Ashes of Our Affection

Rachel's eyes instantly turned red, and she swayed on her feet as if she might collapse. "Izzy, I… I just wanted to check on you and talk for a bit. If you don't like it, I'll leave right now."

With that, she brushed past me and ran toward the door.

I let out a cold laugh and turned around. Sure enough, Cole was there.

He stood in the doorway, face twisted with anger. His gaze locked on me as he roared, "How long are you going to keep this up, Isabel?"

Rachel patted his shoulder, her tone tinged with disappointment. "It's okay. Izzy's still shaken and hasn't fully recovered yet. I'll come see her again tomorrow. I'll head back to the hospital now."

Cole didn't budge. His tone softened as he said to her, "Rach, you're staying here tonight. I'll have a room prepared for you right away. I'll take you to the hospital tomorrow."

After comforting her, he turned back to interrogate me, his tone turning cold once again. "When did you become like this? Rach only came to check on you out of kindness, and you told her to get out! How can you be so vicious? Apologize to her now!"

Though I'd already made up my mind about leaving Cole, hearing him say that still sent a sharp stab through my chest.

Vicious, huh? I never thought I would hear him use that word on me.

I stared numbly at the two of them. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that, and I shouldn't have acted that way."

Cole's look of anger eased slightly, clearly satisfied with my apology. "At least you realize that you were wrong. If your attitude remains like this when Rach is all better, then we'll get engaged."

I suddenly said calmly, "If you don't want the engagement to happen, I can call it off."

He stared at me in disbelief, and a flicker of panic flashed through his eyes. However, he soon composed himself.

"You're the one at fault here, Isabel. Isn't it right for you to apologize? And now you're threatening me with breaking off the engagement? Do you really think I'll die without you or something?"

I looked at him steadily, my tone so casual that it was as if we were talking about the weather. "Let's call it off, then. I'll speak to—"

"Isabel Cavendish, what do you take me for?" Cole cut me off sharply, his body trembling. I couldn't tell whether it was from anger or fear.

"You think you can just walk away from this engagement whenever you feel like it?" he roared. "Even if we're ending things, it'll be because I'm dumping you!"

He glared at me, then stormed off and slammed the door behind him.

I was unfazed. One way or another, this engagement was going to be called off.

With my mind made up, I started going over my finances. Even though I was only the Hartness family's foster child, they had never been stingy with material things. Even so, once I got into college, I'd started working part-time and stopped using the allowance they gave me.

Now that I was about to move out of the Hartness residence, I was glad to see that the money I had saved up was more than enough for me to live comfortably.

Feeling content, I began packing the things I planned to take with me.

Just then, someone knocked on the door. A dignified, elegant woman who shared the same brows and eyes as Cole stood in the doorway. It was his mother, Melissa Bloomberg.

I was surprised and hurried to let her in. Melissa had always been gentle and kind, and she treated me well.

She set the glass of milk in her hand on my nightstand and took my hand, guiding me to sit at the edge of the bed with her.

"Izzy, how are you feeling?" she asked softly. "I can't believe Cole was enough of a jerk to leave you up in the mountains for a whole week. He kept it from your dad and me, too! It must've been freezing and dangerous up there!"

As she spoke, her eyes turned red. She pulled me into her arms and gently rubbed my back with one hand.

My nose stung when I smelled the faint scent of laundry detergent on her clothes. A wave of pure, helpless grievance surged up from deep inside me.

She went on and on, fussing over me one moment and cursing out Cole the next.