An Open Marriage Agreement That He Suddenly Refused To Honor Chapter 05

An Open Marriage Agreement That He Suddenly Refused To Honor Chapter 05

Truth be told, I’d already started regretting it on the way back.

Being with Ethan for so many years meant that splitting our assets would be a massive headache.

It would upend both our lives completely.

That was why we’d tacitly stuck to our separate ways all these years, never once mentioning divorce.

Yet the memory of Jasper’s eyes stirred a quiet thrill in me, along with a desperate sense of liberation.

Maybe it was time to step into a brand-new life.

“We’re in the honeymoon phase, you know,” I curved my lips into a faint smile, “act on every passing whim.

He’ll sulk if I turn him down.”

“You understand that, don’t you?”

I looked straight at Ethan,

“Isn’t Chloe just the same?”

Ethan’s brows dropped low, undisguised gloom settling over his face.

“Lila, are you actually taking him seriously?”

It felt awkward to admit I’d fallen in love in front of my husband.

Still, I nodded.

“Jasper is nothing like anyone else.”

Those were the exact words Ethan had once said to me. I’d pressed him relentlessly back then, demanding to

know why he was so fixated on Chloe. He’d smiled with helpless resignation,

“Chloe is nothing like anyone else.”

And his “anyone else” had always included me.

I never imagined I’d end up throwing those same words right back at him.

Ethan froze mid-movement. A storm roiled deep in his eyes, his fingers tightening gradually until his

knuckles bulged and turned bluish.

He let out a cold, mocking laugh. “You’re really regressing, Lila. “What could some snot-nosed kid possibly

give you?”

He nodded his chin toward my coat casually draped over the sofa behind me,

“Could he buy even one of your coats with an entire year of working odd jobs?”

He wasn’t lying.

Ethan had never loved me emotionally over the years, but he’d always been ridiculously generous with

material things.

I could swipe his cards without a second thought. When new luxury lines dropped, I never even needed to shop in person-store managers would bring models straight to the house to showcase pieces for me.

No wonder Chloe clawed her way to edge into his life. The life of a wealthy wife was undeniably lavish and

indulgent.

I brushed a finger over the plain diamond ring on my hand.

It was from an ordinary brand, mediocre in clarity and craft,

the kind of trinket I’d never even bother putting in my jewelry box.

Yet I cherished it far more than all my fancy gems.

“It’s fine. I don’t care about any of that.”

Ethan had clearly spotted the ring too.

He’d once given me a huge, glittering diamond ring auctioned all the way from Hong Kong, worth a fortune.

I’d never even dared wear it, instead buying a plain cheap matching band set for us to wear.

But those few good years faded fast, and we’d long shared a bed yet lived in separate worlds.

Or rather, he’d grown tired of me all on his own.

He stopped wearing his ring, claiming the women he saw on the side disliked it.

In one of our bitter fights, I’d torn my ring off and hurled it away in rage.

It was never found after that, and my hand had stayed bare ever since.

I said it again, firmly.

“Ethan, let’s get a divorce.” He was silent for a beat, then suddenly lunged forward.

He slammed into the coffee table, sending a vase crashing to the floor where it shattered with a sharp crack.

I jumped, startled, and in the next instant his hand was clamped around my throat.

Ethan leaned down, his eyes blazing with savage fury. “Lila, who said you could get serious about someone

else?!”