At Twenty-Eight, He Married My Enemy. At Eighteen, He Gave Me a Second Life. Chapter 01

At Twenty-Eight, He Married My Enemy. At Eighteen, He Gave Me a Second Life. Chapter 01

On the same day, Ethan Grant married the daughter of my father’s mistress, while my father married the mistress herself.

Clutching my mother’s urn to my chest, I walked into the lake one step at a time.

When the freezing water rose past my neck, my phone rang with an impossible call.

It was Ethan.

Eighteen-year-old Ethan.

“Eileen, are you the happiest bride in the world today?”

When we were eighteen, we had promised each other that we would get married on this very day.

I tightened my grip on the phone and smiled, even as tears slipped down my face.

“Yeah. The wedding was beautiful. The pink diamond ring you promised me and the wedding dress you once sketched by hand… they both became real.”

I paused for a few seconds.

“It’s just that Blair was the bride instead of me.”

I hugged my mother’s urn tighter and kept walking deeper into the lake until I lost consciousness.

When I woke up again, I was lying in a private hospital in Chicago.

Ethan was still wearing the suit from his wedding.

His tie hung loose around his neck, and he looked impatient.

“Eileen, no matter how angry you are, you shouldn’t try to kill yourself. You’re only making me resent you even more. If you want a wedding that badly, I’ll arrange one for you after Blair has the baby.”

After Ethan left, the room fell silent again.

My hand trembling, I reached for the paring knife on the nightstand.

Then the call from the past came through again, and I heard eighteen-year-old Ethan breathing hard.

“Eileen, you’re lying to me, aren’t you? How could I ever marry Blair?”

…

“I’m not lying.”

Even eighteen-year-old Ethan couldn’t understand why he would stop loving me one day.

How was I supposed to understand it?

I was about to hang up when the hospital room door suddenly flew open.

Ethan rushed in and snatched the paring knife from my hand.

He grabbed my wrist and carefully checked my palm and arm for injuries.

Only after making sure there were no cuts did he pull me into his arms.

“I’m sorry, Eileen. I only just found out you were pregnant.”

He paused.

“But the baby didn’t make it.”

I lifted a hand to my stomach.

For a moment, I couldn’t speak.

My eyes burned, but not a single tear would come.

My baby was gone.

Blair’s baby was perfectly fine.

My child had left this world without ever receiving even a shred of anticipation from its father.

But Blair’s baby had had all of Ethan’s love from the very beginning.

Why?

Why was that fair?

Ethan searched every corner of the hospital room.

The paring knife, the scissors, the drinking glass: he removed anything that could possibly hurt me.

He even had the nurses put padding over the corners of the cabinets and tables.

When he was done, he sat back down beside my bed and gently stroked the back of my hand.

His eyes looked tender, but exhausted.

“Eileen, haven’t you always wanted to marry me? Once I’ve stayed by Blair’s side through the pregnancy and delivery, I promise I’ll give you a wedding every bit as grand as hers.”

I pulled my hand away, rolled onto my side, and turned my back to him.

A wedding?

I didn’t want one anymore.

I remembered Ethan bringing a pregnant Blair to see my mother and admitting to her face that they were together.

My mother had collapsed on the spot and been rushed to the hospital.

I remembered handling every detail of my mother’s funeral alone after she died, while Ethan and my father were busy planning two lavish weddings for Blair and her mother.

Those memories had already burned every last bit of love I had for Ethan out of me.

“Get out.”

That was my only answer.

Ethan wasn’t pleased.

This was the first time he had softened toward me, and he hadn’t gotten the response he wanted.

His patience snapped.

He drove his fist into the wall.

“Eileen, I’m talking to you! Look at me!”

Blood slowly seeped between his fingers.

Then an exaggerated gasp came from the hallway.

“Oh my God! Ethan, your hand!”

Blair rushed in on high heels.

Her carefully styled blonde hair was pinned up at the back of her head, and she hadn’t even changed out of her wedding dress.

She threw her arms around Ethan, tore a small strip from the inner lining of her gown, and carefully wrapped it around his injured hand.

I stared at the wedding dress she was wearing and gave a bitter, twisted smile.

Ethan and I had designed that dress together when I was sixteen.

That year, he had kissed my forehead and promised that ten years later, he would make sure I wore it.

Now that the dress had finally been made, it really was beautiful.

Over the years, every time Ethan traveled to another country for work, he bought the most beautiful diamond he could find there.

He told me that one day, he would sew every one of those diamonds onto my wedding dress.

He really did make that dress.

I just wasn’t the one wearing it.

Blair noticed me staring and lifted her chin smugly.

“Eileen, don’t tell me you’re jealous of me again. I was gone for a few minutes, and somehow you’ve already driven Ethan out of his mind. Honestly, you’re terrifying.”

She deliberately glanced at my pale face, and her smile grew sweeter.

“Your mother had no money and no connections, so all she could do was cling to a man who never loved her. And now you’re doing exactly the same thing. Do you really think a broke scholarship kid like you could ever become Mrs. Grant just by clinging to Ethan?”

She smiled.

“Wake up, sweetheart. Some places were never meant for people like you.”

The ten-carat pink diamond on her ring finger caught the light, blindingly bright.

The moment Blair mentioned my mother, I ripped the IV needle from the back of my hand, grabbed the IV bag hanging from the pole, and hurled it at her.

“You don’t deserve to say my mother’s name!”

Ethan immediately stepped in front of Blair and pulled her into his arms.

The bag hit him squarely in the back.

IV fluid sprayed from the torn tubing and splashed into my eyes, making them burn.

“Blair, how many times have I told you not to come in here alone? She’s emotionally unstable right now. I’m afraid she’ll hurt you.”

Ethan bent down, lifted the hem of Blair’s dress, and shielded her as he escorted her out.

Once again, I was alone in the gray and white hospital room.

My hands trembling, I reached inside the pillowcase and pulled out the sleeping pills I’d hidden there.

Then, from my phone, came the familiar voice I hadn’t heard in years.

Eighteen-year-old Ethan was crying so hard he could barely get the words out.

“If that man really is me in the future, I’d rather die right now. I don’t want to watch him treat you like this. Eileen, if I die, will that bastard disappear too?”