Chapter 4

Ethan' s words hung in the air, thick and poisonous. "They deserved it."

He wasn' t just defending Isabella. He was desecrating the memory of our fathers.

Before I could even process the sheer venom in his tone, he did something that shattered the last remaining piece of my composure. He took a step towards the hallway, in the direction of the morgue.

"In fact," Ethan said with a smirk, "I think I' ll go down there and spit on their corpses. A final 'fuck you' from Bella."

A guttural roar of pure, animalistic rage tore from Sophia' s throat. She launched herself at him, her nails bared. "You monster! Don' t you dare!"

Ethan, bigger and stronger, caught her easily by the wrists. But his target wasn' t Sophia. He shoved her aside and took a threatening step towards me, his eyes burning with a hateful fire.

"You two are really pushing it," he growled. "You want to protect those pieces of trash? You want to defend their honor?"

He was trying to get past me, to make good on his vile threat. Instinct took over. I threw myself in front of him, my arms spread wide as if I could physically shield my father' s body, miles away in a cold drawer.

"You will not touch him," I said, my voice low and trembling. "You will not go near him."

For a moment, he seemed surprised by my defiance. Then his face twisted into an ugly mask of contempt. He raised his hand. I braced for another slap, but he did something worse. He shoved me, hard. I stumbled backward, my head hitting the wall with a dull thud. Stars exploded behind my eyes, and I slid to the floor, dazed.

Liam did nothing. He stood by, holding a weeping Isabella, watching as his nephew assaulted his wife. He was a spectator to my humiliation.

Isabella peeked out from behind Liam' s arm. Her eyes were red from crying, but there was a cruel glint of satisfaction in them.

"Ethan, please, don' t hurt them," she whispered, her voice a perfect imitation of gentle concern. "It' s not their fault they' re... like this. They just don' t understand."

Her words were oil on a fire. She wasn' t trying to stop him. She was goading him, reinforcing the idea that we were unreasonable, that we were the problem.

Ethan' s chest puffed out. He was the hero, protecting his damsel in distress.

"Don' t worry, Bella," he said, his voice dropping to a theatrical, protective tone. "I won' t let them upset you anymore. I promised to take care of you, and I always will."

He turned his glare back on Sophia and me, who were now huddled together on the floor.

"This is your final warning," he snarled. "Drop this. Forget the video. Forget your fathers. Your only job now is to be obedient wives. If I hear one more word about this, I' ll make you wish you were dead alongside them."

The threat was so blunt, so devoid of any humanity, that it barely registered as real. It was like a line from a movie, too evil to be uttered by a person you knew.

Sophia looked at him, her face pale and swollen, tears forgotten. A strange calm had settled over her.

"I want a divorce," she said, her voice quiet but firm.

I looked from her to Liam, who was still cradling Isabella. The man I had loved, the future I had imagined, it had all turned to ash. The physical pain was fading, replaced by a cold, hard certainty.

"Me too," I said, my voice echoing Sophia' s. I pushed myself up, my body aching, my head spinning. I met Liam' s cold gaze. "I want a divorce."

Our declarations, our one act of defiance, hung in the air. We were taking back the only thing we had left: ourselves.