A silent lifeline

ISABELLA'S POINT OF VIEW

The night air stung my skin as I ran. Rain poured down in sheets, soaking me to the bone, but I did not stop. My heart was racing faster than my legs, pushing me forward, pulling me away from Felix’s house, away from his grip. Every drop of water that hit my face felt like freedom. My hair clung to my cheeks, my dress heavy with water, but I didn’t care.

When Morgan’s house came into view, relief washed over me. My legs almost gave out climbing the steps, but I banged on the door with everything left in me.

The door swung open, and there she was. Morgan’s eyes widened the moment she saw me, standing in the rain like a ghost. “Isabella?” she gasped. “What in the world—”

I stumbled forward, clutching my chest. “Please… I had to get away,” I choked out, my voice breaking.

“Get away from who?” She pulled me inside quickly, shutting the door against the storm.

My body trembled as I collapsed against the wall. “Felix… he’s going to kill me, Morgan. He’s going to destroy me.” The words tumbled out, jagged and broken, and then the dam burst. I dropped to my knees and sobbed, my whole body shaking as the weight of everything finally hit me.

“Oh, sweetheart.” Morgan was already kneeling beside me, wrapping her arms around me, pulling me close. Her warmth was everything I had been craving for months. Safe. Familiar. She held me as if she could shield me from the whole world. “You’re safe here, okay? He can’t touch you here.”

I cried harder against her shoulder, soaking her shirt, but she didn’t move. She stroked my hair, whispering, “You’re okay. You’re going to be okay.”

After what felt like hours, she guided me to the couch. My body felt numb, my mind foggy, but I let her lead me. She disappeared into the kitchen and returned with a steaming cup. “Here. Tea. It’ll warm you up.”

I wrapped my hands around the cup, letting the heat seep into my frozen fingers. I took a shaky sip, the bitter taste grounding me back into reality.

Morgan sat across from me, her eyes sharp, her voice firm. “Listen to me, Isabella. You are going to find your independence. You are going to divorce that asshole, and you are never going back there again.”

Her words struck me like a flame to dry wood. I nodded quickly, biting my lip. “I… I know. I just… I can’t take it anymore.”

“Good,” she said, leaning back, crossing her arms. “Because I’m not letting you throw your life away for a man like that. You’re worth more, Isa. Way more.”

A shaky smile crept onto my lips despite the tears. She was always like this. Fierce when I was weak. Strong when I could not be.

Then she grinned and added, “And hey, maybe once you’re free, we’ll go on a wild trip somewhere. Just us. You, me, and a suitcase full of bad decisions.”

I laughed through my tears, a soft broken sound. “You’re crazy.”

“Crazy enough to remind you that life isn’t over.” She winked.

My smile faded just a little. Because there was something she didn’t know. Something I couldn’t tell her. About the contract. About how the marriage was never supposed to be real, yet somehow had become my prison anyway.

I pressed the cup tighter against my lips to hide my silence. “Thank you, Morgan,” I whispered instead.

She reached over, squeezing my hand. “Always. You’re not alone anymore.”

And for the first time in a long time, I almost believed it.

Morgan kept talking, her voice a steady stream of comfort and plans, but my mind was somewhere else entirely. Her words drifted around me like smoke I could not catch. Divorce. Independence. Freedom. The words sounded beautiful, yet they kept slipping through my fingers, overshadowed by one single thought.

Julian.

The name wouldn’t leave me alone. Julian Salvatore. Felix had whispered it into my ear like a dagger, and ever since then, it had been stabbing me again and again. Julian was supposed to be my husband? How?

I pressed my palms against my temples, shutting my eyes tight. Images flashed through my head, fragments of a memory I didn’t even know I was holding. The day of my marriage. The weight of the pen in my hand. The contract Felix pushed in front of me. His cold voice telling me to sign. My trembling fingers scrawling my name on the page.

Felix. Always Felix.

So where did Julian come in? How could he have been my intended groom? I signed that contract with my own hand, I stood beside Felix, I wore the dress, I heard the vows. I had been trapped from that very moment.

“Isa? Isa, are you even listening to me?”

Morgan’s voice cut through my spiraling thoughts. I blinked, dragging myself back to the present. She was sitting cross-legged on the couch now, arms waving in the air as if she had been telling me something important.

“What?” I asked, my voice weak.

She rolled her eyes dramatically. “Oh my God. You didn’t hear a single thing I said, did you?”

I shook my head faintly. “Sorry. My mind is just… elsewhere.”

“Clearly.” She sighed, then leaned closer with a mischievous grin. “I said my crush is coming here tomorrow.”

That made me blink. “Your… crush?”

“Yes. Stefan,” she said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

I tilted my head, utterly confused. “Stefan? Who the heck is Stefan?”

Morgan gasped, clutching her chest like I had just insulted her personally. “Don’t tell me you don’t know him.”

“Should I?” I muttered, sipping my tea again, though my hands were still shaking from earlier.

“He’s the talk of the whole town, Isa. Stefan Laurent. The man everyone is obsessed with. My supposed boss, if the interview tomorrow goes well.” She clasped her hands together like a schoolgirl. “Tall, sharp, devastating smile, and apparently ruthless in the boardroom. But outside of it…” She sighed dreamily. “He’s perfection.”

I stared at her, lost between confusion and disbelief. “You’re telling me the entire town is obsessed with your boss?”

“Yes!” She bounced a little on the couch, her energy filling the room. “Do you live under a rock? Oh wait. Never mind.”

Her words stung more than she realized. I did live under a rock. Trapped in a mansion, stripped of everything, not even allowed to own a phone. Felix had stolen years from me, stolen every chance I had to even know who Stefan Laurent was.

I forced a laugh to cover my thoughts. “You sound ridiculous, Morgan.”

“Ridiculous but right,” she shot back, grinning. “And tomorrow, you’re going to meet him too.”

The tea burned down my throat as I swallowed quickly. Tomorrow. Meeting a man I’d never heard of but apparently the whole town worshiped.

I set the cup down carefully, my mind racing again. Julian. Felix. Now Stefan. How many more shadows would I have to face before I understood the truth of my life?

“Isa?” Morgan nudged me with her foot. “Don’t look so terrified. He’s just a man. But if he notices me tomorrow, don’t get in my way.”

I smiled faintly, though it never reached my eyes. If only Morgan knew. My whole life was already a battlefield of men and their secrets.