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Chapter 3
publish date:
2025-12-18 00:48:55
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Ruin me, Gently Chapter 203
ISABELLE The guests arrived in waves after that. Children in party clothes who immediately located the bouncy castle and made their priorities clear. Familiar faces from Matt’s world, from mine, people who had watched this year from different distances.Heather arrived with a box wrapped in pale ribbon — baby shoes, soft white leather, the kind that were almost too beautiful to put on a child’s feet. She found Mia before she found me, crouched down to her level and stayed there for a long moment just looking at her, like she was taking something in. When she finally stood and caught my eye across the room she pressed a hand to her chest and shook her head slowly, and I understood exactly what she meant.Richard arrived with Sofi and Henry — his youngest, a face I recognised from photos but hadn’t met — and it was Matt who went to the door, who shook his father’s hand and then turned to make the introductions properly. Henry was tall and a little uncertain in the way of someone droppe
Ruin me, Gently Chapter 202
ISABELLE I stood at the bottom of the stairs and just — looked.Our living room had been opened up completely, the furniture shifted back to make space, and what was left in its place didn’t look like a room anymore. It looked like somewhere a child might remember for the rest of her life. Pale gold and white everywhere — in the balloon clusters that floated at different heights, in the ribbon that caught the light, in the Miabanner strung in script above the fireplace. The long table along the wall held the food: a chocolate fountain, a popcorn stand with little striped bags, a candy corner in glass jars, trays of small sandwiches cut into stars. The drinks were in a separate station, tall and bright, with juice in glass dispensers and tiny cups set out in a line.And at the center of it all, on its own stand: Mia’s cake. Four tiers. White fondant with gold detailing, hand-painted roses climbing the side, Mia in pale gold at the top with a single decorated crown.Through the garden
Ruin me, Gently Chapter 201
EPILOGUE One year laterShe woke up the same way she always did.Not crying — Mia almost never woke up crying. She woke up talking. Little sounds first, then actual words, then full volume conversation directed at no one in particular, completely unbothered about whether anyone was listening. By the time either of us made it to her room she was usually already sitting up in her crib, very busy, very pleased with herself.This morning I heard her before my eyes were open.Matt was already gone from his side of the bed. I lay there for a moment listening — his voice low through the monitor, then hers, then his again. A pause. Then Mia laughed — that bright, sudden laugh — and I was already getting up before I knew I was moving.Her room was soft with morning light when I pushed the door open. Matt was on his feet with her, Mia up against his chest, one hand spread wide across her back. She had her chin hooked over his shoulder, looking around the room like she was conducting an inspect
Ruin me, Gently Chapter 200
ISABELLE We were most of the way through the meal when Matt reached for his phone on the side of the table.“Do you know about the situation in the living room?” he said.I looked at him. “What situation?”He opened his phone, found what he was looking for, and turned the screen toward me.It was the CCTV feed. The living room corner — except it wasn’t really a corner anymore. It was a territory. Boxes stacked on boxes, bags lined up in rows, wrapped things in every size and color, ribbons, tissue paper, items that were clearly not small and had not been easy to move. It went further back than I expected. It went significantly further back than I expected.“Matt,” I said.“I know.”“That is—”“I know.”“For one baby.”“For one baby.” He set the phone down between us. “Apparently everyone had two carts running the whole pregnancy. One for a girl, one for a boy. The moment she arrived, they just — sent everything.”I looked at the screen. “Everything.”“Everything.”I thought about Luc
Ruin me, Gently Chapter 199
ISABELLE We got back to the bedroom, and she was asleep.I smiled before I could stop myself. Mia on her back in the bassinet, one fist curled up near her cheek, chest rising and falling. Just — there. Ours.We moved around the room without a word. Slower than usual. Quieter. I didn’t decide to do it, and I don’t think Matt did either. It was just the new thing now. There was a baby sleeping, and so you moved like that.Matt opened the closet, and I walked in.Simple. That was all I wanted. I found underwear, soft trousers, one of Matt’s oldest T-shirts that had migrated to my shelf months ago and never left. I was reaching for it when something in the top drawer of the jewelry cabinet caught my eye.The bracelet.Gold, thin, simple. Matt had given it to me the same day as the car — the small engraved date on the inside of the band, Mia’s due date. I remembered the moment he fastened it. I hadn’t taken it off for weeks. Then one morning near the end of the pregnancy, my wrists had sw
Ruin me, Gently Chapter 198
ISABELLEThe first thing I noticed was the quiet.Not silence — Mia had already made it very clear in her three days of life that silence was not something she did. But quiet. The kind that meant Matt had gotten to her first.I opened my eyes slowly. The room was still dim, early light just starting to press through the curtains. I turned my head toward the sound.He was standing by the window. Mia against his chest, her tiny face tucked into the curve of his neck, his hand spread wide across her back — like he was making sure she knew exactly how much of him was there. He was rocking. Slow and even. And he was singing.I stopped breathing.Matt Moretti was singing.Quietly. Slightly off-key. Completely serious, like this was a boardroom presentation and Mia was a very difficult client he was determined to win over.“Take my hand… take my whole life too…”I pressed my face into the pillow.I could not laugh. I could not make a single sound. I bit down on the inside of my cheek so hard
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