Love Between Two Enemies Part Ten

Blood Over Love


The hospital room smelled like antiseptic and unfinished endings.

Ethan slept, pale against white sheets, a steady beep marking each second he remained alive. Isabella sat beside him, her phone heavy in her hand, the image still burned into her mind.

Two fathers.
One smile.
A shared secret.

Her fingers trembled as she locked the screen.

So this was the truth they never wanted her to see.


---

Ethan woke slowly, pain pulling him back into the world. His shoulder throbbed, but the first thing he noticed was Isabella’s face.

She wasn’t crying.

That scared him more.

“What is it?” he asked hoarsely.

She hesitated—then handed him the phone.

He stared at the photo.

And felt something inside him fracture quietly.

“No,” he whispered. “That’s impossible.”

Isabella’s voice was calm—but empty. “They’ve been lying to us longer than Luca ever did.”

Ethan turned away, jaw clenched. “My father wouldn’t—”

“Don’t,” she interrupted softly. “Don’t protect him before we know the truth.”

Silence stretched between them.

Then Ethan nodded.

“You’re right.”


---

Samuel Ashford didn’t deny it.

Not when Ethan confronted him.
Not when Isabella sat across the table, eyes sharp and unforgiving.

“Yes,” Samuel said evenly. “We worked together.”

Isabella laughed once—bitter. “After pretending to hate each other for thirty years?”

Samuel’s gaze hardened. “That hatred was real. The alliance came later.”

Ethan leaned forward. “You let Luca take the fall.”

Samuel didn’t flinch. “Luca was reckless. He was going to burn everything.”

“So you sacrificed him,” Isabella said coldly. “Like pawns.”

Samuel met her eyes. “Like necessary losses.”

Ethan stood abruptly. “You ruined lives.”

Samuel’s voice dropped. “And I built an empire you were happy to inherit.”

Ethan felt sick.


---

Isabella left first.

She walked the city for hours, letting rage and grief tear through her chest. Every memory replayed differently now—every warning ignored, every lie polished into something believable.

She stopped at the river.

The same river that had swallowed truth decades ago.

Her phone rang.

Ethan.

“I’m done,” he said quietly. “With him. With all of it.”

She closed her eyes. “Then you’ll lose everything.”

“I already did,” he replied. “The moment I realized what they made us.”


---

They met at the apartment, exhaustion heavy between them.

“What do we do?” Isabella asked.

Ethan stared at the wall. “We finish what we started.”

She studied him. “Even if it destroys our families?”

“Yes.”

She stepped closer. “Even if it destroys us?”

He met her gaze. “Only if we let it.”

She took his hands. “Then we don’t.”


---

The plan was dangerous.

Not a leak.
Not an exposure.

A confrontation.

They would force the truth into the open—publicly, permanently, and in a way no money could erase.

They called Margaret Whitaker.

“You were right,” Ethan said. “They’re still free.”

Margaret’s voice was calm. “Then you know what to do.”


---

The gala was everything their parents loved.

Crystal. Cameras. Applause.

Samuel Ashford stood beside Isabella’s mother, Elena Moretti, smiling like history had never bled between them.

Ethan and Isabella arrived together.

The room shifted.

Whispers followed them like a tide.

Samuel’s smile faltered when he saw Ethan’s face.

“Elena,” Isabella said softly. “We need to talk.”

Elena stiffened. “Now is not the time.”

“Oh,” Isabella replied. “It’s exactly the time.”


---

Ethan took the stage.

Microphone in hand.

Heart pounding.

“My name is Ethan Ashford,” he said clearly. “And everything you’ve been told about the Riverside Scandal is incomplete.”

Gasps rippled through the crowd.

Samuel stepped forward. “Ethan—”

Ethan didn’t stop.

“Our parents told us lies,” he continued. “They protected each other. They let others burn.”

Isabella joined him.

“And tonight,” she said steadily, “we tell the truth.”

Screens lit up.

Recordings played.

Confessions echoed.

Faces drained of color.

Elena Moretti staggered back.

Samuel Ashford whispered, “You ungrateful—”

Ethan turned to him. “You don’t get to call me anything anymore.”


---

Chaos erupted.

Security rushed. Phones recorded. Journalists smelled blood.

Margaret watched from the shadows, tears in her eyes.

They had done it.


---

But victory tasted strange.

Later, in the quiet aftermath, Ethan and Isabella sat alone.

“We’re free,” Ethan said softly.

Isabella nodded—but didn’t smile. “And orphaned.”

He reached for her hand. “We still have each other.”

She squeezed back. “That has to be enough.”


---

Outside, sirens wailed again.

Arrests were coming.

But as Isabella rested her head on Ethan’s shoulder, one thought refused to leave her mind.

Truth ends lies.

But it doesn’t heal scars.


In Part Eleven: “After the Fall”

The world watches them rise from ruin.
Love is tested without enemies to fight.
And sometimes…
what comes after truth
is harder than the lie.