Chapter 9
1100 Words
Isabella
I stood outside the door, completely still and it didn't help that their laughter still echoed over and over in my head, breaking my heart all the more.
In the blink of an eye, the hallway suddenly felt too cold, or maybe it was just me.
My fingertips had gone numb around the handle of my cane, the chill sinking deep into my skin as laughter continued spilling from the room ahead.
They were loud, careless and cruel, and it hurt as hell. I should have been used to it by now, and honestly, I was.
William’s circle had never truly accepted me. On the surface, they smiled politely and called me Luna with enough respect to avoid criticism, but underneath it all, they looked down on me.
I knew they did.
To them, I was just an ordinary woman who somehow managed to marry their Alpha.
I was an outsider, a burden, a cripple standing beside a man they believed deserved better, and they had never really hidden it.
Not even in front of William, especially not in front of William.
There had been dinners where they spoke over me entirely, gatherings where they mocked me with subtle little comments disguised as jokes.
Sometimes they were even bolder than that.
"Careful, Bella. Don’t strain yourself walking too much."
"Should someone help you sit down?"
"These events must be exhausting for you."
Those were only a few of the comments they'd let loose in my presence. And the worst part? They were always smiling and always showing fake concern, like they weren’t trying to humiliate me, and every single time, William stayed silent.
Not once had he told them to stop, nor had he ever defended me. Back then, I told myself he just wasn’t good with confrontation.
I told myself he didn’t notice, I told myself a lot of things, but now, I was starting to see things a little bit clearly.
The laughter inside the room rose again, pulling me back to the present like a slap across the face.
“Come on,” Jason laughed. “You know I’m right.”
More amusement followed after that. Every sound felt like a dull blade dragging across old wounds, reopening scars I had spent years trying to bury, and suddenly I remembered a memory I wished I could forget.
It had happened shortly after our wedding. I had spent nearly the entire morning in the kitchen making William’s favorite dishes myself, and carefully packing them into a lunchbox because I wanted to surprise him.
I still remembered how excited I’d been.
Pathetic.
I had stood outside his office door smiling to myself, adjusting my grip on the handle of the lunch carrier before I reached for the door, then I heard Jason’s voice from inside.
“William, seriously?” he scoffed. “You’ve been married to Isabella for this long and still haven’t slept with her?”
I froze as the smile slipped from my face instantly. Inside the office, there was a brief silence, then William spoke.
I had no idea what he was going to say next, but a part of me had thought that that was the moment where he would support me or tell them he was only trying to protect me like he always said.
Nothing, absolutely nothing could have prepared me for what he said next.
“No.” The word came out quiet, almost too quiet, and if Jason hadn't burst out laughing, I would've told myself that William didn't say anything.
“You’re kidding.” Jason chuckled.
“I’m not.”
“Then what the hell is the problem?” Jason asked bluntly. “She’s your wife.”
Another pause followed, and then William sighed, a sound I would never forget for the rest of my life.
“It’s not that I don’t want to,” he muttered.
I remember gripping the lunchbox tighter, I remembered my guts telling me it was high time I left. I could easily drop off the lunchbox with the receptionist, but for some reason, my feet remained plastered to the floor.
My heart had been pounding so hard I could barely hear.
“But…” he continued slowly, “whenever I look at her leg…”
Another best passed, before he finally added. “I just feel physically sick.”
Everything inside me had stopped then. I remembered standing there outside the office, unable to breathe properly, unable to move.
The lunchbox had nearly slipped from my trembling fingers as his words echoed over and over in my head.
Physically sick.
My legs had given out so suddenly that I barely managed to catch myself against the wall.
I could still remember how cold it felt against my skin, how humiliating it was, how badly I wanted to disappear, and yet, even after hearing that, I stayed.
God.
I stayed, I convinced myself that if I loved him harder, if I became gentler, softer, quieter, he would eventually love me back.
I lowered myself piece by piece trying to fit into a space that had never truly wanted me there.
And now, looking back on it, it all felt ridiculous. Every sacrifice, every compromise, and every desperate attempt to earn affection from a man who had already decided I was unworthy of it.
A bitter laugh nearly rose in my throat.
What a pathetic one-woman show it had been.
Inside the room, the conversation continued. They were still laughing, still mocking, still tearing me apart like I wasn’t a real person, and something in me finally broke.
Years of humiliation, years of resentment, years of swallowing pain until it poisoned me from the inside out, it all surged upward at once.
I took a slow breath, then another as my fingers tightened around my cane before I lifted my head slowly, my gaze turning cold.
Without hesitating again, I raised my hand, and shoved the half-open door wide open with all my strength.
The loud bang echoed through the room instantly. Conversation stopped, laughter died as every head turned toward me.
William’s expression changed immediately the moment he saw me standing there.
Shock flashed across his face but I ignored it. My chest rose and fell once as my gaze swept across every single person in that room.
Jason, the others, Elisa and then finally, William.
When I spoke, my voice came out sharper than I had ever heard it before.
“When exactly,” I asked slowly, “did you people decide you had the right to publicly gossip and insult me?”
- Writer
