“No.” My voice was calm and final.
A profound sadness washed over his features. Before he could speak, his family jumped in.
“Ethan, why are you begging her? It’s her loss if she says no!”
“Yeah, bro, why her? It’s not like she’s from some rich family or something.
“Enough!” Ethan roared, silencing them. He shot a nervous glance at me, and seemed to relax when he saw
my indifferent expression. “I brought you here to buy me time, not to screw things up! She is the only woman I will ever marry!”
The room went quiet. Mr. Grant, fuming, stormed out.
Ethan ignored them and turned back to me. “If you don’t like this one, we can go pick one out together.”
3/11
20:34
Chapter 2
20:34
“You’re missing the point. It’s not about the ring.” I looked him dead in the eye. “Ethan, I’m married.”
He swayed on his feet as if I’d struck him. The ring box slipped from his fingers and clattered to the floor.
“Married? How… how is that possible? It’s only been three years… how could you…” He shook his head, a fran- tic, desperate denial in his eyes. “You’re joking, right? You can’t joke about something like this.”
His voice cracked. “You’re just saying this to hurt me, aren’t you? Tell me you’re lying. Tell me!”
Seeing the raw anguish in his eyes was bizarre. I had never seen him look at anyone with such vulnerability. The Ethan I knew was a remote, untouchable god who looked down on the world. He was never this… desp-
erate.
“Audrey, I accepted your proposal,” he whispered, his voice breaking. “Why did you break your promise?”
The words “break your promise” sparked a flicker of amusement in me. I shook my head slowly. In Ethan’s
world, I was always the one at fault. Then and now.
“I broke my promise?” I asked. “Weren’t you the one who treated our marriage like a joke, who left me to
marry someone else?”
Ethan flinched. He reached for my arm again, his words tumbling out in a rush. “I divorced her, Audrey! Right after you left. Nothing ever happened between us, I swear, you have to believe me…‘
I wrenched my arm away, my patience completely gone. “Enough. I don’t care about any of that. My husband is waiting for me, and I need to go.”
