Prepare the divorce and ruin your husband by Mark Twain 21
Chapter 21
I barely got the words out before I lifted my chin and looked straight at him, calm and cold.
“David,” I said softly, sweet enough to sting, “your mistress just dared to put her hands on me.”
I felt it click inside him. I knew it. This time, the card flipped in my favor.
He moved fast. One second he was across the room. The next, he’d pulled me tight against his chest, his arm locked around me like a wall. He put his body between me and Roxanne, like she was nothing but dirt.
“Get fucking away from her, Roxanne! he snapped, his voice sharp and dangerous. Her lips were shaking. “David, please! I was only talking. I didn’t mean anything. I swear.”
Crack!
The sound of his palm hitting her face cracked through the room. Loud. Clean. Final. My breath caught even though I told myself not to react.
“Don’t ever show your face in front of me again!” he said, his voice shaking with rage. “If you do, I’ll personally drag you into prison.”
She froze. Her eyes went wide, like something inside her had just shattered.
“Prison?” she whispered. “For what?”
David stepped closer, his eyes dark, focused, awake in a way I hadn’t seen in years.
“For everything,” he said slowly. “I remember now, Roxanne. All of it.”
Her voice broke. “Remember what? David, you’re confused.”
“I’m not confused,” he said flatly. “My memory’s back. Completely back.”
She stumbled backward. “No. No, that’s impossible.”
“I remember Isabella,” he continued. “I remember my wife. I remember how you bullied her, how you destroyed her life piece by piece. I remember you ordering Westley to abuse her every single day. I remember the videos. I remember you laughing while she begged.”
Her lips parted, but no sound came out.
“I remember you beating my son,” he said, his voice dropping lower. “I remember Ryle crying while you stood there smiling. You took advantage of my amnesia and played fucking wife!”
11:13 Wed, Jan 28
She fell to her knees.
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“I remember clearly now,” he went on. “You paid men to drag Isabella into a car and leave her bleeding in the street. You slammed your stomach into the table and blamed her for killing a children that was never mine.”
Her face went gray.
“This ends now,” David said. “You’ll rot in prison for what you did. After this, wait. My wrath hasn’t even started.”
He turned sharply. “Take her!”
The men moved instantly. Roxanne screamed, fought, clawed at the floor.
“David, no! No! You need me. I’m your wife! You loved me. You chose me.”
He didn’t even look at her.
“Lock her up.”
They dragged her out kicking and crying until her voice disappeared down the hall.
Silence.
David turned to me. His chest was rising and falling like he’d just survived a war.
“Belle,” he said quietly. “I only came back because I forgot my wallet. I swear to you, nothing like this’ll ever happen again. I remember everything now. I remember you. I remember our marriage. I remember our son.”
He reached for my hand, trembling.
“Where’s Ryle? Tell me where he is.”
I pulled my hand away.
My voice stayed soft, but it cut clean.
“We’re even now.”
His eyes widened. “What?”
“Goodbye, David,” I said calmly. “I’ll have the divorce papers sent to you.”
“No,” he said quickly. “Belle, don’t do this! Please. Let’s talk. I’ll fix this. I chose wrong for five years, but let me fix it. Let me fix us.”
I walked past him without turning. He ran after me in the hall and grabbed my wrist. His voice cracked.
“Belle, please. Don’t leave me again.”
My heart clenched, just for a second. Then another voice slid through the air. Cold. Quiet. Terrifying.
“Nadia.”
11:14 Wed, Jan 28
I froze.
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The name sounded wrong in his mouth. Colt stood a few steps away, eyes unreadable. Ax was behind him, silent as ever.
I tried to walk past, but Colt grabbed my wrist. His grip was gentle, steady, grounding. “Nadia,” he said again, low, almost pleading.
“Let me go,” I whispered. “Please. Not now. I don’t have time to explain.”
Before he could answer, David yanked my hand away. “Belle, you’re mine!” he snapped, glaring at Colt. “And you, let go of her. This is between us.”
Colt didn’t raise his voice.
“Touch her again,” he said calmly, “and you’ll regret it.”
David sneered. “Who the hell are you?”
Colt stepped in front of me, shielding me fully.
“I’m her doctor,” he said evenly. “Dr. Caius Felipe.”
The name hit David hard. I saw it in his eyes. His grip loosened. He stepped back.
My chest suddenly burned. Sharp. Metallic. Like something was tearing inside me. My heartbeat stumbled, loud and wrong.
“Colt,” I gasped, clutching my chest as the world tilted.
“Isabella,” David shouted, panic crashing through his voice. “Stay with me. Please.”
Colt didn’t hesitate. He lifted me into his arms like I weighed nothing.
“She’s coming with me,” he said firmly.
David tried to move forward, but Ax stepped in front of him, arm out, blocking him completely.
“Stay back.”
The last thing I saw was David’s wild eyes.
Then everything went dark.
I woke up to the sharp sting of antiseptic mixed with saltwater, clean and cold, like the ocean had been poured straight into the room.
Colt sat next to the bed.
Not slouched. Not relaxed. Watching.
The shadows carved his face hard, all sharp lines and dark eyes, burning like he hadn’t slept and didn’t plan to.
He spoke before I could.
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“Do you even care if you die, Nadia?” His voice was low but raw, like it scraped his throat on the way out. “You run straight into fire every time, like pain’s the point, like your life’s something you can afford to throw away.”
I tried to sit up, instinct more than strength, but his hand pressed me back down, firm and careful at the same time.
“Stay still,” he said, jaw tight. “You think I dragged you here so you could collapse again right in front of me?”
I laughed softly. “Relax, doctor. I’m still breathing. I just collapse from stress.”
“That’s not funny,” he snapped, then stopped himself, exhaling hard. “You’re breaking yourself piece by piece, and you look me in the eye like it means nothing. Do you want me to stand there and watch you fall again? Do you want me to lose you too?”
That last part slipped. Cracked.
My chest tightened. I turned my head toward the window, staring at the blue horizon like it could save me.
“You don’t love me, Colt,” I said quietly.
I saw his hands curl into fists on his knees, his jaw locking like he was holding something back that’d destroy us both if he let it out.
Before he could say anything, his phone rang.
The sound cut clean through the room.
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