Chapter 126: The Grip of Control

"I'm not going anywhere. Alex, let go of me. You're hurting me. Just let go of my arm. You're hurting me. I'm not going with you. I'm not going back to that goddamn house. I'm better off staying at Trisha's place. Just let go of my arm. Alex, let go right now, or I'll just shout and scream. Right now. I'll call the cops on you. Alex, just let go of my arm."

But Alex wouldn't budge. He didn't let go of her and kept twisting her arms in pain. She started grimacing and shouted at him, "Alex, let go right now, or I'm calling 911. Alex, just let go of my arm. You're hurting me."

Alex was not ready to give up at all or let her stay with Trisha, mostly knowing the kind of influence Trisha could have on her. So he pulled her back again, slamming her to the car door as she almost jerked in shock.

"You should know when to stop your rubbish. Know your limits," he warned her. "I continuously warned you to stay silent. Why would you? With everything, all you wanted was to get a memory back, and of course, you would get it back. But then you walking out of the house and saying you want to stay with Trisha is something I would never agree to."

Alex warned Isabella as she felt so emotional, almost on the verge of crying because of what Alex was doing. She never knew if she was to believe that this was Alex's character or if it was something he had just developed.

"You are the reason why I am doing all this to you. I never wanted it to be like this. I just wanted a peaceful marriage between the both of us when you finish school. But this is what you want, right? This is what you want me to go through. After spending all my life taking good care of you, making sure you did perfectly well, your parents were nowhere to be found when they ditched you in another country to go to university. They did not even call you once to know how you were faring. I took perfect care of you. Then all of a sudden, you turn around on me. Too bad. You met Lily, who made your life a living hell. She made you lose everything, all your memories. I am still doing my best to help you. Yet you were down on your knees pleading with James. I saw you. You pleaded with James a few hours ago," he yelled, unable to control himself as Isabella stood there in shock.

She was surprised mostly by the fact that Alex had seen everything. Alex had seen how she pleaded with James just to give her a second chance. How she had begged, telling James that she would never tell Alex the truth. She knew at that moment she had no option. She had totally lost to Alex.

Just as she was about to give up and say the truth to him, Alex ran his hands through his hair in frustration.

"What exactly were you begging him for? How mighty is he that you were begging him? What does he want? What exactly did he do in your life that makes him so important that you have to beg him?"

Alex yelled, and then Isabella understood. He never heard any of the words exchanged between her and James. He would never understand.

"I owe my gratitude to him. Even if I have lost all my memories, at least the little thing he did for me while I was regaining them. I might not acknowledge him in the presence of everybody, and I might not take him as an important person, but he is very important to me. He cared for me too. You are just the one pushing him away, and now look at the way he snubbed me. I had no choice but to beg for his forgiveness because he never did anything wrong," Isabella attacked as Alex felt even more frustrated.

He rushed toward Isabella, grabbing her neck and almost choking her, but she still acted strong and stood headstrong, not letting Alex's words or actions toward her affect her at all.

"Whatever you do will not change anything. It will not make you any mightier than you are," she commented, which frustrated Alex even more.

He pointed directly at her face. "You. How dare you. You still have the guts and the audacity to be telling me and commanding me on what I should do and what I should not do? You are just so foolish. You would forever remain foolish. You don't know what you are losing at the moment. You never should have made me hate you. The minute you did that, you ruined everything for yourself."

He yelled back at Isabella as she held her head high, not ready to show him any weaknesses.

"Whatever you do to me, someone else would also do it to you. I might be innocent and not remember anything, but you should never treat me like this. You say you love me; you say you spent all your years and your life trying to take good care of me, but I am not saying anything like that. You are worse. You are just much worse," she yelled.

And Alex, unable to control himself, raised his hand to slap her, but Trisha quickly rushed forward and grabbed his hands.

"Don't you ever do something like that to my friend again. You would never dare to harass someone like me. Don't you ever do it. Do you understand?" Trisha said to Alex, and he flung his hands from Trisha's grip.

"And what is your business in what is going on here? This is between two couples, and you should know your limits. Don't just come here and expect me to let you be just because she's your friend. She's my fiancée," Alex said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Your fiancée, my foot. Your fiancée is also my best friend, and she has no memories of ever being your fiancée at this moment. If she wants to end everything between the both of you, she can easily do it before you even realize it. Know when to stop hurting her, and I will not let her stay with you if you are just going to raise your hand and slap her continuously," Trisha insisted, ready to face Alex head-on.