Chapter 3
Ethan lifted the bride’s veil, only to see the face of a paid stand–in, looking innocent.
The crowd was in an uproar.
The emcee tried to calm everyone, saying it was just a wedding prank.
Olivia, witnessing the scene, rushed to the stage and said to Ethan.
“Ethan, since Emily ran away, why don’t I take her place…”
“No!!!” Ethan roared.
He pushed Olivia away, and she stumbled to the ground.
Ethan rushed out of the wedding venue and immediately called his assistant.
“I told you to keep an eye on Emily. Where is she? Why wasn’t I informed of her movements?”
“Mrs. Ford has been following her usual routine–going to the hospital, home, and your bachelor party. Nothing unusual.”
Ethan’s heart sank.
“Emily, are you having another depressive episode?”
“I can understand being sick, but this is too much!!”
He loosened his collar, frustrated, and returned to the mansion to confront me.
But all he found was a black velvet box on the living room table, next to a divorce agreement–we were already legally married.
Ethan’s unease grew.
He picked up the divorce agreement and threw it in the trash without reading it.
He searched the house but found no trace of me.
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“Emily, stop this! The guests are waiting.”
“If you’re feeling better, come out and let’s finish the wedding!!”
Silence. No response.
Ethan sat in the living room,
Remembering I had once said I had a gift for him on our wedding day.
He hesitated, feeling a sense of dread, as if he was about to face something he didn’t want to.
Finally, he opened the black velvet box.
A tiny embryo was preserved in a glass jar, curled up…
Blood rushed to Ethan’s head, and his mind went blank.
His ears rang.
This was… Emily’s baby…
He suddenly remembered that one day, I had sounded somewhat happy, saying I had good news to
tell him.
When he returned from Ford Manor, I never brought it up again, and he didn’t ask
That day, he had met Olivia at Ford Manor. Could it be…?
Ethan didn’t dare to think further.
Did I overhear his conversation with Olivia?
Ethan’s hands trembled as he held the embryo: “No, Emily must have misunderstood. I’m not what
she thinks.”
Just then, his assistant texted: “Mr. Ford, Emily is on the next flight to the UK.”
Without thinking, Ethan jumped into his Rolls–Royce and sped to the airport.
He frantically yelled at his assistant: “Send me all the surveillance footage of Emily’s movements
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these past few days!!”
The assistant, terrified, complied.
As Ethan entered the terminal, the latest flight to the UK roared overhead, taking off
Ethan slumped, his heart aching sharply:
That fragile woman must have been deeply hurt to run away fire this.
Just when she was starting to smile again under his care.
He quickly pulled himself together: “No, I need to go to the UK. Get me on the next flight.”
On the plane, he anxiously reviewed the surveillance footage.
He saw me frequently visiting the OB–GYN. The timeline ended with my last visit.
Recalling that day, I had refused his advances.
My pale face–I must have just had the abortion!
Ethan’s eyes reddened.
He knew that during those seventy–two hours of captivity, I had been brutally violated.
The fact that I was willing to carry his child proved my love for him.
Being able to conceive was like winning the lottery.
How much must I hate him to abort the child without hesitation?
The footage continued, showing me returning to the bachelor party…
Damn it, I must have seen him with Olivia on the bar counter.
He hadn’t been careful enough!!
The plane landed in the UK, but finding someone who was deliberately hiding was like searching for
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a needle in a haystack.
Ethan used all his overseas connections but found nothing. He had no choice but to return to New
York.
His first order of business was to confront Olivia:
“Did you say something to Emily?”
Olivia vehemently denied it: “I didn’t say anything!”
But Ethan grabbed a stack of papers and threw them in her face.
The papers were printed transcripts of her conversations with me.
“Be smart and get out of the way. Stop circling my man.”
The text–to–speech transcripts and photos of their two–year affair were damning.
Ethan’s anger flared, and he grabbed Olivia by the throat, pinning her against the wall:
“I told you to watch your mouth. I can give you anything, so why did you provoke Emily?”
The memory of me, broken and desperate, reaching out to him for help that day flashed in his mind, and a sharp pain shot through his chest.
Olivia, gasping for air, her face turning red, managed to let out a bitter laugh.
“What, are you actually falling for that… that used–up woman?”
“Didn’t you say you only felt guilt and pity for her? That I was the one you truly loved?”
“How pathetic, Ethan! The great Ethan Ford, falling for a woman who’s been… ruined!”
Her words enraged him. He slapped her hard, and a trickle of blood ran down the corner of her
mouth.
“Ethan! I’m pregnant! Are you really going to hurt me like this?”
“Go ahead, kill me then!”
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Olivia screamed, her voice shrill and hysterical, like a common street brawler.
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