17
The rain had stopped.
1
Ethan’s drenched clothes had air-dried.
But his heart still felt dripping wet.
Ethan refused to go back home, not like this. He followed me every single day, but with Noah blocking his path, he couldn’t get anywhere near me.
These past few days, he’d seen firsthand just how loving Noah and I were.
We went shopping together, hit up amusement parks, kissed at the top of the Ferris wheel, and held each other under
sycamore trees…
They were doing every intimate act he and I had ever shared.
Ethan stood in a far corner, a dark voyeur. He watched their happiness-happiness that should have been his.
I saw him, sure. But I acted like he was invisible.
My eyes, soft and focused, brimmed with love for Noah. For Ethan? I wouldn’t even spare him a cruel glance.
Ethan’s chest ached. The woman who once had eyes only for him wouldn’t even give him a backward glance now. It was a luxury he was utterly denied.
With no other choice, Ethan went to Noah.
At the coffee shop.
Neither man had ever imagined they’d find themselves sitting across a table, cutting a deal.
Ethan broke the silence, his voice sharp.”Let Luna go. I’ll give you half my profits. Any business you set your sights on from now on? Consider it yours. I won’t ever compete with you again.”
The offer was a goddamn fortune, tempting as hell. Ethan couldn’t fathom Noah refusing.
But then, Noah let out a slow, soft chuckle. His eyes, brimming with mockery, locked onto Ethan.
“Mr. Carter, I think you’ve got it all wrong. It’s not about me ‘letting’ Luna go. She’s too deeply in love with me to ever walk away.”
Ethan squeezed, shattering the glass in his hand. Blood immediately coated his palm.
‘Bullshit! Luna loves me! Don’t flatter yourself. She’s just using you to piss me off!”
The air crackled with hostility, a powder keg ready to ignite.
Ethan was seeing red, but Noah? He just leaned back, utterly unbothered.
“Hah. I’m flattering myself?”
“Nah, you’re the one deluding yourself.”
Before Ethan could even respond, Noah’s eyes went cold, his easygoing facade dropping.
“You killed her mother. No sane person would ever forgive you. Stop messing with Luna. You’ve already ripped her to shreds. Just get the hell away from her.”
With that, Noah just turned and walked away.
Leaving Ethan standing there, frozen to the spot.
0.02
I couldn’t forgive him. The heart of it all was Mom. But it was clearly Chloe’s manipulation that led him to do what he
did.
Yeah. It was all Chloe’s fault.
If Chloe paid with her life, would I ever forgive him? Even a little?
That thought solidified. Ethan headed back to the States.
The Carter mansion’s grim, cold basement.
He pushed open the door. A foul, putrid stench slammed into him.
Chloe was a pathetic heap in the corner, her body curled tight. Her severed thigh wound was crawling with white maggots, flesh putrid and oozing pus.
When she saw who it was, she instinctively recoiled.
“Mr. Carter,” she whimpered, “I swear I know I F**Ked up. Please, just stop… stop torturing me!”
She regretted it so damn much. If she’d known Ethan was this unhinged, she would’ve taken the money and run. Not come back, greedy, trying to claw her way to the top.
Ethan stared down at the mangled, bloody mess on the floor. His voice came, distant and cold, finally cutting through
the silence.
I’ll give you one chance. Go apologize to Luna.”
Ever since that day Noah confronted Ethan, he’d yanished. Stopped showing up. He hadn’t followed her once.
Noah thought he’d finally gotten the message. That he’d backed off for good.
But I knew better. Ethan, for all his arrogance, was obsessively stubborn. He wasn’t the type to just give up.
The rain had passed. I sat in the rocking chair in my yard, watching the rainbow.
Footsteps sounded from outside.
Luna, I brought Chloe here to apologize.”
I lifted my eyes. Just one look, and I was utterly stunned.
Chloe sat in a wheelchair. Her legs were gone, amputated right at the hip. Her once-beautiful face was a mangled mess of scars. One eye was missing, a dark, empty socket that was truly chilling.
A flash of raw jealousy flickered in Chloe’s eyes when she saw my still-pretty face. But her desperate will to survive forced her to lower her head. Apologies and confessions tumbled out non-stop.
“I’m so sorry, I was wrong. It was my fault your mother died. Ethan didn’t know anything, I tricked him. Please, don’t
blame him…”
Her numb, robotic words washed over me. I just felt… exhausted.
I didn’t spare Chloe a glance. My eyes were locked on Ethan.
“I know you forced her to say this. You honestly think pinning all this on her gets you off the hook?”
One sentence completely shut Ethan up.
I’d told him he was the real one to blame, but he stubbornly refused to believe it. He deluded himself into thinking that pushing all the blame onto Chloe would somehow wash away his own guilt.
But my ruthless words shattered that delusion once more.
“Get out. Both of you. I don’t want to see you.”
! threw the words out, cold as ice, and walked straight back into the house. I never even glanced back at him
Ethan stared at my retreating back, his heart twisting as if a sharp knife had plunged right through it
Then Chloe’s voice, hesitant and small, broke the silence. “Mr. Carter, I… I apologized to your wife, just like you told me to. Can you… can you forgive me now…?”
“Forgive you?”
Ethan turned to her, a sudden smile spreading across his face. But that smile made Chloe’s skin crawl.
“Luna hasn’t even forgiven me. Why the hell would I forgive you?”
Before Chloe could even register what was happening, a bullet tore through her skull.
She didn’t even have time to scream. She just crumpled, face first, into a rapidly spreading pool of blood.
“Luna! I got her for Mom! She paid with her life! Just come out and look at me, please!”
Inside.
I clutched my chest. The sudden gunshot made my heart pound, and a fine, throbbing pain pulsed through my artificial
heart.
Even though Chloe deserved to die, Ethan’s sheer madness terrified me even more. My hands trembling, I dialed
Noah…
Finally, Noah showed up with his crew, got Ethan out, and that was the end of the whole mess.
Private doctors’ cars streamed into the Walker Estate, one after another.
I curled up on the bed, clutching the sheets tight, my chest twisting with agony.
Noah paced, frantic with worry. His handsome face was grim, dark as a brewing storm.
“Mr. Walker, Ms. Bennett is mostly fine, but her artificial heart can’t handle this kind of strain. We need to find a donor heart, and fast…”
Noah slammed his fist into the table, then sighed, defeated.
