Prepare the divorce and ruin your husband by Mark Twain 14
Chapter 14
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ISABELLA’S POV
I woke up thinking I was dead.
That was the first thought. Because everything was too clean. Too quiet. White ceiling. White walls. White sheets tucked around me like I was already laid out for burial.
But the smell was wrong.
Not death. Not hospital either.
It smelled like metal and salt and something expensive I could not name.
I tried to move and my body answered slowly, like it had been underwater for a long time. My throat burned. My chest felt tight, not pain, just heavy, like something had pressed me down for weeks and only just let go.
I whispered, “Hello?”
The door slid open.
And my heart forgot how to beat properly.
Colt Blackwood walked in.
Not a dream. Not a memory. Him.
Tall, dressed in black like he always owned the darkness. Broad shoulders. Sharp jaw. Eyes so cold they could slice through lies. He looked older. Harder. Like the world had taken a knife to him and he let it.
I sucked in a breath and my voice came out small. “Colt?”
He stopped by the door. Did not rush me. Did not smile. Just watched me like he was making sure I was real.
“You’re awake.” His voice was deep, calm, dangerous. The same voice that used to whisper my name at night. “Good.”
My hands shook as I pushed myself up a little. “Am I… am I alive?”
“Yes.”
“How?” My chest rose too fast. “I remember the water. I couldn’t breathe. I thought I was dying.”
“You almost did,” he said simply. “My men found you floating in the sea.”
My eyes widened. “Floating?”
“You and your son,” Colt added.
Everything inside me snapped upright. Panic exploded in my chest. “Ryle. Where is
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Ryle? Where’s my baby? Is he okay? Please tell me he’s okay.”
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Colt moved fast then. One step, two. He was beside my bed before I could fall apart. “He’s alive,” he said firmly. “He’s fine. Scared, but breathing, eating, talking. He woke up before you did.”
Tears poured out of me before I could stop them. “Can I see him? Please. I need to see him.”
“You will,” Colt said. “He’s outside with the doctor and one of my men. He knows you’re here. He’s been asking for you every day.”
“Every day?” I whispered. “How long was I asleep?”
“Four weeks,” Colt answered. “You were in a deep coma.”
I pressed my hand to my mouth, sobbing quietly. “I thought I lost him. I thought I lost everything.”
Colt’s jaw tightened. “You didn’t. Not anymore.”
I looked up at him through tears. “Where are we?”
“My facility,” he said. “Private. Off the grid.”
Fear crept in, slow and uncertain. “Why?”
He met my eyes, unblinking. “Because the world you came from is gone.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“No more David,” Colt said coldly. “No more Westley. No more people who sold you and your child like trash. The world knew you were already dead.”
My breath hitched. “David…”
“Is dead to you,” Colt cut in. “And when you’re ready, he’ll be buried for real. Along with anyone else who touched you.”
I stared at him, heart pounding. “Colt, this isn’t you talking. This is… this is dangerous.”
He let out a quiet laugh, humorless. “This has always been me. You just didn’t want to see it.”
Memories rushed back without permission.
Colt years ago. Younger. Still dangerous, but softer around the edges. The night I followed him. The alley. The man on the ground. Blood everywhere. Colt standing over him, knuckles red, eyes empty.
I remembered screaming his name. Remembered crying.
“Please don’t,” I whispered then.
“I had to,” he told me that night.
Chapter 14
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I remembered shaking my head. Packing my bags. Running.
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“Don’t leave me,” Colt begged, voice breaking in a way I had never heard. “You don’t understand this world, Bella. I’m trying to survive it.”
But I did leave.
I ran far. Ran straight into David’s arms. Believed his gentle voice. Married him. Got pregnant. Built a family.
Until Roxanne came back. The golden girl. The educated one. The one everyone loved.
And David handed me to hell.
I looked back at Colt now, my voice trembling. “You and David… you became enemies because of me.”
Colt’s eyes darkened. “Because he took what was mine and thought I wouldn’t collect.”
I shook my head weakly. “I thought you were a bad man.”
“I am,” Colt said without hesitation. “But I would have burned the world to keep you safe.”
Silence fell between us. Heavy. Loaded.
I whispered, “Why save me now?”
Colt leaned closer, his voice dropping. “Because you’re not dying again. Not on my watch. Not you. Not your son.”
My tears fell harder.
“And Bella,” he added quietly, dangerously calm. “When you’re ready to stop being innocent, I’ll teach you how to bury monsters.”
“You and that kid,” he went on, voice flat, cruelly honest, “you’re proof my methods work. That’s the price. You live, I win. You fail, you die. Simple.”
I swallowed. My throat hurt. Everything hurt. “So I’m just… useful.”
“You’re breathing,” he replied. “Yesterday you weren’t. Be smart. Don’t push yourself. You break, there’s no second miracle.”
I closed my eyes. Tears slipped out anyway. I whispered, “I won’t waste it.”
I did not say anything else.
But inside, something ugly and sharp woke up. Something that remembered David’s smile when he betrayed me. Roxanne’s soft voice when she destroyed my son.
I wasn’t done with them. Not even close.
Colt took me outside the next day. The air hit my lungs sharp and clean, nothing like
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the darkness I woke up from. The place was quiet, guarded, safe in a way I had never
known.
Then I saw him.
Ryle.
He was on the grass with a boy about his age, tossing a ball back and forth. His hair was shorter. His body thinner. There were shadows under his eyes that should never belong to a child.
“Ryle,” I whispered.
He turned.
For half a second, he just stared at me. Like he was scared I was a dream that would disappear if he blinked.
Then he screamed, “Mama!”
He ran.
Not fast. Careful. Like his body was still learning how to trust itself again. He slammed into me, arms wrapping around my waist, face buried in my stomach.
“I’m sorry, Mama,” he sobbed. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
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