Before Falling Stars Touch Earth We Remember Our Promises by Theo Jaxon Reid

Betrayal, Manipulation, and the Breaking of a Devoted Heart

The story opens with Isabella standing on the precipice of a devastating truth—one so shattering that it flips her world upside down in a single moment. She overhears Joseph’s friends mocking her, teasing Joseph for his elaborate deceit: faking an illness, inventing a ritual marriage, and creating a dramatic lie all so he could bring another woman—Sophia—into their home without suspicion. They laugh, crediting him as a “mastermind,” marveling that only someone as innocent as Isabella could have believed his story.

That single moment becomes the spark that ignites Isabella’s unraveling. The protective charm she carries, the same charm she had prayed over for Joseph’s recovery, suddenly burns hot in her hand as if reacting to the betrayal itself. Her body feels cold, her heart colder still, as she realizes the entire façade of Joseph’s illness was a trap—a well-calculated play to hide infidelity under the guise of tradition.

Chapter 1 — The Cruel Unveiling

Outside the living room door, Isabella overhears Joseph’s friends discussing his “ritual marriage,” a fabricated ceremony that supposedly required intercourse exactly ninety-nine times to save Joseph’s life. Joseph had told Isabella that if he stopped the ritual before completing the ninety-nine sessions, he would die.

Now, his friends joke about the absurdity of it. Joseph himself lounges casually, relaxed, entirely unconcerned—his demeanor the complete opposite of the pale, dying patient he pretended to be in front of Isabella.

His friends tease him about having already been with Sophia ninety times. “Just nine left,” one laughs. They ask what he plans to do afterward. Joseph responds with a light smirk and a sip of his drink: once the ritual is “complete,” he simply plans to keep Sophia as his secret lover.

Isabella freezes. Everything inside her goes numb. She cannot believe that the man she prayed for every night was capable of such coldness.

Joseph’s Contradictions: Love and Possession

The mockery continues until one friend finally asks what Isabella herself wonders:
If Joseph supposedly loves Isabella, why hurt her so deeply? Why fake an illness? Why create a fake spiritual ritual? Why allow his family to punish her?

Joseph’s answer reveals the truth.

He explains that the Ashford family, a century-old legacy obsessed with rigid tests and loyalty trials, never approved of Isabella. She came from humble origins, and Joseph had bent the family rules to marry her without subjecting her to their traditional trials. The family resented this and blamed her for everything—even Joseph’s so-called “curse.”

Joseph claims he created the ritual marriage as a tool to shut down the family’s complaints, to retroactively justify Isabella’s position as his wife. He paints it as a way to protect her, insisting she “doesn’t complain even when he is with someone else” and “prays sincerely for him.”

His friends applaud him. They praise Isabella’s obedience and submissiveness, calling her a perfect Ashford wife. Joseph drinks in their admiration, convinced he has found the ideal balance—his wife at home suffering silently, and Sophia fulfilling his desires elsewhere.

But when a friend asks whether Joseph worries Isabella might leave him if she discovers the truth, Joseph laughs it off. His confidence borders on arrogance.

“Isabella loves me too much. She would never leave. And even if she tried, no one in Coastal Harbor would dare help her file for divorce without my permission.”
He even adds that if she ran away, he would drag her back.
“She is mine—in life and in death.”

Those words hit Isabella like poison. A relationship she believed was built on sacrifice, loyalty, and devotion was, in Joseph’s eyes, nothing more than ownership.

Isabella’s Pain: A Love Built on Sacrifice

As Isabella stands outside the door, tears blur her vision. Memories flood back—memories of the Joseph she once loved:

• She had quit school to pay for her mother’s treatment.

• She worked tirelessly diving for pearls.

• She rescued him from the ocean when he was wounded and dying.

• She nursed him for an entire month.

• He had pursued her with relentless sincerity, breaking through her defenses.

• He once took a burn for her, protecting her during a violent conflict.

• At their wedding, he knelt and vowed eternal devotion, promising she would never suffer again.

But those vows now feel hollow—lies spoken with passion but never rooted in truth.

The image of him lying with Sophia while Isabella prayed for him all night at a cross—bleeding from rosary beads digging into her hands—becomes unbearable. Her pain is not just emotional; it is spiritual, physical, all-consuming.

And now she knows: the illness, the ritual, the prayers, the scolding from the Ashford family…
Everything was a cruel fabrication.

The Rise of Strength: Isabella Decides to Leave

Her tears dry. Her love for Joseph evaporates like mist in the sun.

Isabella does not confront Joseph. She does not scream. She does not expose her hurt.

She simply turns and walks away.

Her first destination is her mother. She confesses everything—Joseph’s infidelity, his cruelty, his manipulation. Her mother is devastated but resolute. She recalls how Joseph had once knelt for ten days outside her home to beg for permission to marry Isabella. She thought he was a good man. She believed he was worthy of her daughter.

But now she stands firmly with Isabella.
“Let’s leave together.”

For the first time, Isabella feels a glimmer of freedom.

Erasing Her Identity — Breaking the Ashford Chains

Joseph had claimed Isabella’s name would stay in the Ashford family tree until death—that no one could remove her.

So she decides to erase the name herself.

Isabella begins the legal process to dissolve her identity and change her name entirely. It is a long process, taking half a month, but she is determined. She advises her mother to remain quiet and hidden. Isabella must return to the Ashford household and maintain the illusion of loyalty, or else Joseph will sense something is wrong.

His influence is far-reaching. If he suspects anything, escape will become impossible.

The Return to the Ashford Villa — A Final Betrayal

When Isabella returns home, still emotionally fragile but outwardly calm, she expects Joseph to continue his facade of sickness.

Instead, she opens the door and is met with the most soul-crushing sight yet.

Joseph is on the sofa—entwined with Sophia, kissing her passionately, completely immersed in her.

And Sophia is wearing Isabella’s wedding dress.

The dress Joseph once said made her the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
The dress she wore as she vowed to love him forever.
The dress symbolizing everything she fought for, everything she sacrificed for.

Now it is draped on another woman—Sophia, the center of Joseph’s lies—while Isabella stands frozen, her heart shattering one final time.

THEMES OF THE STORY

1. Deception Wrapped in Love

Joseph weaponized Isabella’s loyalty against her. His manipulations were not born from love but from control.

2. A Woman’s Awakening

Isabella transitions from a devoted wife blinded by love to a woman reclaiming her identity and agency.

3. Toxic Power Dynamics

Joseph’s belief that he “owns” Isabella reflects deep-rooted patriarchal control.

4. Betrayal by All

It was not only Joseph who betrayed her—his family, his friends, and even societal norms played a part.

5. Liberation Through Self-Erasure

Erasing her legal identity is symbolic—Isabella is killing the version of herself Joseph tried to imprison.

CONCLUSION

This portion of the story marks the beginning of Isabella’s transformation. Once defined by devotion, sacrifice, and unconditional love, she is now propelled by betrayal, clarity, and the determination to reclaim her freedom.

Joseph’s arrogance, entitlement, and manipulative cruelty have destroyed any remnants of affection, leaving Isabella with only one choice—rebirth. Her departure is not merely an act of rebellion but a declaration of self-worth.

The chapter ends as Isabella stands in the doorway, staring at Joseph and Sophia on the sofa, with her wedding dress draped over the woman he betrayed her with—symbolizing the death of her marriage and the birth of a new, stronger self.