She Taught Him How To Love: He Used It To Destroy Me Chapter 06

She Taught Him How To Love: He Used It To Destroy Me Chapter 06

The stream went silent for a full five seconds.

Ethan held the phone, frozen.

The nurse called out again on the other end.

“Mr. Cross?”

His throat moved.

“Where’s Ivy?”

“Ms. Clarke is handling the paperwork alone,” the nurse said.

“She’s not in a good state. Would you be able to come sit with her?”

Ethan sprang to his feet.

His chair crashed to the floor. He reached for his jacket.

Vanessa grabbed his arm.

“If you leave now, all the promotion tonight is wasted,” she said.

“Brand penalties plus ad spend-that’s at least three million dollars.”

Ethan stared at the seventeen missed calls on his phone.

His hand was already on the jacket.

The host leaned in.

“Mr. Cross, should we pause?”

Vanessa didn’t let go.

“She’s already gone,” she said.

“You going now won’t change anything.”

Ethan’s hand stopped on the jacket.

After a long moment, he sat back down.

“Keep going.”

The giveaway screen lit up again.

It read:

[Grand Cash Prize – Twenty Thousand Dollars]

Confetti rained across the screen.

At the exact same moment, I signed my name on my mom’s death certificate.

The clerk pushed the Ink Pad toward me.

“We’ll need a Thumbprint next to the signature from the family member.”

At 11:40 p.m., Ethan finally showed up at the hospital.

He saw the bed covered in a white sheet and stopped.

“How did this happen so fast?”

I didn’t answer.

He reached for my shoulder.

I stepped aside.

“Seventeen calls,” I said.

“You didn’t pick up a single one.”

Ethan’s fingers curled.

“I was on the Live Stream.”

“What about after the nurse called you?”

He paused.

“There were only a few minutes left,” he said.

“Even if I’d come immediately, I couldn’t have changed the outcome.”

I looked at him.

“This is always how you are,” I said.

“As long as the damage is already done, you don’t have to take responsibility.”

“You locked me out because the door was already shut.”

“You disappeared at our Engagement Party because the test had already started.”

“My mom died because even if you came, you couldn’t bring her back.”

Ethan’s face went pale.

Vanessa pulled an agreement out of her bag.

“There’s no point debating the Live Stream now,” she said.

“Let’s handle the aftermath first.”

“You acknowledge that Ms. Clarke’s death was due to natural causes and had nothing to do with any

online content.”

“The videos will be taken down.”

I looked up.

“My mom just died.”

Vanessa’s voice stayed calm.

“The living still have to deal with what comes next.”

Ethan didn’t argue.

He just put a pen in front of me.

“Sign it first,” he said.

“Don’t make this any bigger than it already is.”

A nurse brought my mom’s belongings.

Her old phone, glasses, and a cardigan, all in a clear plastic bag.

The phone wasn’t locked.

Her chat history was still open on Ethan’s contact.

At 7:41 p.m., she’d sent him a voice message.

“E…than.”

“I… pressed the print.”

“You promised Mom…”

“Don’t… don’t leave Ivy.”

“She talks tough…”

“But really… she’s terrified of being alone.”

And then Ethan’s reply.

Sent at 7:43 p.m.

Only three minutes before her second bleed.

I hit play.

“Mrs. Clarke, the statement is the statement, and the Wedding is the Wedding,” he said.

“If Ivy doesn’t issue a public apology today, I’m not marrying her.”

“And please don’t use your health to guilt-trip me on her behalf anymore.”

The hallway went quiet.

Below that voice message, my mom had typed one word-never sent.

[Okay.]

Ethan stepped forward.

“I was just trying to get her to calm down back then,” he said.

“You knew she’d just woken up,” I said.

“And you knew why she pressed the Thumbprint.”

The only reason I agreed to the Wedding was to get her to cooperate with the clarification.”

“Your issues weren’t resolved yet I wasn’t going to reward you with marriage.”