Laura didn’t have that kind of ambition or the heart to give up her writing. She was happy running her little shop, where she didn’t need to network or dress up. Most days, she wore flats. Tonight, if Jesse hadn’t been there to steady her, she probably would have tripped before even walking through the door.

“Laura, take it easy,” Jesse said gently, noticing how tense she was. “You don’t have to be nervous or scared. You’re my date tonight.”

She lowered her voice. “I just don’t want to embarrass you.”

“I barely get involved in business stuff. Isabella handles all of that. I guess I need to get out more instead of hiding in my shop all day.”

Writers were natural homebodies. Before she opened her store, Laura would spend days at home, writing nonstop. If she wasn’t out shopping for a break, she was glued to her keyboard, thinking about her daily word count and what would happen in the next chapter. She never planned out her stories. Even the main character’s names were picked at the last minute in her writing app. Sometimes, she’d find out what happened next only a little before her readers did. When she got stuck, she’d turn off her computer and call up some local writer friends to go for a walk, just to clear her head.

“You and Isabella are partners, and the company is doing great. It would help if you met clients more often. That way, Isabella wouldn’t have to carry everything on her own. Right now, she’s basically running the whole company you all started together.”