The CEO’s Masked Secret Wife

# Chapter 195 - Shattered Illusions and Devastating Truths

Isabella's POV

This nightmare never ends! They have trapped me in this disgusting hellhole for what feels like forever, surrounded by the worst kinds of women society has to offer. The stench, the noise, the constant threat of violence - it makes my skin crawl. And the worst part? They stuck me in the same cage as that vile creature Bianca. Every fiber of my being wants to tear her throat out.

"Princess, you got company! Some fancy lawyer wants to chat with you!" The corrections officer barked at our cell door like the savage animal she is. Her voice grates against my ears like nails on a chalkboard.

"Finally! Daddy sent someone to rescue me from this cesspit." Pure relief flooded through my veins as I practically bounced off my bunk with excitement.

The barbaric guard forced me to spin around and extend my wrists, snapping cold metal cuffs around them before unlocking our cage. As she secured the door behind me, Bianca slithered down from her perch and hissed at me through the bars.

"Listen here, spoiled princess. Make sure that lawyer tells your precious daddy that if he doesn't spring me from this dump too, I'm going to start spilling every dirty secret I know."

"You dare threaten my father? Have you completely lost what little mind you had left?" I shot back, trying to intimidate this pathetic woman into backing down.

"Your daddy's the one who's forgotten exactly what kind of damage I can do. Because when I start talking to the authorities, I won't just destroy him - I'll rip you apart piece by piece, you painted little doll!" Bianca shrieked as the guard roughly shoved me down the corridor.

The humiliating body search that followed made me feel like livestock being inspected at auction. Finally, we reached a visitation room divided into cramped booths, each equipped with a metal stool and ancient telephone. The guard secured my handcuffs in front of my body and pointed me toward the last booth. Through the thick, scratched glass barrier, I froze when I recognized the face staring back at me. He motioned for me to sit and pick up the receiver.

"What kind of sick joke is this? They told me a lawyer was here to see me," I demanded, my confusion turning to anger.

"Have you forgotten already, Isabella? I am a lawyer," Bryce responded from his side of the glass partition, his voice distorted through the cheap phone system.

"What possible reason could you have for coming to this place?" My patience was already wearing thin.

"I needed to have a conversation with you."

"About what exactly?"

"I need to understand what I actually meant to you, Isabella. I was completely devoted to you, and we shared something special from the time we were kids. Then suddenly I discover you're engaged to Sterling and supposedly carrying his baby. For a moment, I even wondered if the child might be mine, but you weren't actually pregnant at all. So please, for the sake of everything we once shared, tell me the truth - what did I really mean to you?"

"Bryce, you're pleasant enough. Being with you was entertaining for a while. But you can't even compete with Liam. He's like a king with his own empire, and you're just... ordinary. Sweet but predictable, still playing second fiddle to your father," I told him with complete honesty. "You need to accept that it's over because the moment I walk out of here, I'm going to become Liam's wife."

"Dear God, you've completely lost touch with reality!" Bryce burst into laughter that echoed through the phone. "Let me bring you up to speed on current events. That little boy you snatched? He's Liam's biological son. Apparently, Liam and Hazel had an encounter at some masked party where neither knew the other's identity, and she became pregnant. They only discovered the truth about each other right before you pulled your kidnapping stunt."

"What are you talking about?" I screamed at this miserable excuse for a man.

"That's right. From what I understand, they were intimate at this party without exchanging names or removing their masks, so they never saw each other's faces. Hazel got pregnant and, by some twist of fate, ended up working directly for her child's father."

"That's impossible."

"Oh, but there's more delicious irony. Hazel is expecting Liam's second child now. Actually pregnant this time!" Bryce announced with obvious satisfaction.

"You're lying! All of this is complete fabrication!" Tears of pure rage began streaming down my face.

"No, Clairemont, every word is true. And here's the most beautiful part - Liam and Hazel are now married and moving into his family's estate." Bryce's grin stretched across his entire face.

"Stop lying to me! I refuse to believe any of this!" I started screaming so loudly that the female guard burst into the room and threatened to throw me into solitary confinement if I didn't control myself immediately. The memory of that punishment cell made me shut my mouth instantly.

"Take a deep breath, Clairemont. I brought you a newspaper so you can read the facts yourself." Bryce pressed the paper against the glass, and I scanned the headlines with growing horror, unable to accept that this woman had stolen everything that belonged to me. When I finished reading, Bryce pulled the paper away. "They're blissfully happy together. Liam is a good man, Isabella, and he deserves a genuine and beautiful woman like Hazel. She's absolutely perfect for him!"

"Shut your mouth, Bryce! I don't want to hear another word!"

"Fair enough. I only came here to confirm what I suspected about your feelings. Thank you for being so brutally honest. Now I can finally close this chapter and move forward with my life. Actually, Isabella, I'm grateful for finally seeing how twisted you really are, for finally understanding that you're completely worthless."

"You're pathetic, Bryce. A mama's boy who lets his mother make all his decisions. I would never seriously commit to someone like you."

"Once again, thank you, Isabella. I genuinely hope prison transforms you into a decent human being." Bryce was about to end the call when I remembered something crucial.

"Bryce, wait. Since you made the effort to visit and seem to know everything that's happening, do you have any information about my parents? My father still hasn't sent any legal representation."

"You haven't heard?" Bryce's smile vanished completely, and he looked deeply uncomfortable with my question.

"Heard what? What am I missing?" I asked with growing dread.

"Listen, Isabella, despite our history, I really didn't want to be the one to deliver this news..." Bryce seemed to be struggling with how to phrase something devastating.

"What news, Bryce? Please just tell me directly."

"Your father is currently running from law enforcement, facing charges for multiple serious crimes, including the murder of Liam's parents."

"But that was an accident."

"The helicopter was deliberately sabotaged, and your father bribed a police official to classify the investigation as accidental."

"What other charges is my father facing, Bryce?"

"Kidnapping the boy, kidnapping Hazel..."

"My father kidnapped that woman?"

"Yes. You really didn't know?"

"Obviously not!"

"Then why did you get involved in any of this, Isabella?"

"Because I just wanted to marry Liam. I wasn't planning to hurt the child - I was just going to hold onto him until Liam agreed to marry me, then return him to his mother. Is there more?"

"My God, you never think anything through... But yes, there's much more. Your father is also charged with massive financial fraud at the Sterling Collective, falsifying documents, and... this is going to devastate you... he's also charged with murdering your mother."

"WHAT?" I screamed and shot to my feet, sending my chair crashing backward.

The female guard returned and Bryce gestured for her to take the phone. He explained what he had just revealed to me. I think she felt some pity for my situation. She uprighted my chair, told me to sit down and compose myself, then left us alone again. I was sobbing from pain, fury, grief, and complete betrayal. I knew my father never loved my mother, but murder?

That crossed every line imaginable.

"Isabella, your mother's remains were discovered last Tuesday in a shallow burial site on a rural property outside the city. She died from suffocation, and investigators found your father's fingerprints on the plastic bag that covered her head. She was killed three days before the discovery," Bryce seemed genuinely uncomfortable delivering this information.

"My father murdered my mother... how is that possible?" I was weeping uncontrollably - this had to be some horrible nightmare.

Bryce held up another newspaper against the glass. The front page detailed every aspect of the investigation, cataloging all of my father's alleged crimes. It filled the entire page. When I finished reading, Bryce removed the paper. I felt completely empty and utterly abandoned.

"Look, Isabella, I'm sorry this is happening, but I don't believe your father is going to help you. Honestly, you brought this on yourself. I'm sorry it's ending this way for you," Bryce said while I stared at him with vacant eyes. "Well, I'm leaving now. This is the last time we'll ever see each other, Isabella. After today, I'm erasing you from my existence completely. Good luck - I hope this experience forces you to examine yourself and become a better person."

Bryce disappeared from view and I barely remember the walk back to my cell. My body moved automatically while my mind shut down completely. When I returned, Bianca immediately started pestering me with questions about the visit, but I simply ignored her existence, collapsed onto my thin mattress, and turned toward the wall.

Too much information to process. I needed time to think through everything that had just shattered my world.