The Godfather’s Forsaken Rose Chapter 09
His brows drew together.
He strode to the edge of the lake and held out his hand, anger held tight in his voice.
“Isabella. Come up.”
I slapped his hand away and kept searching.
Only when my fingertips brushed something cold and hard did I close my fist around it like I had found treasure. Soaked through, I climbed out of the lake.
Only then did Dominic see clearly what I had risked myself to retrieve.
A small sapphire necklace. Old, even a little worn.
Something unreadable flared in his eyes. He grabbed my arm.
“You can donate hundreds of millions without blinking, but you risk your life for this little thing?”
I jerked free from him, trembling from cold and fury.
“You don’t understand anything. So don’t stand here and judge me.”
“You said we were over. Then please, let me go. Don’t look at me. Don’t speak to me. Don’t come near me again.”
I stared into his eyes and spoke the two words clearly.
“Brother-in-law.”
Dominic went still.
The title struck him harder than I expected. His pupils tightened.
Before he could speak, Sophia walked over, innocent and triumphant.
“Bella, thank you for helping me pick up my necklace.”
She reached for it.
I clenched my fist and refused to let go.
“It’s mine.”
Sophia looked at Dominic with wounded eyes.
“Dominic, my mother gave it to me.”
Dominic looked at my stubborn expression, then at Sophia’s expectant eyes.
His brows tightened.
At last, he reached out and gripped my wrist.
“Let go.”
His voice was cold.
“No.”
I glared at him through reddened eyes.
Dominic used force.
Brute force.
One by one, he pried open my clenched fingers.
A small, sharp crack sounded under my cry of pain.
He had broken my wrist.
Pain swept through me so violently that my face went bloodless and sweat broke across my skin. I stared at the cold, cruel man in front of me in disbelief.
Sophia took the necklace at once.
She shot me a smug glance, then looped her arm through Dominic’s and said softly, “Dominic, let’s go inside and get my coat.”
Dominic nodded.
He looked once at me, curled in pain on the ground, something complicated passing through his eyes.
Then he turned and left with Sophia.
But just as they entered the club, a heavy wrought-iron light fixture overhead suddenly came loose and fell straight toward Sophia.
Dominic reacted instantly and shoved Sophia out of the way.
The edge of the fixture still grazed the back of her head.
“Sophia!”
Dominic’s expression changed completely. He lifted her into his arms and rushed toward the parking lot, taking her to St. Mary’s Private Hospital.
I clutched my broken wrist, close to fainting from the pain. A kind stranger eventually got me to the same hospital.
The surgeon who set my wrist looked at my injuries and could not help sighing.
“Who was cruel enough to do this to you?”
My face was pale. My lips trembled.
The pain in my heart was far worse than the pain in my body.
The surgeon told me the injury was serious and I needed to stay for observation.
So I stayed at St. Mary’s.
Not long after I was settled into a room, Dominic stormed in with a chill sharp enough to cut.
His face was terrifyingly dark, and he looked at me as if he wanted to tear me apart.
“Isabella, I checked the surveillance. You bribed someone at the club to loosen that fixture so it would fall on Sophia, didn’t you?”
I almost laughed from the absurdity.
“I didn’t.”
“Who else would hate Sophia enough to do something like that?” His eyes were freezing. “I underestimated you. You’re lawless enough to do anything.”
“I said I didn’t. You have no right to slander me.”
“Slander?”
Dominic’s gaze turned even colder.
“It seems you won’t tell the truth unless you’re taught a lesson.”
He took out his phone, dialed a number, and ordered coldly, “Contact the precinct. Isabella Moretti, second daughter of the Moretti family, is suspected of attempted assault. Send someone over. Lock her up for a few days and let her sober up.”
“Dominic!”
I stared at him in horror, unable to believe he would use his connections to send me to a detention cell.
No matter how I struggled, explained, or pleaded, it made no difference.
Soon, uniformed officers came to my hospital room.
Despite the surgeon’s objections and the severity of my injuries, they took me away by force.