Proposed to Him with a Deed but He Already Had a Child Chapter 02

Proposed to Him with a Deed but He Already Had a Child Chapter 02

Ethan frowned. “Nora Blake, what exactly are you trying to do?”

I took out the congratulatory card with a check inside and gently placed it beside the baby.

“We’ve known each other since school. You had a baby. Was I not supposed to bring a generous

gift?”

A second later, a confidentiality agreement arrived in my inbox.

It said that if Sabrina learned about my relationship with Ethan, the private team of specialists

treating my mother would immediately withdraw from her case.

What chilled me even more was that my mother’s signature was already on the document.

Her liver cancer had returned, and it was spreading so quickly that her doctors had run out of

options.

Ethan had introduced me to a former labmate from graduate school whose team specialized in complex, hard–to–treat cases. My mother’s condition had finally stabilized under their care.

I had never imagined Ethan would use her life to threaten me.

Sabrina shot him a mildly reproachful look.

“Why are you being so harsh? Your old classmate was only trying to be nice.”

She took out a velvet jewelry box. Inside was a Van Cleef & Arpels Alhambra bracelet.

“You’re an old classmate of Ethan’s, and I wouldn’t feel right accepting such a generous gift without giving you something in return. Please take this.”

My best friend chimed in, “Just accept it. Sabrina has plenty of those.”

Sabrina smiled sweetly. “Exactly. Don’t feel awkward. Ethan buys me luxury jewelry all the time.”

“Sometimes he buys me an entire matching set. It’s honestly ridiculous.”

A bitter ache rose in my chest.

Ethan had spent our entire relationship pretending to be broke.

Once, while we were shopping, I fell in love with a handbag, and Ethan offered to buy it for me. But

because I was trying to save for a home, I suggested finding a preowned one on Poshmark

instead.

I had done it because he complained that his manager was withholding his commission.

I glanced around at our mutual friends. One by one they made excuses and left.

They had hidden more than Ethan’s marriage from me. They had also silently agreed not to tell me

that he was pretending to be poor.

I could almost imagine how they mocked me behind my back for being so naive after pretending

to sympathize with how hard I worked to my face.

I accepted the bracelet and walked out of the hospital in a daze.

I did not break down until I made it back to my hotel.

When Ethan and I first got together, our friends used to joke that we were just two broke kids

scraping by.

I worked while I was in school and still had to cover my mother’s staggering medical bills.

Ethan seemed even worse off than I was. He made every dollar stretch twice as far.

We believed that if we kept working hard together, fe would eventually get better.

Back then, we were so broke that dinner was a four dollar slice of pizza from a corner shop, but we

could sit there talking until the place closed.

After graduation, he insisted on returning to Port Haven to start a business, while I accepted a job offer in New York City. We promised each other we would work hard and build a future together.

The day we said goodbye at the airport, he held me tightly and promised we would get married

once we owned a home.

I waited six years.

For those six years, I ran myself ragged.

I worked my regular job during the day, took freelance gigs at night, and taught at a tutoring center

on weekends.

At the height of it, I survived on four hours of sleep a night for three straight months and nearly

landed in the ER

Yet I had been happy then. It had never occurred to me that everything I believed in was a lie.