Chapter 14
1105 Words
Isabella
I had barely made it halfway up the staircase when the front door opened again.
William.
I knew it was him even without having to look behind me. His familiar footsteps echoed through the mansion, steady and unhurried, followed almost immediately by Evelyn’s sharp voice rising from the living room.
“William.” Evelyn shrieked, running over to her beloved son. “Thank goodness you're back. Your wife has completely forgotten her place.”
I paused instinctively, one hand tightening around my cane. It probably wouldn't matter, but I was actually interested in what William's response was going to be.
“Mother?” There was a brief silence before William spoke. “What happened?”
“What happened?” Evelyn sounded outraged by the question itself. “She disappeared all day, came home with an attitude, then spoke to me disrespectfully in my own house.”
I closed my eyes briefly. Of course. No matter what happened, I was always the problem.
William and I had lived here for the longest time, but somehow, she could just walk in here whenever she wanted and lay claim on the house.
I heard William sigh quietly, the sound tired more than angry, and moments later, his footsteps approached the stairs.
“Bella.” he called, and I turned slowly. He stood a few steps away, still dressed in dark clothes from earlier, his expression caught somewhere between exhaustion and restraint.
For a second, neither of us spoke..Then his gaze flicked toward the living room before returning to me.
“Can you make my mother some coffee?” he asked. “She’s upset.”
The words hit me so strangely that for a moment, I genuinely thought I had heard him wrong.
Coffee.
After everything that had happened today, after the restaurant, after the humiliation, after Evelyn tearing into me the second I walked through the door, that was what he had to say to me?
Coffee? That was it?
I stared at him quietly, and against my will, a memory surfaced.
It was the first time I tried making coffee for Evelyn after our marriage. I looked up to her so much and I wanted to get into her good books by all means possible.
I had spent nearly two hours in the kitchen that day because she liked it prepared in a very specific way. Strong, but not bitter and smooth, but not weak.
The first cup had been too sweet.
“This tastes awful,” Evelyn had said coldly after one sip. “I hate it.”
“What is this?” The second had been too bitter and she wasted no time in spitting it out. “Did nobody teach you properly before you got married?”
By the third attempt, my hands had been shaking from embarrassment and exhaustion, but I still remembered standing in that kitchen determined not to fail.
“She’s William’s mother,” I had whispered to myself while remaking the coffee again. “If I try harder, she’ll accept me eventually.”
God, I had really believed that. Back then, I thought love could be earned through patience and sacrifice, but now I realized all I had done was teach people how much of myself I was willing to give away.
“Bella?” William’s voice pulled me back and I looked at him fully this time.
His expression remained calm, expectant, like this was a completely normal request, like I was still the same woman who would immediately limp downstairs to serve people who barely treated me like a human being.
Something cold settled inside my chest.
“You both have hands and feet,” I said evenly. “Why don’t you make it yourselves?”
William blinked once, visibly caught off guard, and call me crazy or whatever, but I could swear I heard Evelyn gasp so hard the pitch almost cracked the chandelier.
“What? Did I hear properly?” From downstairs, Evelyn’s voice rose sharply. “What did she say?”
“Asking a disabled person to serve you,” I didn’t look away from William as I continued quietly, “do you really think that’s appropriate?”
The silence afterward felt enormous..William stared at me like he didn’t recognize me anymore and maybe he didn’t, because the Isabella standing in front of him now was not the same woman who spent years desperately trying to please everyone at the expense of herself.
“Isabella,” he said slowly, warning creeping into his tone. “I'm not going to ask you again.”
“Don't bother.” I hissed, my voice so low it could crack ice. “You won't have to.”
Williams parted his lips to speak, but I was already done..I tightened my grip on my cane and turned away from him. Behind me, Evelyn’s furious voice exploded through the living room.
“How dare she speak like that?!” she was livid, but I didn't care. “This is exactly what happens when you spoil someone too much!”
“She’s becoming more outrageous by the day!” The shouting echoed behind me as I continued walking down the hallway without stopping once.
For the first time in years, I didn’t feel guilty for leaving them angry.
By the time I reached the bedroom and closed the door behind me, my chest felt tight, but strangely lighter too.
The room was quiet and still. I stood there for a long moment before finally walking toward the bed and sitting down carefully.
Then slowly, I looked around the room.
My room. No, not mine anymore. The realization settled heavily inside me as my gaze drifted across the wardrobe, the vanity, the framed photographs, and the life I had spent three years building around William.
And suddenly, only one thought remained clear in my mind.
I needed to leave, not temporarily, but completely.
A shaky breath left me as I reached for my phone and opened the notes app absentmindedly.
I needed travel permits, money, documents, medical records, and packing. The list formed slowly in my head, practical and terrifying all at once, because leaving William didn’t just mean walking out of this house.
It meant dismantling the entire life I had built around him.
My fingers tightened slightly around the phone, and then came the final thought.
Divorce.
The word sat there quietly, staring back at me like something inevitable..For a long time, I simply sat motionless on the bed, listening to my own heartbeat.
Then finally, I whispered the word out loud for the very first time.
“Divorce.”
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