He Forged My Name to Give Away Our Home, So I Gave Away His Chapter 20

He Forged My Name to Give Away Our Home, So I Gave Away His Chapter 20

The room where I met Chloe was a secure, sparse administrative cell within the base stockade.

The window was set high up into the concrete wall, completely preventing the afternoon sunlight from reaching the cold metal table.

She had lost an immense amount of weight. Her custom wool blend overcoat was gone, replaced by

a standard-issue denim jumpsuit.

The moment I stepped inside, her eyes locked onto me, her voice dripping with venom.

“Are you here to take a final look at my pathetic ruin?”

I pulled out a chair and sat down directly across from her.

“You were the one who begged for an audience, Chloe. Didn’t you engineer this entire scene specifically for me to witness?”

Her face contorted into pure rage.

“Ava Bennett, stop looking down on me with that disgusting, aristocratic calm!”

“I’m not putting on an act,” I replied flatly. “I simply won.”

Her features twisted violently for a second.

Daisy, sitting right beside my chair, almost clapped her hands in sheer delight.

“Beautifully said, Ava!”

Chloe ignored her, glaring straight into my eyes.

“Do you know what I absolute-ly despise most about you?”

“That I refused to hand over my home to you?” I asked.

“That you have an army of people ready to throw themselves into the line of fire to protect you!” she shrieked, her voice cracking. “The Vance family shields you, Mrs. Wagner lies for you, Daisy Walker screams for you, and even Ethan Miller ultimately chose to stand on your side of the court!”

“None of those things fell from the sky into my lap, Chloe,” I stated calmly.

She let out a harsh, mocking laugh.

“Oh, really?!”

I looked straight into her hollow eyes.

“Grandma Vance helps me because I meticulously managed her husband’s chemical protocols and saved him from a stroke. Mrs. Wagner stands for me because she witnessed your systematic fabrications. Daisy protects me because she knows I have spent three years practicing medicine with absolute integrity. And Ethan Miller finally spoke the truth because he realized that if he remained silent for one more second, he would never be able to look at his own reflection in a

mirror without vomiting.”

Daisy whispered fiercely, “Every single word is absolute truth!”

Chloe sat completely frozen, her jaw working silently but finding no rebuttal.

After a long, suffocating pause, she whispered, “If he had never been forced into marrying you…

perhaps none of this would have happened.”

“And what would your reality look like then?” I countered. “You would marry him, move into the house, and spend the rest of your life using a fabricated life-saving debt to keep him chained to your side?”

The last trace of color vanished from her cheeks.

“I… I only wanted to hold onto him,” she choked out.

“So to hold onto him, you stole my house, forged my signature, and systematically tried to

desecrate my late mother’s legacy.”

“I never intended to destroy your mother’s reputation!” she screamed wildly.

“Yes, you did,” I replied, pulling a document from my purse and sliding it onto the metal table. “When you unearthed those old whistleblower files, you deliberately photocopied the most damning allegations while intentionally omitting the historic administrative clearance attachments. Chloe, that is a calculated execution, not an accident.”

Her lips turned completely blue.

Daisy glared at her with pure disgust.

“You didn’t even have the basic decency to spare a dead woman.”

Chloe lowered her head, her thin shoulders beginning to shake with violent, silent sobs.

I didn’t grant her the luxury of a prolonged crying spell.

“You called me here. Finish what you wanted to say.”

She lifted her tear-streaked face.

“Has… has Ethan come to see you?”

“His actions have absolutely nothing to do with my life anymore,” I replied.

“He hasn’t come to visit me once,” she whispered miserably.

“That is perfectly logical.”

She let out a twisted, pathetic smile.

“I… I honestly believed he would at least come down here to scream at me.”

Daisy rolled her eyes toward the ceiling.

“Look at you, still holding out hope for a dramatic confrontation.”

Suddenly, Chloe fixed a piercing stare on me.

“Do you truly no longer hold any love for him?”

I looked at the high window, my voice incredibly peaceful.

“I loved him once.”

She looked as though those words were a physical blade piercing her chest.

“I loved the man who used to bring me hot coffee during my overnight shifts, the man who

remembered I hated damp spaces, and the man who would always swallow his pride to apologize first after an argument,” I continued softly. “But I learned far too late that the very same man was fully capable of carving my signature onto a document to buy your happiness.”

Chloe’s voice was barely a breath.

“He… he is living in absolute regret right now.”

“Regret is a useless currency-it cannot purchase restitution.”

“What if he spends the rest of his life chasing after you?”

“That is his burden to carry, not mine.”

Chloe stared at me, the final spark of defiance completely dying out in her eyes. She finally understood exactly why she had lost.

She hadn’t lost because I had fought her for Ethan’s affection.

She had lost because I simply didn’t want him anymore.

Heavy footsteps echoed from the corridor outside.

Ethan stood framed within the open doorway.

He didn’t cross the threshold into the room.

The moment Chloe saw him, her posture instantly straightened, her eyes wide with hope.

“Ethan!”

Ethan looked at her, his expression entirely dead.

“I came here to deliver the final transfer logs to the stockade guard.”

Chloe pleaded frantically, “Do you truly have absolutely nothing to say to me?!”

Ethan paused for a long, heavy moment.

“I do.”

A desperate gleam flared in her eyes.

“Chloe Vance, I owe you absolutely nothing anymore,” he stated clearly.

The light in her eyes shattered into darkness.

Ethan shifted his gaze to meet mine.

I expected him to launch into another desperate plea, but he simply lowered his head.

“Ava… I am so sorry.”

“I’ve heard that phrase already,” I replied smoothly.

He offered a small nod.

“I will never disturb your peace again.”

Suddenly, Chloe broke down completely, thrashing against her constraints.

“What right do you have to claim you don’t owe me?! Who gave you the right to just decide it’s over?!”

Ethan looked down at her thrashed form.

“Because the price for the mistake of owing you has already been paid in full by my own hands. Ava has paid her share as well. From this second on, you will carry the price for your own crimes alone.”

The guards firmly pressed her back into the metal chair.

I stood up and walked out into the corridor.

Daisy followed closely at my heels.

“Ava, does this mean everything is completely and utterly finished?”

We stepped out of the heavy iron gates, and the glorious, brilliant afternoon sun washed over us.

“It means half of it is finished,” I replied with a soft smile.

“And the other half?”

“The other half is where my own life truly begins.”

One month later, the base hospital and the military sanitarium jointly published the advanced

Clinical Pharmacology and Medication Safety Manual.

Printed at the very top of the primary author line was the name: Dr. Clara Bennett.

Directly beneath it was the archivist credit: Ava Bennett.

On the day of the release symposium, the main auditorium was packed to maximum capacity.

Dr. Matthews voluntarily stepped up to the podium, delivering a public confession regarding his

historic medication oversight and issuing a formal statement of gratitude to the pharmacy

department.

Director Lewis was present as well, sitting in the absolute back row of the hall, his head lowered

entirely, not daring to catch anyone’s eye.

Mrs. Wagner sat in the center row alongside several neighborhood wives, clapping so forcefully her

palms turned bright red.

Daisy stood right at the edge of the stage, shouting at the top of her lungs, “Dr. Bennett is the pride

of this hospital!”

I stood center-stage, watching my mother’s name projected in massive, brilliant white lettering

across the main screen.

This time, no one would ever possess the power to bury her honor again.

Ethan stood just outside the open auditorium doors, refusing to step inside.

When the symposium concluded and I walked down the steps, I noticed a pristine bundle of white chrysanthemums resting against the door jamb.

A small card was tucked between the petals:

To Dr. Clara Bennett.

It wasn’t addressed to me.

I looked down at the flowers for a second, then walked right past them.

Daisy whispered, “Are we leaving them there?”

“That is a debt he owes to my mother’s memory,” I replied softly. “I have no standing to collect it

on her behalf.”

A sudden autumn breeze swept through the corridor, rustling the white petals gently.

Ethan stepped out from the shadow of the pillar, knelt down to secure the flower vase against the

wind, then turned and walked away into the distance.

His silhouette looked significantly heavier and more solitary than it ever had before.

I didn’t watch him leave.

Grandma Vance walked over and gently took my hand into hers.

“Come along, dear. Let’s go home and have dinner.”

I smiled warmly.

“Alright.”

That evening, I returned to the cozy Vance cottage.

Next to the rows of green onions in the yard, several brand-new medicinal herb seedlings had been

neatly planted.

Daisy was hunched over the soil, completely unable to distinguish between the rare sprouts and

common weeds. She accidentally yanked out a prized seedling and was currently being chased

around the yard by Grandma Vance with a broom.

Mrs. Wagner arrived carrying a massive pot of homemade chicken soup, declaring it a celebration feast for my success.

Secretary Smith offered a rare, warm smile as he helped set the table.

“Ava,

the committee is going to keep you incredibly busy moving forward.”

I carefully placed my mother’s original leather-bound manuscript onto the top shelf of the study

bookcase.

Outside the window, the warm lights of the cottage flickered to life. The yard was filled with rich laughter, affectionate bickering, and the delicious aroma of home-cooked food.

Suddenly, my phone buzzed in my pocket.

An unknown number had sent a brief text message:

[Ava, it’s Ethan. I have officially returned the keys to the new house to the family support center logistics office. If you choose not to claim them, the property will be systematically reassigned to another family according to base protocol. May your future be filled with absolute peace

I read the message calmly, then pressed delete.

Daisy’s bright voice echoed from the porch.

“Ava! Dinner’s on the table! Hurry up!”

I closed the bookcase doors, turned off the study light, and walked out into the warmth.

The darkness of the past remained behind the glass, and I never looked back.