Chapter 141
ISABELLA
I was unraveling. And I knew it.
Every nerve in my body was stretched taut, pulled to the point of snapping. I wanted him to touch me. I wanted him to kiss me. I wanted him to make it stop—the ache, the silence, the unbearable distance. He was driving me insane with his silence. I know I started it, but… can’t he be the bigger person, huh?
The same silence that used to feel safe, that had felt safe last night, had become a gaping void I couldn’t wait to crawl out of. My laughter had long since withered, swallowed by the invisible wall growing between us, brick by brick.
Then—finally—he reached for me.
His hands cupped my neck, palms inexplicably tender, reverent in their hesitation. My body betrayed me, leaning into the heat of him before my mind could catch up. I tilted my head, breath caught, lips parting. My eyes fluttered shut like muscle memory.
He leaned in. Closer.
So close I could feel his breath feathering over my mouth, warm and full of sweetness that I couldn’t wait to taste. I wouldn’t mind him taking me here, all shame thrown away.
My lips tingled, anticipation curling deep in my stomach together with a thousand butterflies. I bit down on my lower lip, trembling in the aching pause before the kiss—
But the kiss never came.
Instead, his touch vanished. In its place, cold.
I opened my eyes just in time to hear his footsteps, steady and deliberate, echoing across the marble floor.
Then— *Click.* The door shut behind him.
I stood frozen. Shaken. Trembling. Breathless.
“Fuck.” My knees threatened to give out.
“Fuck.” My heart pounded so hard it felt like it would crack open.
“Fuck.” Tears prickled, but my body had learned long ago how to hold them back. I couldn’t breathe. My chest heaved, trying to make sense of a world that kept tilting beneath me.
I was going to pass out.
I pressed a hand to my sternum, fingers spread, as though I could physically hold myself together. The pain was too loud. The ache too wide.
I didn’t know how to leave him. But if I didn’t, I wouldn’t survive this. I had no choice.
The door opened again. Not him.
Selena and her assistants.
“Mr. Ferrari—Levi—also made arrangements for your siblings to receive clothes and shoes for both the engagement and the wedding,” she said, extending a folded list toward me. “He asked me to inquire whether you’d prefer they be brought here or if you’d like to select the items yourself.”
I blinked at her, trying to focus, trying to steady myself in this moment that felt too surreal to belong to me.
He could speak to her. But not to me. Of course.
That damn… He was taking this too far.
“I’ll pick their clothes,” I said, my voice cracked and raw.
It wasn’t just about control. It was about clinging to something that made sense.
I knew Caroline’s style. I knew what Matt would wear. A flowing gown, clean lines. A charcoal suit, slim-fit. Choosing their outfits wouldn’t be hard, and I knew it would ground me when everything else was spiraling.
This time, when I walked back into the mall, I didn’t worry about cost. I didn’t try to be frugal.
I was still furious with Levi. Too furious to be careful. Too furious to be small.
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