My Husband Betrayed The War Zone Surgeon Who Saved Him Chapter 01
Don’t Touch Her
In the third year of our arranged marriage, I find out my husband has been keeping another woman in a house outside the city.
He flies home from an overseas business meeting that same night.
Not to apologize.
To warn me.
It’s five in the morning when Ethan Sinclair walks into our living room.
I haven’t slept.
He still wears the suit he left in, his tie loosened, exhaustion dark beneath his eyes.
But the moment he sees me, his expression sharpens.
“She moved out.”
I look at him.
“That was fast.”
Ethan has always been good at solving problems.
I stand.
“I’m tired.”
I make it two steps before his hand closes around my arm.
“Evelyn.”
I look down.
His wedding ring is still on his finger.
A plain silver band.
For some reason, that bothers me more than if he’d taken it off.
His grip loosens slightly.
“Lily won’t interfere with your position.”
I stare at him.
“What position?”
His jaw tightens.
“You know what I mean.”
“No. Explain it.”
His eyes harden.
“You are Mrs. Sinclair.”
“You have the house, the family name, everything that comes with this marriage.”
Then his voice drops.
“So don’t touch her.”
For a second, I genuinely think I misheard him.
“You flew all the way back here to tell me that?”
“I came back because I know you.”
A humorless laugh nearly escapes me.
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“Then tell me something.”
I pull my arm free.
“What exactly is Lily to you?”
I found her yesterday in a house Ethan rarely mentioned.
She looked at me like I was the intruder.
“Evelyn…”
I shake my head.
“Never mind.”
I turn away.
“Don’t do that.”
I stop.
Ethan’s voice carries a faint edge now.
“You don’t get to ask a question and then act like I’m beneath answering it.”
I look back.
“Fine.”
His mouth flattens.
“This was always an arranged marriage.”
“I know.”
“Our families needed the alliance.”
“I know.”
“We both agreed to it.”
“Yes.”
He exhales slowly, as if I’m the one making this difficult.
“Then don’t turn this into something it isn’t.”
I study the man standing in front of me.
Three years ago, I thought his reserve meant honesty.
Ethan steps closer.
“People in our world have arrangements.”
I almost smile.
“Do they?”
“You know they do.”
“And that makes it acceptable?”
“It makes it reality.”
“Lily doesn’t want your place,” he says.
“She isn’t asking me to divorce you.”
“How generous.”
“She never asked for anything.”
“Except you.”
“Evelyn.”
The warning in his voice returns.
I look at him for a long moment.
Then nod.
“Maybe another wife could live like that.”
His face relaxes slightly.
He thinks I’m giving in.
I’m not.
I pick up my phone from the table.
“But I can’t.”
His brows draw together.
“What does that mean?”
“It means I’m tired.”
I walk past him.
This time, he doesn’t stop me.
At the stairs, I hear him say,
“Evelyn.”
I don’t turn around.
Behind me stands Ethan Sinclair.
My husband.
A man so used to being obeyed that he thinks keeping my title should be enough to keep me too.
He has no idea that by morning, I’ll start leaving.