Chapter 3
876 Words
"Ethan, you brought her into our marriage bedroom. Do you really have to torture me like this?" I lunged at him like a madwoman, clawing and hitting him without restraint.
Ethan only looked at me with complete indifference, allowing me to rage without even bothering to push me away.
Then Sophie Hart stepped forward and slapped me hard across the face. She stared at me with a curled lip full of contempt.
"Claire Bennett, didn’t I make myself clear yesterday? Legally, I’m Ethan’s ex-wife. I lived in this house for six years, and I decorated every single thing in this room with my own hands. Is it really so wrong for me to come back and stay one night sometimes?"
My throat felt like it was being strangled by an invisible hand, cutting off all air.
I trembled so violently that it took me a long moment just to focus my blurred vision on Ethan.
Then I whispered, my voice breaking, "Didn’t you tell me this house was decorated by you… just for me?"
Ethan got off the bed and pulled me into his arms. His voice was soft like silk. "Does that really matter? Seeing you like this… so broken… I suddenly think telling you the truth was the right decision. Claire, you’ve always been the one I wanted. But I can’t let Sophie go either...
"…if you two can get along peacefully from now on, I’ll treat you both fairly. Neither of you will be wronged again."
"Fairly? Who even wants that from you?!" I shoved him away hard, my entire body breaking apart from grief.
For six long years, I had waited every single day for the moment we would reunite and finally get married. That belief was the only thing that kept me alive through those unbearable years.
How dare he? How could he let me suffer alone for six years while he lived in sweet comfort with Sophie?
I couldn’t take it anymore. I was done.
I filed a formal complaint under my real name with the higher authorities, reporting Ethan for abusing his power to block my application to return home. I also reported Sophie for interfering in my relationship and stealing my fiancé.
But every time, the supervisors brushed me off with a few empty reassurances… then quietly handed my complaint straight to Ethan.
Ethan brought in massive, profitable contracts for the company. None of the executives was willing to offend him.
He only smiled at me condescendingly, as if I were throwing a childish tantrum.
"Stupid girl. All this fighting will only exhaust you in the end."
Not long after that, he publicly announced within the company that he would be remarrying Sophie.
One moment, I was still the so-called bride-to-be. Next, I had become the office’s laughingstock.
As I stood under all those mocking stares and heard people whisper that I was the homewrecker, something inside me finally shattered completely.
I stormed straight into Ethan’s office and flipped his desk over without hesitation. Papers scattered everywhere.
"When I was almost assaulted, you fought that man for me, even at the risk of being fired! You said you would lose everything for me! You said you loved me so much you couldn’t live without me! So why are you doing this to me now? For Sophie?! Give me back the Ethan who loved me! Give him back to me!"
My chest felt like it was being crushed by an iron fist. I could barely breathe from the pain.
Still blinded by rage, I raised my hand again, but Sophie suddenly stepped between us before I could strike.
My palm landed hard on her face, leaving a bright red mark.
"Claire, if you’re angry, just take it out on me. Everyone is watching outside. They’ll laugh at Ethan."
Ethan glanced at the crowd gathering at the door, then shoved me hard aside, his expression twisted with irritation.
"Haven’t you caused enough of a scene? Go home and look at yourself. Do you even recognize what you look like right now?"
The force of his shove caught me off guard. I hit the ground heavily.
A sharp, tearing pain exploded through my abdomen. The child I never even got the chance to tell him about… was gone.
And with that child, the last thread of hope I had for Ethan was completely severed.
After the surgery, Ethan stood beside my hospital bed, head lowered. His voice was hoarse and heavy. "Why didn’t you tell me you were pregnant?"
My face was deathly pale, my eyes empty. "If I had told you… Would it change the fact that you betrayed me?"
After that, no matter how many times Ethan apologized or begged me to stay, I never wavered.
I returned to my old family home.
After my body was broken by trauma, I spent every day in numb silence, mechanically wiping the frame of my mother’s memorial portrait.
It felt as if I were drowning in a vast, motionless ocean. No shore, no light, and no way back to the surface.
Then everything changed the day Sophie knocked on my door. She glanced at my mother’s memorial photo and smiled faintly.
"Did you know? Your mother didn’t actually have to die."
- Writer
