He Thought I’d Never Leave Chapter 02
The phone buzzed all night on the table.
Claire’s messages came in one after another.
The screen lit up and dimmed. Lit up and dimmed.
I didn’t look. I muted it.
At nine the next morning, the door opened.
Ethan walked in, the makeup artist trailing behind him.
He’d changed into the charcoal-gray suit, wearing the tie I’d picked out myself.
“Time to get ready. It’s almost time.”
I didn’t move. “I told you. The wedding is off.”
His brow furrowed. “Emily. The guests will be here any minute. What are you playing at now?”
I lifted my head to meet his eyes and laughed, cold.
“I can’t pretend nothing happened and marry a man who had a child with my best friend. Ethan—doesn’t that disgust you?”
His lips moved, but before he could speak, the door burst open.
Claire came flying in.
She was in that ivory silk robe, hair carelessly pulled up, skin so pale it looked translucent.
“Emily! Let me explain—”
She lunged forward and grabbed my wrist.
“That first time really was an accident!”
I jerked my hand free. “An accident? Was the baby an accident too? Four years. I treated you like family, and you were sleeping with my fiancé behind my back.”
Claire’s mouth opened. Tears spilled over.
“Emily, I—”
I looked down. My eyes caught on the collar of her robe.
Embroidered there in fine gold thread: The Parker Postnatal Suite.
I laughed, then turned to Ethan.
“No wonder you kept saying you were meeting investors on the Upper East Side these last three months.”
“You were there. Taking care of her. And I sat up every night waiting for you to come home, refusing to close my eyes until I knew you’d landed safe.”
Ethan pressed his lips together and looked down.
Claire burst out sobbing. “Emily, I’m sorry… I didn’t want to hide it…”
Ethan took two quick strides and steadied her. “Claire, you just came out of confinement. You shouldn’t be on your feet.”
He walked her to the couch, crouched half in front of her, and patted her back gently.
My eyes landed on her hand.
That enormous, blinding, three-carat-plus diamond, throwing light in every direction.
No wonder she’d said mine looked cheap.
It was actually true.
“Ethan. I stayed with you for eight years.” My throat tightened. “From that leaky old apartment to the penthouse in Tribeca. From splitting a pack of instant noodles to your company raising nine figures. The ring on my finger isn’t even a third the size of hers.”
“Am I really worth that little to you?”
Ethan shot to his feet, face darkening.
“Enough! She just gave birth. Her body hasn’t recovered. Stop making a scene.”
“Fine. I won’t say another word.”
I turned to grab my phone and coat from the nightstand and headed for the door.
Before I got there, it swung open from the other side.
Margaret Walker, Ethan’s mother, stood in the doorway. A deep-red Chanel suit. A string of pearls around her neck.
She saw me in street clothes, no makeup, and the smile vanished from her face.
“Emily. Look at the time. Why aren’t you in makeup? Where do you think you’re going?”
“Home. The wedding is off.”
She stared for a second. “What did you say?”
“I said the wedding is off. I’m not marrying him.”
Margaret’s face flushed crimson. “Emily, are you playing games with this family—”
Her sentence broke off. Over my shoulder, she’d spotted Claire on the couch.
Claire, tearstained, looking fragile and disheveled.
Margaret’s expression shifted in an instant.
She shoved past my shoulder, rushed into the room, reached out to Claire with pure concern in her eyes. “Claire? You just gave birth—what are you doing out of the suite?”
I stood there, and something absurd rose up in me.
So everyone had known.
Everyone but me.