Chapter 42 Chapter 0042

Chapter 42 Chapter 0042
•ISABELLA•

When Tom finished the call and ordered his men to bring my father to this place, something inside me snapped.

I screamed at him, pushed against his chest, and tried to claw my way past him even though I knew I wasn't strong enough to overpower him.

I didn't care because all I could think about was stopping whatever terrible plan he was putting into motion.

I knew I wouldn't calm down or stop fighting him, but because of that, I was dragged into a small room and locked inside.

The sound of the door slamming shut echoed through my chest in a way that made me feel more trapped than the walls around me.

The silence that followed was heavy and suffocating, and I paced from one end of the room to the other for what felt like hours.

With every step I took, my thoughts became more chaotic and desperate.

Everything had gone wrong.

Every choice I had made seemed to have led me here, and I kept wishing that I could go back to the moment when things started falling apart.

I wished to change something, anything, so I wouldn't be locked in this room waiting for my fate.

My mind kept drifting to Antonio, and I wondered if he had noticed that I was gone, if he was looking for me, if he would come before Tom decided that I was no longer useful to him.

The sound of the lock turning made my heart jump violently in my chest.

“Are you ready to behave?” Tom asked from outside, and his voice was calm and controlled as if I was the unreasonable one in this situation.

He walked in carrying a tray of food and a bottle of water, and the normality of it all made my stomach twist because it felt wrong that he could act like this was just another ordinary day.

“I brought you something to eat,” he said as he placed the tray on the small table beside the bed.

That was when I realized how hungry and thirsty I was, because my throat felt dry and my stomach felt painfully empty, and my body reacted before my pride could stop it.

“You have to let me go,” I said, and even to my own ears, my voice sounded tired and weaker than I wanted it to sound.

He closed the door behind him and walked closer to me, and something was unsettling about how calm he looked.

“Why are you acting like this was never your idea?” he asked. “You suggested that we leave the country because your father wanted you to work at the club. And you said you wanted a new life with me, so don't pretend as if I forced you into something you once begged for.”

His words stung because months ago, I had said those exact things, back when he answered my calls, back when he didn't treat me like I was invisible.

“That was before you ignored me,” I snapped, and the anger that had been building inside me finally broke through. “Do you know what it felt like seeing you at the club with your friends and other girls while you wouldn’t even look at me, as if I was an embarrassment to you?”

“I was planning this for us,” he said sharply as he gestured around the room. “I wanted to make sure everything was ready before I took you away, and I never stopped loving you, Bella, not even for a second.”

I shook my head slowly because his version of love felt twisted and selfish. “If this was your plan, you should've told me instead of making me feel like I meant nothing to you.”

He stepped closer, and I forced myself not to step back.

“If I had known that Antonio would claim you that night,” he said in a low voice, “I would've taken you before he had the chance. But I never thought he meant what he said.”

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Antonio told you that he would make me his?”

“Yes,” he said, and there was bitterness in his tone. “He wanted to hurt me, and he did, because now you are legally his wife, and the only way we can be together is if we disappear and start over with different names.”

“I was never yours to begin with, Tom,” I said firmly.
His jaw tightened, but I continued. “Dante told me why you stayed away from me,” I said, and I watched shock flash across his face. “He told me they threatened you because they blamed your father for their parents’ death, and instead of trusting me with the truth, you pushed me away.”

“You will never understand,” he muttered.

“I understand enough to know that you made decisions about my life without asking me,” I replied.

My throat burned again, so I grabbed the bottle of water and took several long gulps, trying to ease the dryness that was beginning to make my head ache.

“You should've spoken to me instead of deciding that changing my identity and kidnapping me was the solution,” I continued, and as I spoke, a strange dizziness began to creep into my body.

The room felt slightly unsteady, and I blinked slowly.
“Enough of this, Tom,” I said, though my voice felt distant. “I don't want you anymore. I am married, and I love my husband.”

“You aren't thinking clearly,” he said quickly as he moved toward me. “You need to lie down.”

My fingers loosened around the bottle, and it slipped from my hand and rolled across the floor.

“What did you do to me?” I asked, and fear spread through me as my vision started to blur.

He didn’t answer.

My legs felt weak, and before I could stop him, he guided me backward onto the bed, and no matter how much I tried to move or push him away, I didn't have the strength.

“Don’t touch me.”

“Shh,” he whispered. “It will be like before.”

Tears filled my eyes as darkness pulled at the edges of my vision, and I felt trapped inside my own body as everything around me became distant and heavy.

I drifted in and out of consciousness, aware enough to know that something was happening but too weak to stop it.

And then everything went black.

When I woke up, the room was quiet, and my head throbbed painfully as reality slowly settled over me.

My body felt heavy and wrong, and when I shifted slightly and felt the dampness between my thighs, my heart sank because I knew exactly what had happened.

A tear slid down my cheek as I stared at the wall, unable to move, unable to think clearly, and unable to undo what had already been done.

“Don't worry, Bee,” Tom said from somewhere near the door. “We will be fine.”

The door closed behind him and I lay there in silence, knowing that something inside me had been broken in a way that could never be repaired.