Chapter 4

When Isabella woke again, she was lying in a hospital ward.

Her head throbbed as if someone were pounding it with a hammer. Instinctively, she reached up to touch her forehead, and the pain made her fingertips tremble.

The nurse, Zita Corsini, was changing her dressing. When she saw Isabella awake, a look of unmistakable sympathy crossed her face.

"Thank heavens, you're finally awake. You have a mild concussion, but the baby is fine for now."

Apart from Zita, there was no one else in the ward.

"Where are Enzo and Sofia?" Isabella asked hoarsely.

Zita paused for a moment before realizing who she was asking about.

"You mean Don and Donna Caro? They're in the VIP consultation room. But how did you end up in a conflict with the Caro family? You know that Don Caro cares about Donna Caro more than anything.

"If there's any misunderstanding between you two, you'd better resolve it quickly. Otherwise, it'll be a bullet to your head next time."

Isabella fell silent for two seconds.

Donna Caro? Figured.

Enzo cared so much about Sofia that anyone would assume she was his wife and the Donna of the Caro family.

"Then who brought me to the emergency room?" Isabella asked again.

"It was a doctor and an orderly from our department passing by who wheeled you in. By the way, you'll still need to stay in the hospital for a few more days for observation, and the hospitalization deposit hasn't been fully paid yet. If you can, you should contact your family as soon as possible."

Enzo hadn't even left money for her medical bills.

Isabella lowered her eyes, her fingers curling tighter and tighter.

Just then, her phone buzzed.

She tapped it open—it was a text from Sofia.

"You really are tough to kill. How can you still be alive after all that? But you won't be so lucky next time. Enzo is mine, and the Caro's family money will be mine too. You'd better sign the papers soon and get lost, or I won't let you off."

At the end, Sofia also sent a photo of Enzo sitting by the hospital bed, his head lowered as he cut fruit for her.

His eyes were cast downward, his expression tender as it used to be when he sweet-talked Isabella in the old days.

Isabella stared at the photo expressionlessly for a long time. Then, she called the police.

"Hello, I'd like to report a crime. The woman my husband has been keeping on the side assaulted me at St. Andrea Private Hospital. It was an attempted homicide."

She also submitted the hospital surveillance footage, the threatening messages from Sofia, and her medical records.

Ten minutes later, the door to the hospital room was pushed open from the outside.

Enzo walked in. His expression was dark, and even the gust of air that swept in with him felt cold.

"You called the police and reported Sofia for attempted homicide?"

Isabella looked up at him calmly. "I got over 40 stitches in my head. She wanted to kill me, so it was hardly an injustice."

Enzo looked at her deathly pale face and the thick bandage wrapped around her head, and a trace of guilt flickered across his features.

"Sofia only lashed out because she was upset about the asset split. She's still young, and it's perfectly normal for her to have mood swings during pregnancy.

Besides, the glass shards cut her hand as well, so she's already suffered the consequences. I apologize to you on her behalf—don't pursue this any further."

Isabella stared at him steadily and suddenly felt the urge to laugh.

She had been beaten until her head was split open and bleeding, nearly losing the baby in the process. Yet, to hear him tell it, Sofia got a little cut on her hand, and that was already "suffering the consequences".

"Enzo, do you still remember your promise? You once said that if anyone dared to lay a finger on me, you'd make them pay back tenfold."

Enzo stood there, his tone so calm it was almost cruel.

"I was good to you before because I mistook habit, responsibility, and dependence for love. But after meeting Sofia, I finally understood I love her—I truly do."

With that, he tossed the documents in his hand onto the edge of the bed, causing the papers to scatter. The top page was unmistakably a share transfer agreement.

"This amount should be enough to compensate for your injuries. Quit while you're still ahead. Don't make any more trouble."

Isabella looked at the document, and her vision kept going dark.

She suddenly remembered her previous life.

That hadn't been the first time Sofia had tried to kill her.

Once, she had attended a gala and happened to run straight into Enzo and Sofia.

Sofia, wearing Isabella's most hated red dress, leaned against Enzo's embrace, her smile brazen and venomous. She said that the one who wasn't loved was the real mistress.

Then, catching her off guard, she shoved Isabella straight into the champagne tower.

That time, Isabella lost so much blood that she spent three full days fighting for her life in the hospital.

When she woke up, Enzo was keeping vigil beside her, his eyes bloodshot from exhaustion.

He held her hand and showed her a rare trace of tenderness, then turned right back around and protected Sofia so thoroughly that not a crack of blame could touch her.

Isabella could never figure out what exactly Enzo liked about Sofia. After all, Sofia was vain, vulgar, impulsive, and greedy, like a ticking time bomb with no fuse to cut.

Thus, she had actually asked him once.

Enzo had fallen silent for a moment before answering her seriously, "I know Sofia loves money, has no manners, has a terrible temper, and not much to speak of in terms of sophistication.

"I also know she's not the kind of woman fit to stand by my side at all. But I just like her. I like her bluntness, her unapologetic ambition, the way she's rotten and doesn't pretend otherwise. I'm no good myself. I'm cold, selfish, and callous. So, we're a perfect match, honestly."

Isabella understood then that Sofia was never the enemy. Instead, it was Enzo who enabled Sofia at every turn.

She lifted her gaze back to the man in front of her.

"Fine, I'll accept this share transfer agreement and let her off this time," she said in a voice so soft it was barely audible.

She would take this substantial fortune and live the rest of her life on her own terms.

As for Enzo, he could rot and fester with his true love forever for all Isabella cared.