The Heartless husband's Regret : Keep Your Hands

Chapter 3

Freya

Now, there was no saving this marriage anymore. At the same moment my resolve hardened, my heart sank.

Ethan stepped forward and grabbed my wrist.

Too tightly.

I could feel the pressure against the bones in my wrist.

“Do you think you're in any position to say that to me?” He stared at me. “Have you forgotten why I ended up like this?” His jaw clenched.

Something inside me was overwhelmed with guilt as his words sank in.

That night... I remembered the night that changed everything.

The accident that left Ethan's leg permanently disabled happened while he was driving to the hospital where Grandpa had been admitted.

That same night, Grandpa passed away.

Everything about that night had been a disaster for us, and Ethan blamed me for all of it.

Whenever he lost control over his injured leg or Grandpa's death, I would remain silent, hiding the unbearable pain buried deep inside my heart.

I only needed to be patient.

I believed that, when the time was right, we would finally talk about everything, and then it would all be over.

At least, that's what I kept telling myself. But when would the right time ever come?

Since that night, we had never had a real conversation as husband and wife.

We were more like a boss and his subordinate, and Ethan's words were absolute.

In the Ashford household, I had become the unwanted woman. The servants showed me no respect, and I had grown accustomed to eating my meals in a cold, silent atmosphere.

The pain I kept trying to suppress had, in truth, only continued to grow into something far more terrifying.

“I’m not divorcing you. You still have to pay for your sins,” he growled.

My body trembled, my lips pressed tightly together. Standing in front of him, I couldn't fight back. The desire to ask for a divorce was buried deep inside me once again.

“Control yourself and make yourself useful, Freya.”

With those words, Ethan turned and walked away.

Frozen where I stood, I watched the two of them leave. I fought desperately to keep my tears from falling. I didn't want to look any more pathetic than I already did.

Just like always, Ethan didn't care about me at all.

Not long after they disappeared from sight, I made my way to my room, my body feeling unbearably cold.

I collapsed onto the floor before I could even reach the bed, wrapping my arms around myself as I trembled.

We had been sleeping in separate rooms for a long time now.

He hadn't touched me once.

The thought of Vivian spending time with Ethan made tears stream down my face.

To everyone else, they looked like the perfect couple. Vivian suited him far better than I ever could.

I didn't want to think about it, but those thoughts kept forcing their way into my mind, tormenting me over and over again.

It f*****g hurt.

And I didn't know how to escape this situation.

The next morning, I tried to act as if everything were normal—as if nothing had happened—even though I knew they were openly mocking me as the wife who meant nothing.

When I walked into the dining room, Ethan and Vivian were already there.

A bright smile lit up Ethan's face. For a split second, I froze. It seemed he truly liked Vivian if she could make him smile like that.

I took my seat in silence, refusing to look at either of them.

The truth was, this was unbearably difficult. The pain in my chest raged so fiercely that I had to secretly pinch my thigh just to distract myself from the ache in my heart.

Even without looking at them, the sound of their quiet laughter echoed in my ears, torturing me again and again.

As expected, I couldn't eat my breakfast.

After just one bite, I felt like I was about to throw up everything in my stomach.

“Vivian will be taking over the resort project in Emerald.”

No...

I must have heard him wrong.

I looked at Ethan in shock. He was staring directly at me.

“You need to hand over all the project documents to her immediately,” he commanded.

My lips trembled before I could speak, my anger rising beyond my control.

“You... you can't do that, Ethan.”

My voice came out louder than I intended.

His gaze was intimidating, his expression as cold and indifferent as ever.

“Do you think you have any say in this?” he shot back.

His words were brief, but they shook me to my core.

It was becoming painfully clear that Ethan was growing even crueler toward me.

That single question humiliated me because he knew I had managed the Emerald Resort project from the very beginning.

I had taken it over as quickly as I could while he was struggling with his mental state after Grandpa's death.

But...

He acted as if I had done nothing at all.

In that painful moment, I looked at Vivian. She wore a gentle, innocent smile, completely untouched by the tension.

When I turned back to Ethan, tears nearly spilled from my eyes. But I forced myself to change my expression.

I stood up and offered a faint smile.

“All right. I'll gather all the project documents and hand them over to Vivian today.”

After saying that, I lowered my head.

I truly looked like an employee reporting to her boss. That should have been enough to satisfy Ethan, but I caught something else flicker across his eyes.

Sheer shock.

I hurried out of the dining room, walking as fast as I could while wiping away the tears that streamed down my face, desperately trying to hide my pain once again.