Ethan picked up the phone. On the other end, his brother Lucas sounded as laid-back as ever. \u201cEthan! This is an emergency! Vivian is so clumsy\u2014she broke the Mom\u2019s Madonna statue while getting ready for her birthday party! If mom finds out, she\u2019ll skin Vivian alive. I\u2019m out of the country right now, hanging at the beach with a new model I just met. I can\u2019t come back in time. Could you smooth things over?\u201d \u201cI know this messes with your whole rule-following thing, but Vivian\u2019s still your sister-in-law. You can\u2019t just let her get in trouble, right?\u201d Ethan\u2019s brow furrowed, his voice turning colder. \u201cIf you married her, why don\u2019t you cherish her? Take care of your own problems.\u201d \u201cEthan, you know what I\u2019m like. I married her because, sure, she\u2019s not rich, but she was new and pure. Now I\u2019m bored. She\u2019s nothing like Natalie\u2014she\u2019s got that fierce beauty, wild spirit, and fire! Vivian\u2019s\u2026 dull and tiresome. She gets on my nerves. Lately, all she does is call and cry. She\u2019s ruining my whole vacation mood\u2026\u201d When Ethan heard \u201cshe calls and cries,\u201d his eyes instantly darkened. He was quiet for a few seconds before replying in a flat, unreadable tone, \u201cGot it. I\u2019ll take care of it.\u201d He hung up and strode toward the office door. Caught up with Vivian\u2019s mess, he didn\u2019t even notice Natalie standing there, her face as white as paper, just outside the half-open door. Natalie watched him hurry away, listening as he barked instructions to his assistant who hustled behind. \u201cFind out where Natalie is right now,\u201d he ordered. The assistant answered right away. \u201cMr. Fletcher, just got word\u2014Mrs. Fletcher\u2026 she didn\u2019t want to go through with the IVF, so she ran out of the hospital.\u201d Ethan didn\u2019t stop walking. His tone was cool, emotionless. \u201cSend people to smash up the hospital. Now.\u201d The assistant faltered for a second, unsure. \u201cYou mean\u2026 blame the whole thing on Mrs. Fletcher and tell Mrs. Margaret? So she\u2019ll take her anger out on Mrs. Fletcher instead?\u201d Ethan\u2019s profile was ice cold, his words sharp as a blade. \u201cExactly. Make it big\u2014so mom forgets all about Vivian breaking the statue.\u201d Boom\u2014 It felt like lightning split Natalie\u2019s mind. She turned to ice, frozen to the bone. He was looking for her, not to check if she was okay\u2014but to turn her into Vivian\u2019s scapegoat. To make sure Margaret focused all her anger on her instead. What else did she need to ask? What else did she need to confirm? The truth was right there. Plain, merciless, leaving her with nothing to hold onto\u2014not even self-deception. It was as if a giant hand gripped Natalie\u2019s heart, squeezing and tearing until the pain stole her breath, every inhale tinged with blood. When she finally came to, Ethan was already gone. She wiped the tears off her cheeks\u2014she hadn\u2019t even noticed when they started to fall. Natalie Bennett can stand tall\u2014and walk away just as easily. She refused to cry for a man who didn\u2019t love her and only used her. She pulled out her phone, dialed James Bennett. \u201cDad, I want a divorce from Ethan Fletcher. Use all your connections and make sure I get those papers as fast as possible.\u201d On the other end, James was thrown by her sudden decision. Then his anger exploded. \u201cWhat are you doing now? What\u2019s wrong with Ethan? He\u2019s stable and capable. The Fletchers are a top family! Women would kill to marry into the family! Stop acting so spoiled\u2014you don\u2019t know what\u2019s good for you!\u201d She took a deep breath, forcing down the lump in her throat. Word by word, she made herself clear: \u201cJust help me get divorced. I promise\u2014I\u2019ll disappear from South City, forever. You\u2019ll never have to see me again. I\u2019ll never get in your way.\u201d There was a long, heavy silence. Natalie gripped her phone, her fingers ice cold. \u201cI\u2019m not asking for your opinion!\u201d Natalie\u2019s voice was sharp as a knife. \u201cIsn\u2019t this what you always wanted? For me to get as far away as possible, so you and that mistress of yours and your darling illegitimate kids can play happy family with no one in your way?\u201d She knew her father too well. All these years, there had a constant parade of women and illegitimate kids at his side. As for her\u2014the proper daughter of the Bennett family\u2014she\u2019d become the extra, the obstacle that needed clearing out. How much of her boldness and pride was real? How much was just armor she built to keep herself from being swallowed up? Finally, James Bennett\u2019s voice came back\u2014almost relieved. \u201c\u2026Fine. If that\u2019s really what you want, I\u2019ll do it. But you\u2019d better remember what you just said.\u201d In that moment, Natalie felt like her heart had been stabbed a thousand times\u2014pain rushing through every nerve in her body. She tried to smile, but all she managed was something uglier than tears. \u201cDon\u2019t worry. Looking at all of you makes me sick too.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ethan picked up the phone. On the other end, his brother Lucas sounded as laid-back as ever. \u201cEthan! This is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-woke-up-and-left-the-cage-of-my-marriage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20168\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}