My Husband Sold My Innocence Fifteen Times Chapter 05

My Husband Sold My Innocence Fifteen Times Chapter 05

Both men whipped around. A crowd had gathered at the river’s edge, bodies pressed to the railing, craning over it, and every face wore the same frozen look of horror. 

Dread swelled in Ethan’s chest. He started toward the river, then quickened his pace. He had to see for himself. 

He waved Liam off take Chloe, get her checked out, just 

– 

go. Liam shot him a look, like Ethan was overreacting, but he didn’t argue. 

Ethan kept his eyes on the river as his walk turned into a near jog. He was almost there when his phone went off. 

Liam. 

“Get back here, now. Chloe’s falling apart. She won’t stop crying, and she keeps calling for you.” 

“Forget Audrey, she’s fine. She’s pregnant. She wouldn’t have jumped. She has every reason to stay alive.” 

“Chloe needs us right now. If she works herself up again – I don’t even want to think about it. Just come back.” 

Ethan’s knuckles were white around the phone. By then, the commotion at the river had already died down. 

If someone had really gone in, the crowd wouldn’t have quieted down this fast. And Liam was rarely wrong about this kind of thing. 

The panic in his chest loosened. He let out a breath, turned away from the river, and ran back toward the ambulance. 

Chloe had always been fragile. Every episode left her wrecked, and it took hours of patient coaxing to calm her down again. 

At the hospital, the only injury was a red mark on Chloe’s 

cheek. A whole team of specialists crowded into her room, tripping over themselves to treat the swelling. Nobody wanted to be the one responsible for leaving a scar on the face of the girl those two men adored. 

Everyone in this city knew the story. Audrey used to be 

everything to them – their whole world. But in the three years since she’d vanished, they’d poured all of that devotion into Chloe instead. 

No one on the medical staff dared cut corners. 

Ethan sat on the edge of her bed cutting up fruit for her, his whole face softened into something almost unrecognizable with tenderness. Liam held a spoon to her lips, murmuring encouragement between bites. From the outside, they looked like a picture of devotion. 

Then, without warning, Chloe’s eyes welled up again, wounded and trembling, like she was the one who’d been 

wronged all along. 

– 

“Maybe you should just stop worrying about me.” Her 

voice broke at exactly the right moment. “I’m the reason 

Audrey’s like this. Send me away. I just want everyone to be 

okay.” 

The selflessness of it, or what passed for selflessness, broke 

both of them. Liam pulled her against his chest, his eyes 

burning, rocking her gently. 

He still didn’t get it. Chloe was family, a sister, nothing more. 

He and Ethan had only ever treated her like one. So why had 

Audrey turned it into a war? 

The bullying had been relentless, and then came the rumors, 

filthy and vicious, the kind meant to ruin someone. He’d 

thought the punishment would be enough that she’d finally 

get it and leave Chloe alone. 

– 

Three years, and she still hadn’t changed. 

While Liam sat there wrestling with his frustration, Ethan sat 

with his fists balled in his lap, jaw tight. 

What haunted Ethan was more specific, more cutting. Before 

Chloe, Audrey had once been all warmth and light, a girl who 

used to say his name like he was the only thing that 

mattered. 

He couldn’t square that person with the one who’d done all 

this, and the distance between those two versions of her ate 

at him. 

The room had just fallen quiet when Liam’s phone rang. The 

caller ID flashed: Police. 

“Is this the family of Audrey Hayes?” 

“She went into the Serpentine River tonight. It’s been seven 

hours, and we still haven’t recovered her body.”