Seventeen Times She Came, Once I Stopped Caring Chapter 04

Seventeen Times She Came, Once I Stopped Caring Chapter 04

I coldly pushed his hand away.

“There’s no point. We’re not having a wedding.”

His face darkened. “I apologized. Don’t start again—”

“Ethan, in four days I’m marrying—” My phone rang.

He answered, his whole body tensing.

“Someone has a lead on the brother. They want to meet in person. Megan’s too naive—I can’t let her go alone.”

“Stay here. Don’t bring up breaking up again. It’s embarrassing.”

Me breaking up was embarrassing.

Megan crashing my wedding seventeen times was perfectly reasonable.

He left—and didn’t come back for three days.

When he finally walked in, he looked drained, dark circles under his eyes.

“It was a scam. A fraud.” He slumped.

“If I hadn’t figured it out in time, Megan would have been tricked out of her money.”

“She’s been crying for three days straight, asking me why people are so evil. I’ve been taking care of her, barely slept at all.”

He sighed. “I wish she were as independent as you. Without me, she’d fall apart.”

I said nothing, just zipped my suitcase. “She really depends on you.”

He came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, voice rough.

“What about you?”

“I… used to.”

From twenty-two to thirty-two. From the day he fought off the creep who groped me on the bus. To the day he let strangers mock me over and over for Megan’s sake.

From the day he jumped into a river to save a stray dog we named Milo.

To the day he lied about a business trip and I found Milo’s body.

From the day he gave me hope, over and over.

To the day he broke me, over and over.

I never doubted he was a good person.

And I believed he once loved me.

So for this last day—

I won’t lean on you.

“You smell like cigarettes. Go take a shower.”

He let go awkwardly.

“Yeah. Tomorrow’s the wedding. I’ll look sharp.”

“I told Megan she’s really not coming this time.”

I didn’t answer.

The shower started running.

I dragged my suitcase to the foyer, hung the keys on the hook by the door—just like he used to do.

The property settlement agreement, and everything he’d ever given me, stayed behind.

“Ethan,” I whispered. “I’m leaving.”

No reply.

Then the phone blared from the bathroom.

His voice was muffled by the glass, but I could still hear the panic in his shout.

“You’re crazy! Stay there! Don’t move!”

He burst out, changed in a flash, and threw me a quick explanation.

“Megan was so stupid—some scammer told her brother’s in Black Ridge, and she went without telling anyone!”

“I’ll bring her back. I’ll be home before morning.”

Wait.

Black Ridge?

I’d just seen a post about that place—rough terrain, heavy rain. A mudslide could bury half the village.

I grabbed his wrist.

“Ethan! Don’t go!”

He frowned. “Why?”

“Because—” I opened my mouth. “Because you just promised tomorrow’s wedding would be perfect. You can’t be late—”

He stared at me for a beat, then yanked his arm away.

“A stupid wedding when someone’s life is on the line? You’d be happy if Megan got sold off to some backwoods hellhole?”

“Leah, when did you become so cold?”

He walked out.

The house fell silent.

I took a breath, wiped the tears from my eyes, and pulled the door shut behind me.

I’d done what I could.

I’m getting married.

Ethan—this is where we end.