“We’ll talk about the thesis inside, ma’am. I don’t want to disturb you.”
Ethan practically shoved me into my bedroom and shut the door with a bang.
Trapped in the small space, his expression darkened instantly.
11
“Claire, I know you’ve been lying to your mom about being in graduate school and pursuing a doctorate.
“Now you have two choices. Either don’t marry that man and come back to me obediently, or I’ll expose your lies.
think?” “I’ll have your mother, who’s in that wheelchair because of you, suffer all over again. What do you
Ethan’s shamelessness disgusted me. My mother had been paralyzed saving me from being hit by a car years ago.
It was something I once trusted Ethan enough to confide in him, yet he was threatening me with it.
I shoved him hard. “Get out! Get out of my house!
Why can’t I get married? My mom has been begging me to settle down for two years. She’s brought it up dozens of times this year. What? Is the great Ethan West so busy keeping his secretary as a mistress that I’m not even free to marry someone else?”
1/2
+25 BONUS
Chapter 5
Ethan flinched, his gaze dropping guiltily. He licked his lips, still trying to defend himself. “Does it have to be like this? It’s not that I won’t marry you.
“I told you before that I just haven’t made enough money yet. I promised I’d give you the best wedding someday. How can this countryside match what I’ll give you? Besides we’ve been together for seven years. Can’t you wait a little longer?”
I gritted my teeth and slapped him hard across the face. Before he could react, I kicked the back of his knee, forcing him to kneel on the floor.
Looking at him with disgust, I reminded him coldly, “Do you think this is about money? I make just as much as you at the company. I’m not short on money.
“Ethan West, this was never about money. It’s about love.”
Ethan looked up, his red–rimmed eyes filled with unwillingness. “I love you! There’s no doubt I love you. Can’t you just wait for me a little longer?”
I tilted my head, pointing at the matching tattoos on his hand, his and Anna Lane’s.
“You love me? Then why do you have matching tattoos with her?
“You love me? You made me infertile for life, yet you turned around and got Anna Lane pregnant at twenty–two. “And you call that love? Cheating, lying, and parading your mistress in front of me while you drain me dry?”
Ethan clenched his fists tightly, veins bulging under his pale knuckles.
He stood up quickly, tears glistening in his eyes as he pleaded, “Claire, you know how broken my family was. My childhood was a mess. Anna means nothing to me; I was just playing around!
“I haven’t married you because I haven’t learned how to love properly yet. Give me time… Come back to me. Please.
“1
I stepped around him, not wanting to argue further. No one in the world would wait forever for someone to ‘grow up‘.
I had only taken a few steps when Ethan lunged from behind and wrapped his strong arms around me, dragging me toward the bed. He suddenly became wild and desperate, his voice fractured yet possessive.
“Think carefully, Claire! Choose me, or marry that country bumpkin and I tell your mother the truth. I’ll make her so furious that she might die.”
I thrashed against him, disgusted and horrified at his touch Everywhere his hands landed, my skin crawled. Kicking wildly, I knocked over the bedside lamp, which crashed to the floor.
The sound alerted my mother, who used a key to unlock the door.
Ethan shot me a vindictive look as he loomed over me, his icy breath grazing my ear.
“Or… I’ll tell her now. I’ll tell her you didn’t study at all. For seven years, you spent every moment with me.
Guess what she’ll do then?”
