\u00a0<\/p>\n
11 Chapter 11\u00a0<\/p>\n
:\u00a0<\/p>\n
+5\u00a0<\/p>\n
11 Chapter 11\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou took so long to come,\u201d he whispered, his voice breaking. \u201cI\u2019ve been waiting. I know I was wrong. I\u2019ll cut Chloe off completely. I promise. Just\u2026 forgive me. We can get the license as soon as I\u2019m out of here, okay?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chloe scrambled up, shaking grapes from her hair. \u201cWhat are you saying?\u201d She pulled out her phone, shoving the \u201cInstagram official\u201d photo in his face. \u201cLook! We\u2019re together! You love *me*!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ethan\u2019s face twisted with annoyance. He pushed her away, his eyes never leaving mine. \u201cThat was a mistake, Lauren. She took that when I was drunk. It meant nothing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He struggled out of bed, his hospital gown flapping, and dropped to his knees before me, clutching the hem of my coat. \u201cIt was always her, poisoning me against you. Telling me you were cold, that you didn\u2019t love me. I\u2019ll never speak to\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\u00a0<\/p>\n
11 Chapter 11\u00a0<\/p>\n
her again. I\u2019ll do anything. Just don\u2019t leave me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d I said, the word final and absolute.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I pulled my coat from his grasp, brushing off the spot where his hands had been. \u201cEthan, every time you chose her over me, every time you let her humiliate me, you killed a piece of what I felt for you. There\u2019s nothing left. No love. No hate. You\u2019re just\u2026 a problem I need gone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I took a step toward the door. \u201cThis is the last time I\u2019ll say it. Stay out of my life. If I see you again, I will get a restraining order.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
His face crumpled. A tear traced a path through the stubble on his cheek. \u201cLauren, please\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGoodbye, Ethan.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I walked out. As the door closed behind me, I heard a guttural sob, followed by the sound of something-a tray, a vase-shattering against the\u00a0<\/p>\n
wall.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Three months later, a piece of gossip found its\u00a0<\/p>\n
:\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\u00a0<\/p>\n
11 Chapter 11\u00a0<\/p>\n
way to me. Ethan had been hit by a car. He was paralyzed from the waist down.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The driver was Chloe.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After he\u2019d publicly cut her off, she\u2019d snapped. She\u2019d tried to drug him, to force a situation, but Mrs. Carter had found out and called the police. Chloe had fled, her obsession curdling into\u00a0<\/p>\n
hatred.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She\u2019d waited for him outside a bar one night and\u00a0<\/p>\n
rammed her car into him as he crossed the\u00a0<\/p>\n
street.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They caught her. She was babbling about weddings and happily-ever-afters to the\u00a0<\/p>\n
arresting officers, completely detached from reality.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ethan\u2019s future would be one of pain, confinement, and regret.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But his future, and hers, were no longer my concern. They were a closed chapter, a story with\u00a0<\/p>\n
:\u00a0<\/p>\n
< 11 Chapter 11\u00a0<\/p>\n
a sad, fitting end.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My story was just beginning. The past was a landscape fading in the rearview mirror, and ahead was a wide-open road, mine to design all\u00a0<\/p>\n
on my own.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Comment 1\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Fate Rolls Dark by Mark Twain 11 \u00a0 11 Chapter 11\u00a0 :\u00a0 +5\u00a0 11 Chapter 11\u00a0 \u201cYou took so long […]<\/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":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gave-up-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21980","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=21980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21980\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}