Under His Protection

CHAPTER 33-THE LOWLIFE

Isabella just had to let it rest, she could see the sincerity with every word he said, and even in his confused state, she was sure he meant it when he said he cared about her.

“I am grateful for all your care and good thoughts towards me and the baby.” Isabella finally said as she laid down to sleep.

Vincent didn’t know what to reply, he had wanted to say anything at least to clarify Isabella’s curiosity about his true feelings but he just could not as he didn’t want to get her hopes up about being in love with her.

“Good night,” Vincent replied as he tucked her in properly and switched off the light, but it seemed his night was a bit short as he kept on hearing his phone blazing so loudly, immediately he picked up the call he stepped out of the room as he didn’t want to wake Isabella who was still hooked up in her peaceful sleep.

“Hey Man,” Vincent greeted the familiar voice that was echoing through his phone, “What have you done?” Hall said immediately with a loud and harsh voice, throwing Vincent off balance as he could not remember doing anything that warranted such rebuke from his best friend.

“What do you man, I haven’t done anything.” Vincent replied in his usual joking tone, “What’s wrong?” Vincent continued as he tried to get Hall to get to the chase.

“Where did you go last night??” Hall asked his tone increasing slightly, Vincent could already tell something was wrong as Hall wasn’t someone to question his whereabouts but he needed him to come straight.

“Hall please tell me what’s going on,” Vincent ordered as he waited patiently for his reply, “You are all over the news!” Hall announced with a firm voice.Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.

“So what do bad about being on the news?” Vincent asked still confused, “There is a big problem, apparently you were seen with Isabella yesterday when you both left the cinema and there has been an uproar in the movie industry since this morning.” Hall replied.

“Oh my God!” Vincent exclaimed as he immediately hung up the call to see the news for himself, and there it was on every page “Vincent Storm seen with a LOWLIFE!”, confused about his next actions, Vincent quickly called back his best friend.

“Can you get it down??” Vincent asked as Hall picked up the call, they had their way of dealing with stuff like this. “It didn’t work out, it seemed the source had refused to take it down and it had blown over to be able to stop it at that moment,” Hall replied his voice palpable of his frustration.

“This is bad especially for your career, in fact, what were you thinking?” Hall asked curiously as he reprimanded Vincent. “You know just how delicate this industry could be, and that Isabella not being in the same class as you will only cause more trouble, especially with the way you had maintained your up game.”

“That doesn’t matter right now,” Vincent replied casually, he wasn’t worried about his career at that moment but all he wanted was a way to make sure Isabella did not get to see all the hateful comments.

Jessica had hired someone to follow Vincent and Isabella up and didn’t fail to use up the slightest opportunity to their advantage in fact, Vincent’s mother had helped to make sure no one could bring down the post.

“I just really hope Isabella does not get to see this,” Vincent replied now visibly worried, he knew she had mentioned something about this yesterday and that she would not be happy.

“Wait! Are you seriously worried about Isabella right now? ” Hall questioned his voice evident of his surprise, he wondered what was going on with Vincent. “You are about to lose all your hard work and sacrifice but all you worry about is Isabella??”

“Isabella is my wife remember, and I need to protect her,” Vincent replied as he hung up the call, as he walked towards the room he decided to make sure he refrained from Isabella from using the Internet at least until he found a way to get the post down but to his surprise, she was already up and with her phone.

And with Isabella’s expression, Vincent did not need a soothsayer to know that she had seen the post. “I guess I was too late,” Vincent said as he walked up close to Isabella.

“I warned you about this!” Isabella remarked as tears flowed down her cheeks, apparently, Audrey had called her a few minutes after Vincent had left the room, and reading all the hateful comments had made her sad.

“I am sorry Isabella, I did not know it would get to this state.” Vincent pleaded as he tried to console her but he could see how hurt she was. “I’m going to fix it, I promise,” Vincent assured her as he held her in his warm embrace.

Isabella knew this wasn’t the time for this but she could feel all her worries melting at his arms and his words soothing as they calmed her heart, she didn’t know why but she saw herself trusting Vincent completely.

Without wasting much time, Vincent swung into action as he got ready to meet up with Hall, “Where are you?” Vincent asked as he entered his car, he knew Hall was the only one who could help him get out of this mess.

Immediately Vincent got to the Hospital, he had to disguise himself and went straight to Hall’s office, and thankfully he was not busy at the moment.

“What’s up with you, I thought we were going to meet up later?” Hall asked surprised at Vincent’s visit, ” But we need to do something as fast as possible!” Vincent stated his voice full of concern.

“Why?” Hall asked with so much curiosity, he knew Vincent was not worried when they spoke earlier and wondered why he was now so eager to get things solved.

“Because the comments are all against Isabella and it was all my fault, ” Vincent admitted his voice evident of his worries.

“What do you mean?” Hall questioned. “It was my idea to go on a date and she did not want to go but I made her, what do I do now?” Vincent confessed as he turned to Hall for advice.

Hall knew the only way was to come clean to the press about their relationship but would only cause more harm in Vincent’s career and with the way the comments were going it would only get more difficult for Isabella.

“I don’t think there is anything you can do about this let’s just allow this to go down naturally,” Hall remarked as he tried his best to calm Vincent of his worries.

“But isn’t there a way to speed up the process??” Vincent asked anxiously as he thought about his next step..” I think I have a plan!” he announced with a firm voice.

“And what is it?” Hall asked suspiciously, he hoped Vincent was not thinking of doing something rash.

“I am going to give them a bigger storyline!” Vincent announced with a mischievous smile, he knew this wasn’t the only way, he was going to call a press conference and announce Isabella as his wife.

But Hall was already worried, he knew Vincent was smart and would think about doing just what he feared. “What do you mean by a bigger story??” Hall questioned.

“I am going to call a press conference and I’m telling the whole world Isabella is my wife!” Vincent finally said.

“Are you out of your mind? do you want to do this” Hall shouted angrily, he knew this was going to happen. “Please Vincent, you need to calm down and think about this, there will be no going back once you call the press.” Hall continued as he tried to calm him down but it all fell on deaf ears.

Vincent knew Hall was right, there were going to be bad consequences but he didn’t have any other better options and he certainly could not watch Isabella go through more pain.

It only took a few minutes for Vincent to arrange a press conference and especially with his story being the most trendy at that moment within an hour all attention was going to him instead.

“I know you want to protect Isabella and I understand why, but don’t you think you are going too far with this?” Hall asked his voice laced with concern, but Vincent had made up his mind.

“I understand your fears but I am fine,” Vincent assured as he got up to leave for the press meeting, though Hall was not in support of his best friend’s decision he just had to respect him.

As Vincent drove towards the venue, he wondered what had come over him, he wasn’t one to put others’ needs first, especially when his career was at stake but this felt different and all he knew was that it felt right to protect Isabella and that’s what he was going to do no matter what.