03. Don't Go.

ISABELLE. 

“Let’s go home.” 

Just three words, but my body went tight. 

“I don’t want to go there,” I mumbled against his chest. 

Roman kept rubbing my back. “We’re not going there. We’re going to my place.” 

I relaxed against him. 

Roman picked me up like I weighed nothing and carried me to the car. 

I stayed curled against him in the back seat, grateful for the silence. 

At least until my phone rang. 

I ignored it. 

It rang a second time. Then a third, and I finally forced my limbs to reach for my purse. I pulled the phone out just in time to see the caller. 

My Heart. A heart emoji and a padlock. 

William. 

I silenced the phone and dropped it back into my purse.

Throughout the ride, I felt it vibrate five more times. Or was it seven?

I lost track. My mind was too busy replaying everything in slow motion.

William kneeling. The look in his eyes when he saw me.

Was it fear? Shock? Anger? 

Whatever it was, it hadn’t been enough to make him follow me. 

He must have put the ring on her finger after I left, right?

My hand went to my bare finger, and I suddenly wondered if that was my ring. Was that why he had taken it last night? 

To give it to Chloe? 

I pushed the thought away, but another took its place. 

How did his friends not know we were married?

Yes, I had asked for a small wedding. I hadn’t wanted anyone from my old life finding out where I was.

But there were guests. At least fifty people, most of whose names I didn’t know.

Had none of his friends attended? Or had he simply never told them?

Was he ashamed of me? Did he think I was a vase, too?

The car slowed as we approached the gates of a villa. Guards lined the entrance, and more men were patrolling inside.

No surprise there. 

I knew Roman was being groomed to take charge. He probably had double the security in hiding. 

When the car stopped, I let him carry me inside. I didn’t trust my legs to hold me. 

For how beautiful and guarded the exterior of the house was, the inside was surprisingly plain. 

Everything was in monochrome colors. No portraits, paintings, or custom pieces.

Just the necessities. It felt more like a place to stay than a home. 

Roman set me on a couch and disappeared through another door. 

My phone vibrated again. I pulled it out and looked at the screen. 

I had counted wrong. 

Fifteen missed calls from William. Three from Sandra. 

I had almost forgotten her. Almost forgotten that while my husband proposed to another woman, my best friend played the host. 

Roman returned with a mug. 

He took the phone from my hand and replaced it with a warm drink. Then he switched the phone off and set it beside me. 

“Turn it back on when you feel like talking to him.” 

I put it in my purse. I wasn’t going to feel like talking to William tonight. 

Or tomorrow. 

If you asked me, I would prefer if we could wind back time. Or that I would wake up and discover this had all been a bad dream. 

I took a sip. Warm milk. Honey and vanilla. 

Was it a coincidence or did he remember? 

After taking some sips, I glanced at him. “Say it.” 

One eyebrow lifted.  An expression that I didn’t realize I missed until now crossed his face. “Say what?” 

I shrugged. “I know you are dying to say ‘I told you so’.” 

He was silent for some seconds, but I saw his expression soften. 

“No, Belle.”

He cursed under his breath in Italian. Despite his attempts to teach me years ago, I had never learned enough to understand him.

“The only thing I’m dying to do right now is send that bastard to hell.”

I almost laughed.

It was the look on his face. His mouth had settled into a small pout, as though someone had denied him something he badly wanted.

“But,” he continued, “I think ruining him slowly would be better.”

I had no answer.

When he stood, I was grateful for the chance to look away.

He returned with a first-aid kit and knelt beside me. Then he took off my heels.

I leaned forward.

There was a small cut on the side of my foot, beside my little toe.

The champagne glass. I hadn’t even felt it.

I sat still while Roman cleaned the cut and covered it with a Band-Aid.

When he stood, his fingers went to the pin holding my bun, and my hair fell with one pull.

He said nothing this time.

Even if he did, I couldn’t argue with him. Right now, even breathing felt like a chore. 

Roman left after that. I occasionally heard him moving around the house or walking behind me, but he simply allowed me to have my silence. 

And like a fool, I kept replaying the scene. 

Seduce? William had courted me for more than a  year. We met during my internship, and he courted me through my final year. For every day of that year, he made sure that no day went past without seeing me. 

Even when he went on trips, he video called. Sent gifts. Sent food. 

At one point, he was choosing what I ate for every meal. He made sure that I couldn’t forget him. 

Not even when I begged him to stop. 

It had taken time for me to warm up to him. Sure, he was attractive. He had brown curls that he always styled carefully, and brown eyes that shone like the sun. 

But they never made my heart race the way a certain pair of green eyes used to. 

William was gentle, though. A gentleman. After a while, I got used to seeing him. Then I started to wait for him and look forward to seeing him. 

“Don’t think about that man around me.”

Roman’s voice broke into my thoughts. 

I looked up. 

“I’ve prepared a room for you,” he continued. “But first, you need dinner.” 

I pressed my lips together. Food was the last thing I wanted.

He met my reluctance with a hard stare. “Dinner, Princess.”

I didn’t move.

“You’ll need the energy to soak your pillow later.”

I looked away.

He remembered that, too.

He still knew that I found it impossible to cry in front of others. 

Even though my nose was stinging with tears that wanted to rush out, I somehow always managed to hold it back until I was alone. 

I set the mug down and let him lead me to the dining room.

Dinner was quiet. I tried to hold my fork, but my right hand shook so badly I switched it to my left.

That wasn’t much better.

Roman pulled his chair beside mine. Then he took the fork.

I pressed my lips together when he held out a bite.

“It’s your favorite,” he said. “You’re really not going to eat?”

I glared at him.

He lowered the fork and raised his free hand in surrender.

“Cristo, Belle. I’m not the one you should be mad at.” 

“Just leave me alone for tonight,” I countered. 

His mouth curved, revealing one cheek dimple.

“I warned you, Princess. You should have been worried.”

I lunged at him before I could think, hitting his chest with both fists.

“You were dying to say it!”

He laughed and caught my hands. “I smelled trouble the moment I saw that picture.”

“Roman.”

“Next time, listen to me.”

I didn’t know how he managed it. My heart was still breaking. I was still angry with him.

But I smiled.

Only a little. Enough to loosen something in my chest. And when he offered the fork again, I took a bite.

Then another.

After dinner, he led me to the bedroom.

“There are clothes for you to change into,” he said, standing at the door. 

Then he pointed at the pillow. “Don’t let it get too wet, okay?” He teased. 

I rolled my eyes at him. 

As he turned to leave, the words fell out on their own. 

“Please, don’t go.”