When I woke up, there was a man sitting beside my bed.
“You’re awake,” he said, leaning forward and carefully adjusting the pillow behind my head. “I’m Mordecai Moretti. You came in covered in blood, I thought we were going to lose you.”
I forced myself to sit up a little, my body heavy and slow, and I thanked him quietly while telling him I could cover the medical fees. He immediately waved it off, saying he was a doctor and saving people was normal for him, then he asked if he should call my family.
That question made my chest tighten for a second, but I shook my head and refused. I couldn’t let my parents see me like this and worry even more when everything tied back to the Laureen family and Salerno Empire was already breaking them apart.
There was no point adding more weight to them, not now, not when I barely had time left anyway.
Mordecai didn’t push after that. He just nodded like he understood there were things I wasn’t ready to say, and in the days that followed he kept coming back quietly, sometimes bringing medicine, sometimes just checking on me without asking too many questions. He never made me feel small or like I was a burden, and that alone felt strange because I couldn’t remember the last time someone treated me like I was just a person and not part of some mafia arrangement or debt.
During those ten days in the hospital, my phone kept lighting up with messages I didn’t fully want to open. My parents checked on me gently, Gideon’s name appeared more than once, and Judith’s messages were always there in between.
Photos of them together. Smiles at dinners. Private moments meant to be seen.
At first I thought it would still hurt, but it didn’t. I would just look at the screen for a second, then turn it off. Even Gideon’s name started to feel distant, like it belonged to someone I used to know in a life that wasn’t mine anymore. The pain I used to carry for him had already started fading, and I wasn’t sure when that happened.
...
When I was discharged, the sunlight outside felt strangely warm against my skin. My steps felt lighter too, like something heavy inside me had finally started to loosen, and I remember wondering if this was what it felt like to stop waiting for someone who was never going to turn around anyway.
I went back to the Salerno estate afterward.
The bridal chamber was quiet, too quiet, and I went straight to the study to get my diary because I needed to keep writing down whatever memories I still had left before they disappeared completely. I was still reaching for it when I saw her.
Judith.
She was already inside, sitting comfortably in my space holding my diary in her hands and flipping through it without hurry. Her expression changed the moment she saw me, turning into something sharp and amused at the same time.
“So this is what you’ve been hiding,” she said softly. “All these little notes about your sad life. Aww, poor girl.”
My fingers tightened instantly.
“That’s mine!" My voice came out sharper than I expected.
She tilted her head, amused. “Everything in this house is connected to Gideon,” she replied. “Including you. Don’t you get tired of pretending you matter?”
I took a step forward. “Give it back.”
She sighed dramatically and flipped another page. “I wonder what you wrote about me,” she said. “Or about him. Did you cry while writing it? Did it hurt when you realized you were never really his choice?”
“Give it back!"
She smiled wider, then footsteps came from outside the door. Judith noticed it immediately. And in one quick motion, she slammed her head against the edge of the desk, hard.
She dropped to the floor right after, screaming.
“Don’t touch me! Gideon, help! Selah is hurting me! Gideon!"
My eyes widened. What? Before I could even move, the door slammed open and Gideon walked in.
His presence filled the room instantly, heavy and controlled, and his eyes moved first to Judith on the floor, then to the torn diary pages scattered everywhere, and finally to me standing there.
And that was all it took.
His expression hardened.
He didn’t ask anything.
He didn’t hesitate.
He grabbed a stool nearby and brought it down on me without warning.
Pain exploded through my body as I dropped to the floor, my breath breaking instantly, and above me his voice came cold and furious, already decided.
“You never stop fucking causing problems, Selah! Now you’re even hurting her.”
I stared at the torn diary in my hands and couldn’t think at all.
My mind felt completely empty.
I had already been avoiding Gideon as much as I could, staying quiet, staying out of his way, trying not to exist in front of him anymore, so why did he still keep hurting me?
Why wasn’t it enough for him to ignore me?
Pain burned across my back where the stool had hit me, but I still held onto the damaged notebook tightly. My fingers shook while I gathered the ripped pages because there were already too many things I couldn’t remember anymore.
If these pages disappeared too, then those memories would disappear with them.
Gideon stood over me with bloodshot eyes, fury written all over his face.
“Selah,” he said through clenched teeth, “you’ve really disgusted me this time. I never thought you’d become this vicious.”
His voice got harsher with every word.
“Judith’s already struggling because of the wedding and now you’re trying to hurt her too? Do you actually want to drive her to death?”
I slowly raised my head and looked at him.
For a second, Gideon froze after meeting my eyes. Something flickered across his face, almost uncertain, almost uneasy, but it disappeared quickly.
Anyone with common sense could tell Judith hurt herself on purpose.
Anyone could see it.
But Gideon never looked at Judith with reason.
To him, she was always innocent.
Always fragile.
Blood slowly soaked through my clothes and stained the floor beneath me.
“You fucking clearly did something wrong,” he said. “Judith wouldn’t accuse you for no reason. I’m already letting this go because of everything you’ve done for me and the Salerno family.”
He crouched slightly in front of me, his tone colder now.
“So stop making trouble and apologize to her! Do that, and we’ll end this here.”
I just stared at him quietly.
Apologize?
After he nearly broke my back for another woman?
After everything?
Even if I forgot the past, my body still remembered pain.
I said nothing.
Gideon’s expression darkened immediately. He probably thought he had already compromised enough and that I should obediently accept it, the way I always used to.
But I couldn’t.
Not anymore.
A mocking laugh escaped him.
“Fine,” he snapped. “If you’re still acting stubborn, then maybe this marriage should end here.”
He grabbed Judith protectively and pulled her closer before heading toward the door.
Then he stopped for one last second and looked back at me with cold disappointment.
“Don’t come crying and begging later, Selah. I gave you enough chances already, and all you’ve done is disappoint me.”
The door slammed shut so hard the walls trembled.
The sound echoed inside my head until dizziness rushed over me again.
