LOGINShare
Chapter 171
publish date:
2026-08-24 07:10:38
Latest chapter
Ruin me, Gently Chapter 176
ISABELLE I saw the guilt before he even reached us.It was in the way he walked — not the confident stride I remembered but something more careful. More considered.He stopped at our table.“Sage.” He acknowledged her first.Sage looked at him. Said nothing. Just picked up her coffee.He cleared his throat and turned to me.“Hi Bella.”I took a moment.“Hi,” I said.Simple. Polite. Nothing added.“Good to see you.” He paused. “You look good.” A small, uncomfortable laugh. “This feels weird. I know.” He exhaled. “But I’ve wanted to say something for a long time. I couldn’t reach out — you know why — so I’m glad I have the chance now.”He held my gaze.“I’m sorry, Bella. For everything I put you through. The way I handled things. The way it all came out.” He paused. “I’m also sorry on Aurora’s behalf. She’s my wife now.” Another small laugh — this one different. More resigned. “I didn’t exactly plan it that way, but she was having my child, and I had to make it work.” He looked at me s
Ruin me, Gently Chapter 175
ISABELLE I pulled up outside Sage’s building on a Tuesday afternoon and sent a text to let her know I was around.Her front door swung open almost immediately.She appeared — then stopped dead on the pavement when she saw the car.I rolled down the window. “Get in.”She didn’t move. Just stood there looking at it.“Sage.”“Give me a moment.”She walked around it slowly — taking the full tour, hand trailing along the side — before finally opening the passenger door. She tossed her bag into the footwell and settled in.Then looked around the interior.“He got you this,” she said.“Birthday gift,” I said.“Bella.” She turned to face me. “This is not a birthday gift. This is a man making a statement.”I pulled away from the curb.We were two streets in when I felt her go still beside me.I kept my eyes on the road.“Bella.” Her voice had dropped.“Mm.”“Is that—” She stopped. “On your hand. Is that a—”I felt the blush arrive before I could stop it.“Yes,” I said quietly.“Yes what?”“Ye
Ruin me, Gently Chapter 174
ISABELLEI woke up to an empty bed.Not unusual. Matt was an early riser by habit — years of schedules that started before the rest of the world had decided to. I stretched slowly, one hand finding the warm indent where he had been, and lay there for a moment in the quiet.My bump was more visible now.Fifteen weeks and the roundness was undeniable. I pressed my palm flat against it the way I always did first thing in the morning.“Good morning,” I said quietly.The door opened.Matt. In his sleep shorts and a simple shirt, standing in the doorway. He stopped when he saw me — sitting up against the pillows, hand on my stomach.Something moved through his expression.“You’re up,” he said.“You left,” I said.“I was getting things ready.” He crossed to the bed and pressed a kiss to my forehead. Then to my stomach. “Good morning.”“Good morning,” I said. “Both of us.”He almost smiled.“Come,” he said. “Let’s get ready and have breakfast.”………Matt and I did our thing and were out of the
Ruin me, Gently Chapter 173
ISABELLE He reached for it on the side table.Lucia.We looked at each other. Then at the phone. Then at each other again.I laughed. “You better answer that.”“I should call Sage back too,” I added.He picked up.Two faces filled the screen simultaneously.Lucia. And Sage.Sitting side by side — Lucia’s workspace visible behind them, fabric swatches and mood boards spread across a table. Sage apparently having found herself in the middle of a Lucia Moretti project on a Saturday afternoon and looking entirely too pleased about it.Matt and I stared at the screen.“Hello,” Lucia said pleasantly.“Hi,” Sage said. Grinning already.“How did you two—” I started.“I needed a second opinion on a layout,” Lucia said. “Sage happened to be available.”“I was not available,” Sage said. “I dropped everything immediately and came.” She looked between us on the screen. “Now. Are we going to talk about the two of you setting the entire country on fire today or—”“Oh, did we?” I said. My best attem
Ruin me, Gently Chapter 172
ISABELLEThe ice cream place was exactly what he hadn’t described — small, tucked between two quieter streets, the kind of place that had clearly been there for decades and intended to stay. A handwritten board. Three flavors Matt somehow already knew were exceptional.We walked with our cups through the mild morning, and it was — ordinary. Completely ordinary. In the best possible way.Just two people walking. His hand finding mine between bites. Me stealing from his cup twice and being caught both times.The park came naturally after.We found a bench near the path and sat.Our ice cream cups still in hand — the last of them melting quietly in the mild morning air.It was there that Matt saw them first — a couple, not much older than us. A stroller between them. The father crouching to adjust something on the baby’s blanket while the mother watched with an expression I recognized as tired and completely in love simultaneously.“That’ll be us soon,” Matt said quietly.Not a question.
Ruin me, Gently Chapter 171
ISABELLEI had been lying awake for twenty minutes before I admitted the problem.The craving had started somewhere around 3am — a slow, insistent pull toward something specific that I couldn’t quite name until Sage’s reel from last night surfaced in my half-asleep mind.The truffle eggs benedict.The wagyu.The way the egg had broken open in the video, and the yolk had run golden and slow across the plate while the head chef described the dish in a voice that made it sound like a religious experience.I pressed my face into the pillow.I was a grown woman. A professional. A person with perfectly functional coping mechanisms.I was also approximately thirty seconds from crying.Matt was asleep beside me — completely, peacefully, deeply asleep in the way of someone with an entirely clear conscience — one arm thrown above his head, breathing slow and even.I looked at him.Then at the ceiling.Then at him again.I could wait. It was early. The restaurant wouldn’t even be open for hours.
You may also like
Begin Again
Val Sims1.0M viewsForced marriage: Dear wife, you can't escape me
Natie 587.8K viewsThe Heiress' Return: Six Brothers at Her Beck and Call
Night Eleven585.6K viewsThe CEO's Addiction To Love
Moonlight City957.2K viewsI Own Twenty Percent of My Ex Husband’s Company
Oby Jennifer50 viewsThe Innocent and The Sinister Alpha
Addison Winters58 viewsAfter I Left the Billionaire
Anney GW367 viewsThe Spare Bride's Empire
Minnah23 views
