All Chapters of Ruin me, Gently : Chapter 141 - Chapter 150

MATTEO“Matteo.” Her voice was gentle but careful. “You know I can’t discuss anything regarding a patient.”“She’s not just a patient.” The words came out before I could stop them. “I brought her here. I registered her under my name. I set up her entire account at this clinic—”“Which she subsequently had herself removed from,” Dr. Helene said quietly.I stopped.She held my gaze steadily.“When a patient removes associated contacts and updates their billing independently, that becomes their right. And it means the previous party is no longer considered relevant to their care.”I looked at her. “You’re telling me nothing.”“I’m telling you what I can.”“Helene.” Something in my voice must have shifted because her expression changed slightly. “I haven’t slept. I drove to her apartment at 2am because I couldn’t function. I look the way I look because I haven’t been able to eat or sleep or think about anything else since—” I stopped. Pressed my hand flat against her desk. “She won’t see m

ISABELLE I spotted her car immediately—the familiar silver of it tucked between two others, hazard lights blinking. I made my way over and pulled the passenger door open, dropping into the seat and setting my bag by my feet.“Hey, you.” Sage’s smile was immediate and warm.“Hey.”She reached over before I could even settle properly, her hand finding my stomach with the ease of someone who had already claimed this as her right.“Hi baby,” she said softly. Then to me: “How are we feeling today?”“Tired,” I admitted.“Expected.” She pulled her hand back and pointed at me. “When the baby comes, I’m taking her to her first concert. I’ve already decided.”“She’s not even born yet.”“Exactly. Plenty of time to plan.” She grinned. “Also, I’m thinking matching outfits for the first six months—”“Absolutely not.”“—just hear me out—”“Sage.”“Fine. First year.”I laughed despite myself.She reached for the ignition, then stopped with a sigh and turned toward me.And that was when I noticed it.

ISABELLEAs I began to dry my body, my towel caught my nipple—just briefly, just a graze—and the sting of it shot straight through me before I could do anything about it.I went still.My body had exactly one response to that sensation.And that response had a name.I stood in the middle of my bathroom like someone had pressed pause on me, towel in hand, acutely aware of every inch of my own skin in a deeply inconvenient way.“Absolutely not,” I said out loud, but my body didn’t care.I finished drying off with significantly more caution than I had started, wrapped myself in a clean, dry towel, and walked into my bedroom. I sat on the edge of the bed and tried to think about something—anything—else.The quarterly report I hadn’t finished. The email from HR I needed to respond to. The fact that I hadn’t called my mother in four days.And then, uninvited, completely unwelcome—my subconscious spoke.Matteo.“No,” I said out loud, firm and final.Remember the Bahamas.“I said no.”Remembe

ISABELLE We stayed like that—his hand around mine, the heartbeat filling the space between us, the months of everything that had happened sitting quietly in the room alongside it—and said no words.Because there was nothing to say.Not yet.The heartbeat said it all.I don’t know how long Helene gave us, but when she slipped back into the room, she moved quietly—the way people move when they don’t want to break something—and I felt Matt’s thumb move across the back of my hand before he noticed her.One slow stroke.Like a question he wasn’t asking out loud.I felt it everywhere.And for the first time since Matteo walked through that door, I turned and looked at him properly.He was already looking at me.Neither of us spoke.There was nothing to say that the room hadn’t already said for us.When Helene’s quiet presence pulled us back, I didn’t know how much time had passed.Our hands separated slowly. Without announcement, without either of us deciding to let go.For a moment, neith

ISABELLE Matt slowly set the envelope on his lap. Then he ran both hands over his face before turning to face me.Fully.“Really?” His voice was quiet. Not angry. Something worse than angry. “You think everything I did with you was staged?”I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.Because the look in his eyes—I had expected fury and had braced for it. I had even prepared for cold dismissal—the particular variety of Matteo Morettithat shut down and went somewhere unreachable.What I hadn’t prepared for was pain.Raw, unguarded, sitting right there on his face like he didn’t have the energy to hide it anymore.I looked away.“Makes sense that you’d hate me more,” he said. “I understand that. But I need you to know—” He stopped and exhaled. “Hearing you say I was with you for your body feels like shit. Because yes—in the beginning that was the arrangement. That was what it was.” He paused. “But things changed. Halfway through, they changed, and I didn’t know what to do with that, so I