I Signed Away My First Love, Then Married Someone Else Chapter 12

I Signed Away My First Love, Then Married Someone Else Chapter 12

Lauren looked at him. “When Claire left, I tried to stop her. I asked what she would do if Ethan was waiting for her. She said…”

Ethan stood with his hands at his sides, his knuckles white.

“What… what did she say?”

“She said, ‘Why would he wait for me?“”

A roar rushed through Ethan’s ears. Then he turned and ran for the doors.

Madeline cried after him, “Ethan, you can’t leave!”

Grant tried to block him. “What do you think you can fix now?”

Nate remained where he was.

Ethan burst through the glass doors. The street outside was empty.

No cars. No people. No trace of her.

He stood on the steps for a long time, utterly lost.

Behind him, Madeline’s sobs carried through the gap between the doors.

He heard none of it.

He only stared at the empty street.

She was gone.

She hadn’t come to take him away.

She’d believed he would never wait for her. But he had.

The next day.

Ethan stood beneath the flower–covered arbor at the Mercer estate in Tuscany.

His phone screen lit up.

His assistant had sent him an update.

“Mr. Caldwell, our latest information says Julian’s grandmother is hosting a family dinner at the Lake Como villa next week. There’s probably no point in staying. The newlyweds flew out last night.”

Ethan stared at the message for a long time.

He’d traveled through the night, convinced he’d find Claire at the estate.

But she had already left.

She hadn’t even let him see her.

He looked up at the empty entrance to the estate.

Wind lifted the white rose petals and sent them spiraling around his feet.

Someone approached from behind.

Nate spoke from a few steps behind him. “Ethan, let’s go. She won’t see you.”

“How do you know?”

“She just called me.”

Ethan spun around.

Nate stood several feet away, phone still in hand, his face unreadable.

“What did she say?”

Nate was silent for a moment before answering.

“She asked me to tell you it’s over. She signed the agreement, and she won’t come within five

hundred yards of you. Everyone can stop worrying.”

Ethan stood beneath the arbor while the wind tugged at his collar.

“Give me the number.”

Nate handed him the phone.

The number sat clearly in the call history.

Ethan called it back.

It rang twice. Then she declined the call.

He stood among the fallen white roses, gripping the phone hard.

He couldn’t believe she was truly gone.

She hadn’t even given him a chance to explain.