He Thought I’d Always Stay—Then the Countdown Hit Zero Chapter 04

He Thought I’d Always Stay—Then the Countdown Hit Zero Chapter 04

The sky was dark again when I left Hayes Group.

Riverton’s rainy season seemed endless that year.

Rachel handed me my car keys and studied my face.

“You’re white as a sheet. Did you fight with that supposedly perfect husband of yours?”

I shook my head.

“No.”

We hadn’t fought.

We hadn’t even raised our voices.

We were simply walking calmly toward the inevitable end of his countdown.

By four that afternoon, the sky was nearly black.

Rain poured down.

I drove to my mother’s old house outside Riverton.

It was the only property she had left me, and I kept some of her belongings there.

The property management office had called to say that the basement was flooding because the house sat on low ground.

By the time I arrived, the water had risen halfway up my calves.

I spent two hours alone in the cold, filthy water, carrying boxes of old photographs and journals upstairs one by one.

When I finally emerged, I was covered in mud and shaking from the cold.

Halfway home, my car stalled on a service road.

The floodwater was too deep, and water had entered the exhaust.

There were no streetlights nearby, only the thunderous sound of rain pounding the roof.

I took out my phone.

The battery was at fifteen percent.

I called Ethan.

After seven years, reaching for him whenever I was in trouble had become instinct.

The phone rang for a long time before he answered.

“Hello, Natalie.”

Voices overlapped in the background, one angry and another sobbing.

“Ethan, my car broke down on South Beltway.”

My fingers were stiff with cold around the steering wheel.

“The rain’s too heavy, and I can’t get a ride. Can you come get me?”

Silence lasted for one second.

Then Chloe’s hysterical sobbing erupted through the phone.

“I don’t want to live anymore! I can never repay that money! Just let me die!”

Ethan’s voice immediately turned sharp and frantic.

“Get down from there! What are you doing near the ledge?”

Then he spoke rapidly into the phone.

“Natalie, there was a major problem with one of Chloe’s projects, and it caused the company a serious loss. She’s emotionally unstable and threatening to jump off the roof.”

“I can’t leave.”

He paused.

“Call roadside assistance, or get a rideshare home. I’ll pay for it.”

“I have to go.”

The call ended.

I stared at the dark phone screen.

Suddenly, the air inside the car felt colder than the filthy water outside.

I didn’t call him again.

I didn’t call roadside assistance either.

I opened the door and stepped into the storm.

The rain soaked me instantly.

Alone, I walked through ankle-deep water toward the nearest lights.

I covered nearly two miles before I finally found a cab outside a convenience store.

It was ten at night when I reached home.

The house was completely dark.

I didn’t turn on the lights.

I walked straight to the bedroom, opened the closet, and pulled out a suitcase.

I packed only a few outfits I wore often and several necessities.

I didn’t touch the jewelry or designer bags Ethan had bought me.

Everything remained neatly in its original place.

After packing, I went into the study.

I turned on the computer and printed a document.

Then I sat at the desk, picked up a pen, and signed my name on the final page.

Natalie Warren.

The letters were neat, without the slightest tremor.

I placed the divorce settlement agreement on the coffee table, where he couldn’t miss it.

Beside it, I left the spare key Ethan had given me.

When everything was done, I walked out of the home I had lived in for seven years, pulling my suitcase behind me.

The moment the door closed behind me, my heart became completely empty.

Early the next morning, Ethan opened the front door, exhaustion visible in every step.

He had finally calmed Chloe and taken her back to her apartment.

“Natalie, I’m home.”

He called out while changing his shoes.

No one answered.

Frowning, he turned on the living room lights.

His eyes immediately landed on the papers on the coffee table.

He walked over and picked them up.

One glance was enough to stop his breathing.

He stared at the divorce settlement agreement.

Then his eyes fell on the black signature in the lower-right corner.

Panic surged through him.

At that exact moment, the countdown above his head, which had already fallen below one hundred days, flickered strangely.

[89 days, 12 hours, 5 minutes.]

It changed to:

[125 days, 7 hours, 30 minutes.]

For the first time, it moved backward.