My Husband’s Gold Digger Test Cost Him His Wife and Son Chapter 09

My Husband’s Gold Digger Test Cost Him His Wife and Son Chapter 09

After a round of chaos, the police and Liam finally figured out what had happened.

Full of regret, I walked the officers out.

“I’m so sorry. My son is still little, and he didn’t understand the situation. It was all a giant was a misunderstanding.”

Liam looked embarrassed too. He scratched the back of his head and pointed at the smartwatch on Noah’s

wrist.

“I’m sorry. Noah called me and said a bad man was here to take you away. I panicked and brought the police.”

“I didn’t scare you, did I? I’m really sorry.

I shook my head.

Liam had been my friend since childhood, and he had only done it because he was fiercely protective of us. I couldn’t possibly hold a grudge.

His gaze moved past me and landed on Ethan.

“And this is…”

“My husband,” I said, before correcting myself, the divorce should be finalized this month. When that happens, I may need to trouble you to watch Noah for me.”

Liam nodded and agreed.

Before he left, he glanced at Ethan again. His tone was gentle, but it left no room for argument.

“Mr. Whitmore, aren’t you leaving?”

“Emma has to get up at three tomorrow morning to prep for the café. If it gets too late, she won’t get enough rest.”

Ethan had no answer to that. In the end, he could only leave in silence.

What I did not expect was that Ethan’s grandfather would come in person the next day.

He sat quietly in the corner of the café, watching me serve customers.

He waited until the morning rush finally passed before I had a spare moment to join him at the booth.

He looked much older than the last time I saw him. When he spoke, the old arrogance in his voice was gone.

“What happened before was my fault.”

“The truth is, I always wanted to bring Vanessa and Ethan together. It wasn’t until Ethan worked with the police to expose the Lane family that I realized that family was rotten to the core.”

“Emma, I know you’re still angry about the blood test. I’m sorry.”

“Bring Noah back. Since you left, Ethan hasn’t been doing well. I know now that I misjudged you, and

everything I said to Ethan back then was wrong. So…”

I raised a hand and cut off his grovelling.

“You don’t need to keep going.”

“I’ve heard your apology, but I don’t want to forgive you.’

“What comes next is nothing more than promises about how well you’ll treat me if I go back, how much you’ll give Noah, and how much you’ll compensate me. But then what? Am I supposed to be grateful because I finally passed your so-called gold digger test?”

I looked at him and said each word with absolute calm.

“Mr. Whitmore, before you and Ethan test other people’s sincerity, you must first learn the meaning of

respect.”

My eyes moved over his custom-made suit.

Like Ethan, he looked expensive and proper from head to toe.

“There are some things in this world money cannot buy.”

“The sincerity you wanted, for example.”

“And the respect I wanted.”

“When I have time, I’ll bring Noah back to visit you. Ethan will always be his father, and you will always be his great-grandfather.”

“But everything else ends here.”

“Please leave. I won’t see you out.”

It was only much later that I learned why Mr. Whitmore had looked so desolate that day.

Before Ethan’s mother divorced Ethan’s father, she had said almost the exact same words.

All she had wanted was a little respect too.

Mr. Whitmore had not understood it then.

Now that he did, it was already too late.

Just as Ethan’s mother had long since built a new home across the ocean, I also had to begin again.

Ethan still spent three years trying to win me over, rain or shine.

He sent flowers, bought Lego sets and superhero toys Noah liked, replaced the coffee machine in my café, and even tried to buy the empty storefront next door just so he could be near me every day.

I remained completely detached.

Sometimes, when Noah’s school held family sports events, I would ask Liam to attend as Noah’s family.

We were all adults. Some things did not need to be spelled out.

Ethan could not accept it.

He did not dare ask me, so he stopped Liam instead, breaking down as he demanded, “Why? What gives you

the right?”

“You’re just a small-town bureaucrat. What you make in a year probably isn’t even what I earn in interest in a day.”

“Why would Emma choose you in the end?”

Liam glanced toward me and smiled gently.

“Mr. Whitmore, there is no why.”

“Love doesn’t always come with a reason.’

“The moment love comes with conditions, it stops being love.”

“You loved Emma, but you set a standard for her. You needed her to prove she wasn’t a gold digger. Standards are for people you don’t love.”

“When you truly love someone, there are no standards.”

“She doesn’t have to prove a thing.”

“She only has to stand there, and I’ll love her.”

Liam’s gaze was soft and quiet, resting on me as I moved around the café.

In that moment, Ethan finally understood.

There really was no chance left between us.

Emma Hale had loved Ethan Whitmore.

She had tried her best.

Ethan was drowning in a sea of burning regret, but the tide had already turned. A missed chance was forever

out of reach.

A missed chance was still a missed chance.

The night before the divorce was finalized, Noah tugged at me and asked me to tell him a story.

I sat beside his bed and spoke softly.

“Once upon a time, there was a brave knight who fell in love with a beautiful princess. To show his love, he brought her the prettiest rose he could find every day. Day after day, the princess slowly began to be moved by his sincerity.”

“But on the ninety-ninth day, the knight did not bring another rose.”

“The princess was disappointed and angry, and she asked him why.”

“The knight looked at her and said, ‘Your Highness, I have braved the harshest storms to bring you ninety-nine roses, proving my devotion with every step. But I cannot trade away my soul. I gave you ninety-nine days of my heart, but I must keep the hundredth day for my own dignity.’

“After saying that, the knight turned and left the castle, disappearing from the princess’s life forever.”

Noah fell asleep before the story ended.

His soft breathing filled the room.

I lowered my head, kissed his forehead, and gently tucked him in.

The next day, Ethan and I finished the final paperwork at the County Clerk’s Office.

When we walked out, his eyes were red, and his voice was hoarse.

“Emma, let me drive you.”

I shook my head and lifted my chin toward the car parked not far away.

“No.”

“Liam and Noah came to pick me up.”

The car window rolled down. Noah sat in the back seat and waved at me with all his strength.

“Mommy!”

I smiled and walked toward him.

Just like the knight in the story, I disappeared from Ethan’s sight.

He would always be Noah’s father.

I would always be Noah’s mother.

We would see each other again.

But we would never love each other again.