Woke Up and Left the Cage of My Marriage 15
Chapter 15
Once upon a time, Ethan might have been fooled by this look.
But right now, all he could see was overwhelming fury and regret.
He closed the distance in just a few steps. Vivian gasped in shock as Ethan’s hand shot out and wrapped hard around her neck, lifting her right off the chair.
“You lied to me!” Ethan’s eyes were bloodshot, his words squeezed out between clenched teeth, thick with the scent of blood. “You’ve been lying to me all along! The fire in the family chapel! And the poisoning! Was it all you?! Speak!”
Vivian clawed at his hand, her face draining of color, then turning a frightening shade of blue as she struggled for air. Her feet kicked helplessly, searching for solid ground.
Looking into Ethan’s eyes, which now held nothing back-just naked, murderous intent-real terror finally crashed over her, wiping away every bit of her delicate mask.
All her little acts and pretense were worthless in the face of this kind of strength and rage.
“It… it was me…” she croaked, squeezing out each word as tears and snot smeared her face.” The pigeon consommé… I made it on purpose… The fire in the family chapel -I started it… I framed her with the poison… Because I hate her! I hate that she has everything! I hate that you like me but still chose to marry her! I just… I just wanted to make her suffer…”
Hearing her admit it-every last thing-sent a chill so intense it shot from Ethan’s feet right up to his scalp.
How blind, how unbelievably stupid had he been, to let a woman like this trick him, to keep hurting the one person who was truly bright and proud-Natalie?
Disgusted, he let go, tossing Vivian aside like filthy trash,
Vivian collapsed on the floor, gasping and coughing, clutching her throat.
Ethan stood above her, eyes as cold as ice, not a trace of his usual warmth or the old protection
he used to offer her.
“Watch her. Call the police. The Fletcher family will provide all the evidence,” he ordered the bodyguards who had come running at the noise, his tone full of cold finality.
In that instant, he tore apart every bit of fake protectiveness, every lie he’d let cover his eyes.
–
When it was over, Ethan moved out. He left the old family estate and relocated to a sleek, modern lakeside villa he hardly ever used.
Chapter 15
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There were no heavy shadows from history here, none of the suffocating atmosphere. Everything was crisp, minimal, and cold-just like he always liked.
But when he actually moved in, he realized how empty it all felt.
Outside the huge windows was a beautiful view of the lake. Inside, it was so quiet he could hear his own heartbeat.
No high heels scattered here and there because Natalie liked to kick them off everywhere. No off-key singing floating down the hallway when she was in a good mood. No sound of her picking fights and throwing things when he came home late.
This place looked flawless-almost too much so. Like a gorgeous tomb with no life inside.
Wherever he walked, he could almost see her.
On the couch in the living room-Natalie curled up with snacks, giggling at some ridiculous TV show, never caring what she looked like.
At the dining table—Natalie, mad about him being late for dinner, tossing all the food into the trash in a fit of temper.
Even in the long, empty hallways-he could almost hear her slippers slap-slap as she ran
down the corridor.
The memories here-memories of her-were everywhere. They smothered him, far more
than the old estate ever could.
Restless, he stripped off his suit jacket and reached into his pocket for a cigarette. But instead, his fingers brushed against something cold and hard.
He pulled it out. There, sitting in his palm, was a diamond stud earring.
The design was unmistakable. He stared at it, mind reaching back, then it hit him.
That was one of the gifts he’d asked his assistant to pick out for their first anniversary.
When she opened the box, she’d been so happy. She put them on right away, spun in a circle, her dress flaring out. She’d looked up at him, face dazzling with that sly, fox-like smile.
“Ethan, do I look good?”
What had he said back then?
He’d been busy answering a work email-never even looked up. He just let out a distracted hum from the back of his throat. “Mm.”
Now, clutching this icy thing, the diamond’s sharp edge pressing into his palm, he remembered everything: his careless answer, and the flash of disappointment in her eyes.
Chapter 15
Those memories were as sharp as knives, cutting him open all over again.
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The pain was so real he nearly doubled over. He clutched his chest with his free hand, breaking
out in a cold sweat.
Then he went a little mad.
He tore through the whole villa, opening shelves, drawers, closets-
He didn’t even know what he was looking for. Maybe just some sign that she’d been there, that the three years they’d spent together weren’t a dream.
Finally, at the very back of a dusty drawer in the study, under a pile of old files, he found a
battered notebook.
It was an old-fashioned journal, dark red cover, with gold-stamped, stiff letters: Fletcher Family Rules.
He remembered this.
The first year they got married, his mother had made Natalie learn those rules. Right then and there, Natalie tore it to shreds.
Yet somehow, this book-which should have been long gone had been taped back together, page by page, clear tape crossing over like ugly scars.
Hands shaking, he flipped through it.
Inside, the handwriting was blurry and twisted, just like his heart now.
He turned page after page, until the very last one. At the end, where the rules ran out and the page was blank, there was a line scribbled in bright lipstick-messy but bold, pressing right through the page:
Ethan Fletcher, your rules can’t hold me anymore.
That streak of red on the yellowed paper looked like a bloody wound, or a flame that would
never go out, burning straight through his eyes.
It felt like thunder inside his head-the last, fragile string of denial finally snapped.
She had used the cruelest way to say it: She was done playing her part in his life.
His rules, his world-couldn’t cage her any longer.
He had lost her.
Truly, lost her.
Forever.
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