He Protected My Baby’s Killer So I Left Him Chapter 01
Three days after Isabella hit me with her car and I lost my baby, my fiancé, Matteo, came to the hospital with the three friends he’d grown up with.
They brought a settlement agreement drafted by Isabella’s lawyer. No flowers.
Leo said Isabella had been drinking and hit the gas instead of the brake.
Marco said that years ago, Isabella’s brother had died saving them, and they couldn’t just stand by and watch her go to prison.
Nico took the police report from my hand and said quietly, “You’ll have other children.”
Finally, Matteo set a pen beside my pillow.
“Sign it,” he said. “The wedding is still on.”
I looked at the man I had loved for ten years.
He knew perfectly well that when Isabella drove at me, her brake lights never once came on.
But they chose her anyway.
I didn’t bother explaining myself again. I just flipped to the last page and signed my name.
All four men let out a breath at once.
Matteo reached for me, but I turned my face away.
“I signed the agreement.”
“The wedding is off.”
“If you owe her brother your lives, then you can pay that debt yourselves.”
The hospital room fell silent.
Matteo was the first to speak.
“You’re angry right now. Don’t say things like that.”
“The wedding’s in ten days. The guests and the venue are already confirmed.”
I took off my engagement ring and set it on the table in front of him.
Matteo didn’t touch it.
Leo’s expression was grim.
“Isabella knows she was wrong.”
“Her brother gave her everything. Ever since he died, she hasn’t been in a good place.”
“Does she really have to go to prison for you to feel like there’s justice for the baby?”
I looked at him.
“She lost her brother, so my child deserved to die?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Leo avoided my eyes.
“But the baby’s gone.”
“She’s still alive. Life has to go on.”
My chest tightened.
I thought back to the day of the accident.
Leo was the first one at the hospital.
He’d held my hand and sworn that no matter who hit me, he wouldn’t let them get away with it.
Three days later, he was telling me to let it go.
Just then, Matteo’s phone rang.
He glanced at the caller ID and answered immediately.
I couldn’t hear what the person on the other end said, but I saw his expression tighten.
“Lock the door.”
“Don’t go outside. We’re on our way.”
The second he hung up, Marco was already grabbing his coat.
“It’s blowing up online. Someone leaked Isabella’s address, and her garage door was spray-painted red.”
“There are people outside her house calling her a murderer.”
All four of them started for the door.
I called out to Matteo instinctively.
“The doctor said I might get a fever tonight.”
“It would be better if someone stayed.”
Matteo paused in the doorway.
His gaze lingered on my face for a moment before he lifted a hand and pressed the nurse’s call button.
“The nurse is right outside.”
“I’ll be back after I deal with this.”
The door clicked shut.
From the moment he got the call to the moment all four of them left, not even a minute had passed.
A nurse came in and took my temperature. 101.7.
She told me to contact my family, to have someone bring me some bland food and a change of clothes.
I sent Matteo an iMessage.
Half an hour passed. No reply.
I sent the same message to Leo, Marco, and Nico.
Four messages. Not a single answer.
In the end, a nurse brought me a bowl of soup herself.
Around midnight, I was shivering with fever when the phone by my pillow lit up.
Isabella had posted on Instagram.
In the photo, the four men were seated around her dining table.
Her caption read:
Thank God. No matter what happens, you always come.
I stared at it for a long time.
Once, when I’d been caught in the rain and came down with a fever, those same four men had taken care of me just like that.
That kind of special treatment, they used to say, was reserved for me.
Now I finally understood. No one is ever the only one.
It was just that back then, there was no one else they wanted to take care of more.
The next morning, a text from Matteo finally came through.
Bella had nightmares all night, so I stayed with her.
You have doctors and nurses. You’ll be fine.
I didn’t reply.
Instead, I called the wedding planning company.
After I explained, the coordinator hesitated.
“Ma’am, Mr. Matteo just confirmed the final schedule half an hour ago.”
“He said the wedding is proceeding as planned.”
I stared out the window at the whitening sky.
“I know there’s a cancellation fee.”
“The venue, the dress, the guest list. Cancel it all.”
She confirmed again.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
Matteo thought the wedding was only postponed.
But I knew that from the moment he walked out of that hospital room, I was no longer his bride.