Twisted Ties of Love
Chapter 488

"Navarro, didn't we say hands off?" Izabella heard one of Nolan's men utter, confirming her suspicion that there was a puppet master behind her abduction.

It was clear that Brett was not among her captors. Could it be Nathaniel?

Izabella's suspicions were quickly confirmed. The abandoned factory was eerily quiet, so much so that she could hear the rustling of leaves outside, the sound of a car approaching, and the subsequent rolling of wheels on the concrete floor.

Her breath hitched in her throat.

Nolan rose from his chair, a lit cigarette in his hand. "Our guest has arrived," he said in a hushed tone.

Izabella's hands were still bound behind her. She heard movement behind her and turned her head slightly to see.

A man was being wheeled in. From a distance, his face gradually emerged from the shadows. It was indeed Nathaniel.

She couldn't help but think that she and Nathaniel were star-crossed. Like with Brett, she must have done something terrible to him in a past life. For she had fallen into his clutches three times now.

The first time was when Brett handed her over to him.

The second time, he cornered her, his pleas masking his coercion.

And now, this third time, he had drugged and kidnapped her. Damn Nathaniel!

Izabella could only regret her earlier leniency. She should have jabbed a needle in Nathaniel's brain when she had the chance, turning him into a drooling idiot and preventing him from causing her more trouble.

As Nathaniel was wheeled closer to Izabella, he seemed to read her thoughts and a smirk played on his lips.

He was visibly thinner, his face pallid. His once fair complexion now resembled aged parchment under the dim light. His hair had grown out, covering his eyelids, and his dull eyes only moved when he looked at someone. His eyes were sunken, his entire demeanor gloomy, making it difficult to meet his gaze.

"Izabella." His voice was raspy, both his physical appearance and mental state had changed. Izabella had always been somewhat afraid of Nathaniel.

No one liked pain, and the sight of him triggered a conditioned response of fear in her heart.

The Nathaniel before her now was even more sinister than before. When he was wheeled in from the darkness, he resembled a demon fresh from the pits of hell, inducing fear out of the blue. "How does it feel to have broken legs?" Izabella asked, feigning concern as if greeting an old friend.

"Aren't you the best person to answer that?" Nathaniel's smile was laced with malice, reminding Izabella of when she herself had broken legs. Izabella remained silent, turning her gaze back to Nolan. He and Nathaniel were working together, and the reasons were not hard to figure out. First, Nolan must have believed that Kaley's death was due to her and Brett. So when Nathaniel approached him with an offer, he readily agreed. Second, Nathaniel's legs were broken and his assets had been stripped by Brett and Beck. He had abducted Izabella to retaliate against them. Third, as Nolan had initially stated, they wanted to learn the secret behind Izabella's reincarnation: one for Kaley, the other for Bell.

"Can you untie my hands? They're getting numb. With so many of you, I can't escape anyway."

"Don't worry, we'll untie you soon," said Nathaniel. "I have brought her in."

Nolan grunted in agreement, not daring to object. This was part of the agreement they had made from the start - Nathaniel would provide the finances, Nolan the manpower, and after Izabella was captured, she would be handed over to him.

Izabella was hoisted up and led into one of the rooms in the desolate factory. The flickering lights revealed a room filled with rusty chains on the walls, tangled wires on the floor, and a box in the hands of one o Nathaniel's men.

"Doesn't this remind you of the old dark room? You know, Izabella, I've always cherished the footage of your struggles. It's quite entertaining to watch whenever I'm bored. I close my eyes, and I can still see your agonized face."

Izabella clenched her fists. "Did you kidnap me just to relive the past?"

"No, not to relive," Nathaniel said solemnly. "I would never subject Bell to the same treatment I subjected you."

Perhaps that was the difference between love and hate. It was a shame Nathaniel had realized this too late. Bell was already gone, and his words were nothing more than empty sentiment.

Just like a wilted sunflower can't wait for the tardy sun, watering a dead plant is futile.

"Nathaniel, your words are disgusting. Maybe Bell was thinking of coming back, but hearing this would make her sick."

"Can't you keep your mouth shut?" Nathaniel snapped.

"Isn't a shut mouth still a mouth?" Izabella retorted. She should be stalling for time and protecting herself, but Nathaniel managed to get under her skin, making her feel sorry for Bell. "Nathaniel, did you love Bell?" Izabella asked, answering herself, "Probably not. Think about it, you drove her to death, you didn't do a single good thing for her. You used her as a placeholder. Threatened her, forced her to do things she didn't like. You hit her, insulted her with the vilest words, and finally, you handed her over to someone else."

"What good does it do to be soulful now, huh? Where were you when she was slandered all over the internet? Where were you when Brett broke her fingers? And when she was being bullied and almost exploited at the office, where were you then? And what about her blood-sucking relatives? You knew what kind of environment she grew up in, unloved by her parents, ridiculed by her brother, almost sold to a divorced man twice her age when she was barely 17. She thought you were her salvation when she finally escaped that hell, but oh, how wrong she was. You turned out to be the final nail in her coffin, Nathaniel. How does it feel knowing she endured all that only to be driven to her death by you?"

Bell was already dead.

No one cared for Bell when she was alive, respected her, loved her. She died amidst a cacophony of slander.

And no one knew she was dead until Izabella took her place, starring in TV shows, appearing on reality programs, investing in films. People noticed her change, but no one really cared. They thought she had simply figured out a new way to survive. But what they didn't know was that the person they thought they knew was already gone.

"Whether I love her or not isn't for you to decide. When she comes back, I'll tell her myself," Nathaniel responded, surprisingly calm.

"What if she doesn't come back?" Izabella challenged.

"Then I'll go find her," Nathaniel said. He had attempted suicide a few times in his fits of despair but was never successful. He had tried overdose and even slit his wrists in the bathtub.

Comparatively, it might be easier for him to join Bell than to bring her back. Brett's recent actions have been pushing him towards a dead-end. He would be gone in an instant if he let his guard down. Even if Bell did come back, he wouldn't be able to protect her.

"Bell died because of you and now you want to haunt her after her death? Nathaniel, can't you take a hint and stop tainting her memory?" Izabella shot back.

A sharp pain lanced through Nathaniel's chest, and he tasted a sweet metallic tang in his throat. He finally understood how he had managed to make Brett cough up blood in anger, and why Brett had suffered so much after Izabella's death.

He had never wanted to become like Brett, but the universe had a cruel sense of humor.

Every action has consequences.

Just as he had betrayed Bell, stole her affections, and never returned them, karma had come for him.

The most ironic part was that while he had mocked Brett for his stupidity, at least Brett had the chance to apologize and repent. He didn't even have the chance to say his last words at Bell's funeral.

To keep Izabella pinned against the wall, he had to untie the ropes binding her hands behind her back.

Nathaniel ordered his men to untie her and chain her to the wall.

He didn't want to harm Bell's body with harsh drugs. He wanted Bell to come back, but he didn't know if electrocution would work.

If it didn't, he was prepared to inject Izabella with a contagious substance. It would have minimal effects on her body but could be deadly if transmitted to a man.

The substance was his latest creation, a desperate attempt to keep "Bell's" body forever untainted.

Nathaniel's possessiveness bordered on the pathological.

If Bell was still alive, he would keep her chained to his side, never letting her out of his sight. He wouldn't allow anyone else to come close to her, even if he died, he would still control her body. Izabella was secretly gathering her strength. As soon as they untied her hands, she threw herself backwards and bolted towards the factory exit. Everything happened so quickly. Izabella had learned a few self-defense moves from Toby, and she knew she needed to stay calm in this dire situation. The factory was filled with discarded items, and she quickly picked up a shard of glass.

She dodged anyone who came close and didn't hesitate to aim the glass shard at their throats. She didn't manage to stab anyone, but she did manage to leave a deep cut. Izabella was panting heavily, blood rushing to her head. She felt her eyes well up with tears, her ears buzzed. She was terrified, but she knew she had to survive. The men hesitated to harm Izabella, fearing they might hurt her. She was nimble, but she was no match for a dozen men. She was soon knocked to the ground.

Her attempt to escape was futile. Izabella's eyes were burning with hatred as she glared at Nathaniel. Nathaniel returned her gaze with a smirk and praised her futile efforts. "Not bad, you've improved a bit, learned to fight back. You managed to injure three men. Impressive, but still useless."

After getting off the plane, Casey received a text from Izabella. The airport was too crowded and noisy to make a call, so Casey texted her back. He planned to call Izabella once he got in the car, but no one answered.

He wanted to surprise Izabella with his return, but instead, she had planned a surprise dinner for him.

Casey had so much he wanted to say to Izabella, it felt like a lifetime wouldn't be enough. But as he was about to meet her, he suddenly felt nervous and didn't know what to say.

He had regained all his memories, and pretending to have amnesia was no longer an option. He didn't want to lie to Izabella because of "Lucas”.

Besides, Izabella had always had Ryker in her heart, unable to forget him. There were too many regrets between them. If he told her that he was Ryker, that he hadn't died, she might be overjoyed.

The future was long, but in the blink of an eye, there might be no future. Even a second was too much to lose.

After failing to get through on the phone and receiving no reply to his texts, Casey assumed Izabella was just busy. But soon, he noticed a missed call from Toby.

Toby wouldn't call him unless it was important. He called back, and the voice on the other end told him that Izabella was missing, and she had been gone for about 40 minutes.

The excitement of seeing Izabella again was replaced by a fear he had never felt before.

It was a fear he didn't even feel when he switched clothes with Brett to distract the kidnappers, or when he fell off a cliff and was hanging by a thread between life and death.

He had felt this fear before, when he saw Izabella being tortured right in front of him, her fingers pierced with one steel needle after another. When he had nightmares about Izabella burning to death in a fire while he was tied to a bed, forced to forget her under hypnosis. That was the same kind of fear.

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