Chapter 21
My stomach twists, my heart pounds, and a mix of anger and disbelief washes over me. How is she here? Why now?
“Is that… Jessica?” I stop dead in my tracks, gripping Noah’s arm like a lifeline. My heart is hammering, and my chest feels tight, like I can’t quite catch my breath.
“Uhm… yeah, it looks like it,” he says cautiously, his eyes scanning her. “I wonder why she’s here.”
I force myself to look up, and my stomach twists into knots. We’re standing right in front of Liam’s beach house. My mind races – What is she doing here? My legs feel like they might give out, and all I can do is hold onto Noah, trying to steady myself.
“I know you’re dumb, but please tell me you’re not that dumb,” I whisper to Noah, my voice tight. “That’s Liam’s beach house. He’s been MIA for days, and now she’s here. I bet he’s not far behind. We need to go… now.”
We turn and start walking as fast as I can manage without drawing attention, though it’s painfully slow. But it’s no use, she sees us.
“Isabel? Noah?” Her voice cracks, sharp and hesitant. I freeze, my stomach dropping, and force a look of surprise onto my face.
“Shit,” Noah mutters under his breath.
“Jessica? Hey, how are you?” I ask, trying to sound casual.
She glances down at something in her hand and shrugs. “I’ve had better days. What are you guys doing here?”
What is in her hand that’s got her so upset? I think, my eyes flicking toward it.
I shift my gaze back to her hands and answer carefully. “My best friends and I are getting in a last weekend getaway before we all leave for college. And after the week we’ve had… well, we all need it. Are you okay?”
She nods slightly, still looking down. “Yeah… Cori said you were really sick. I’m glad you’re doing better. I’m really sorry, Isabel.”
“Yeah, thanks… but what are you sorry for?” I ask, my voice barely steady.
Before I can process it, Noah grabs my arm and pulls me back – and that’s when I see it. A pregnancy test. Positive.
Just then, a voice calls out from a distance: “Bella?”
I look up. Liam is standing at the top of the stairs, eyes wide in surprise. Everything clicks in an instant.
“Jessica… is that… Liam’s?” I ask, already knowing the answer.
Her eyes fill with tears, and my heart sinks. “Isabel, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you guys were together,” she chokes out.
“They… never broke up,” I mumble under my breath, just loud enough for Noah to hear.
I try to turn and walk away, desperate to put as much distance between myself and them as possible – but walking isn’t exactly my strength right now. Before I can get far, Liam catches me, gripping my hand firmly.
“Isabel, what are you doing here?” he asks, his voice tight with surprise.
“Our beach trip,” I reply, trying to keep my voice steady. “You would’ve been invited… but you kind of just disappeared.”
“Should you really be at the beach after just getting surgery? Is that… really the best idea?” Liam asks, his tone sharp.
“Why would it matter to you?” Noah snaps, stepping forward. “You never visited. You never checked on her. She almost died, you know. Twice. And you? You were nowhere to be found. But somehow, you were here the whole time, playing house. How convenient for you.”
Liam’s eyes darken as he glares at Noah, then shifts back to me. “It’s always going to be him, isn’t it?”
“No. This time.. It’s me.”
I start to walk away, but my legs feel like lead, weighed down by the crushing realization. Every warning Gabriel and Olivia gave me hits like a punch to the chest… I ignored them. I’m such a fucking idiot. Again. The thought twists in my stomach: I can’t believe I was the other woman… again.
“Isabel!” Liam’s voice cuts through the air, urgent, and I feel it reverberate in my chest. He’s running after me.
I stop, my hands trembling, and spin to face him, heat and heartbreak flaring together.
“You allowed me to be a side piece again?” My voice cracks, and I swallow hard to stop it from breaking completely.
“After the pain you watched me go through with Noah… you still did it? Why? Because you knew I’d trust you?
That I’d never assume it could happen to me again, and so soon after? ”
I take a shaky breath, my heart hammering against my ribs. “But hey… you get your baby, don’t you? I saw the test. When I asked, she just said sorry. Do you know how fucking stupid I feel?”
Tears sting my eyes, my hands clench into fists at my sides, and my chest aches with every ragged breath. I turn, gripping the edge of my shirt as if it could keep me steady, and start walking again, the fury and betrayal coiling tighter with every step.
“At least she wants a family with me. You were so stuck on Noah that you didn’t even talk about it,” he snaps.
I throw my arms up in exasperation, the movement stabbing with pain, but nothing compared to the burning ache in my chest. “No! I did talk about it! My answer just wasn’t the one you wanted, so you didn’t hear me.
I don’t want a family right now, because I have aspirations…
dreams. And it’s selfish of you to get mad at me for that!
And you want to talk about the difference between you and Noah?
Fine! Let’s talk!” I shout, my hands shaking and chest burning.
“The thing that sets you two apart is he wouldn’t hesitate to choose me in any lifetime, at any moment, without a second thought, he would choose me.
And you… you couldn’t even choose me in this one! I almost died you know… ”
My voice cracks, and tears sting my eyes. “He sat with me all night, every single night this week. But you? You didn’t even send a fucking text! He was there. He literally saved my life this week, and you? You couldn’t even send a lousy message?”
He stood there completely speechless.
“Here I am, literally on death’s door, and all I can think about is where the hell my boyfriend is,” I say, my voice hollow and shaking.
“And it turns out he’s here. With his pregnant girlfriend.
” I laugh once, bitter and broken. “Liam, I’m not going to plead for your love.
I’ve realized it hurts a hell of a lot less to grieve what we had, or what I thought we had, than to beg you to want me in your life.
” I drop my head, the weight of it all finally crushing down.
“I shouldn’t have to beg someone to love me.
I just wanted, just once, for someone to be afraid of losing me.
” I look up at him, steadier now, even as everything inside me shatters.
“This… whatever this is… is done. I’m not doing this anymore. ”
I turn and start walking down the beach. Raindrops begin to dot my skin, light at first, almost gentle. Somehow, everything feels like it’s falling into place, even with the white-hot hole burning through my chest, even with the lump in my throat making it hard to breathe.
He doesn’t deserve a single tear.
I knew it was over long before this moment. That doesn’t make it hurt any less.
I walk back toward the beach house alone, though I know Noah is somewhere behind me.
I can feel his presence, steady and silent, even without looking back.
The wind sharpens, the rain coming down harder by the second.
By the time I reach the steps, I’m completely spent.
I sink onto the bottom step, unable to go any farther, and let the rain soak through me.
Then I break.
I sob with everything I have left, the sound tearing out of me like it’s been waiting all day. I don’t know if it’s Noah, or Liam, or some tangled wreck of the two – but I know my soul feels shattered.
I don’t even recognize myself anymore.
And somehow, that’s the worst thing I’ve realized today.“You can’t get sick again, Bella,” Oliver says gently, draping a blanket around my shoulders like he was waiting for me, rubbing my arms to warm me. “They’ll readmit you.”
“Ollie…” I manage to gasp, my chest hitching. “How did I let this happen to me again? How could I be so stupid?”
My voice cracks. “How did I not see it? She went on our first date with us. Our first date. How was that not a red flag? How was that not a warning for exactly how this was going to end?”
Oliver pulls me closer, letting the blanket fall around both of us.
“Bella… it’s not your fault,” he says firmly, his hands steady on my arms. “You trusted him. You believed in him. That’s not stupid – that’s human.
Anyone would have done the same.” He tilts my chin up slightly, forcing me to meet his eyes.
“And I am here. You’re not alone in this.
You don’t have to carry it by yourself.”
I swallow hard, the lump in my throat refusing to budge, and for the first time since the chaos started, I feel a little of the tension in my chest ease. Oliver isn’t trying to fix it all… he’s just holding space for me to feel it, and somehow, that’s enough.
It feels like my world is caving in, like I’m clawing through the rubble just trying to breathe again. I wouldn’t give him the family he wanted, so he went and found it anyway. His fear of conflict didn’t disappear, it just became his escape. He slipped away quietly, when no one was watching.
He left.
He left me while I was dying.
How do you do that to someone you love?
And then it hits me… he never actually loved me. I don’t even think he liked me.
“Isabel… this is not your fault,” Oliver says, giving me a gentle squeeze.
“Why am I never good enough?” I whisper, feeling like a broken record. Rain fills the silence between us, soft and relentless.
I sigh, letting the weight press down on me one last time before forcing myself up. “I… I’m going to go shower,” I mutter, my voice barely carrying over the sound of the rain.