Chapter 412: Isabella’s Pain
Isabella returned home, utterly exhausted. She had always been aware that the Frosts could be as chilling as their surname suggested, but today she had felt it firsthand. Without uttering a single word, his presence alone had pierced her as though she’d been stabbed a thousand times.
As she peeled off her jacket, a profound sense of emptiness engulfed her, her emotions a tangled mess of indecision and hurt. When she’d handed her resignation, she didn’t know what she’d expected or feared but that biting sting of cold indifference, she had not been prepared for. He’d questioned her, sure. But nothing else.
Tears brimmed in her eyes as she whispered to herself in a voice laced with despair, "What were you expecting, Isi? That he would desperately beg you to stay? Or somehow force you to remain by his side? You’re dealing with Ian Frost. To him, women are just a multitude, endlessly adoring at his feet. Just because he made you feel like you were the exception doesn’t mean you truly were anything special to him."
"Also, aren’t you being a hypocrite, Isi? If you really want him to be with you, shouldn’t you have been truthful to him? Tell him that you loved him and needed him for everything? Why lie to him about boundaries and sh*t like that?" Her inner voice seemed to have no sympathy for herself
Her hands trembled as she wiped away the tears that now freely streamed down her cheeks. The room felt colder, the isolation wrapping around her like a shroud. "I had no choice, Ian. I’m sorry," she whispered into the emptiness, her voice a broken mix of defiance and sorrow. "I did it to protect my mother. I never would have thought that Emerald would go to these lengths."
She closed her eyes, thinking back to the confrontation which she had with Emerald in the hospital last night.
"Emerald, what are you talking about?" Isabella asked cautiously, her unease growing with each passing moment.
He leaned in, his voice dropping to a low, ominous whisper. "You see, Isabella, there are some things that your boyfriend cannot shield you from. The pain of losing your mother is one of them. Isn’t it?"
Her eyes widened with a mix of confusion and dread as she attempted to grasp the gravity of his insinuation.
"What are you saying, Emerald? What does my mother have to do with any of this?" Her voice quivered, the uncertainty adding an edge to her tone.