On Our Fifth Anniversary My Husband Begged Me Not to Leave Chapter 09

On Our Fifth Anniversary My Husband Begged Me Not to Leave Chapter 09

The day after Stella left, Ethan didn’t show up at the hospital.

The curtains were drawn tight.

The apartment was dark as midnight.

He cracked open another bottle and threw back a burning mouthful.

The liquor scorched his throat raw, but it did nothing to smother the fury churning in his chest.

Stella had made decisions–divorce, abortion–with brutal finality, and she hadn’t consulted him on a single one.

What the hell was he to her?!

What had their five years of marriage even been?!

At that moment, the front door swung open from the outside.

Maren Walsh stepped in, clutching a thermos.

When she saw the wreckage strewn everywhere, her eyes instantly reddened.

“Dr. Hayes… How could you do this to yourself?”

Ethan leaned back against the sofa.

He said nothing.

It was as though he didn’t even see her.

Maren knelt beside him and opened the thermos.

“I made you soup. Please, just have a little.”

Ethan remained silent.

But a hope was slowly stirring inside Maren’s chest

Stella was gone.

She was the one beside Ethan now.

She was the one who’d stayed.

She settled closer beside him, her voice soft as silk.

“Honestly, it was too cruel of her to just leave like this. All these years, you’ve given her so much.

She never understood how much pressure you’ve been under.”

Ethan’s eyes were fixed downward, unreadable.

Maren’s confidence swelled.

“If it were me–I would never treat you this way.”

Ethan finally lifted his head.

His gaze landed on her face.

Maren’s heart pounded wildly.

This was it.

This was her moment.

She gathered all her courage and spoke.

“I’ve liked you since college. All these years–I’ve never stopped. She left you. But I never will. Let

me stay with you. Forever.”

With those words, she leaned in and wrapped her arms around him.

Her fingers rose to the top button of her blouse and undid it, exposing the swell of her chest.

“Please. Just look at me.”

Ethan slowly raised his eyes.

There was no desire in them.

Only a bone–chilling, terrifying coldness.

“That day in my office–the document Stella asked you to pass along. You read it, didn’t you?”

Maren’s heart seized.

Her smile froze on her face.

“What… what document?”

Ethan snatched the divorce agreement off the coffee table and hurled it viciously in her face.

Every drop of color drained from Maren’s cheeks.

“Dr. Hayes…”

“You knew exactly what this was. Why did you lie and tell me it was housing paperwork?!”

Maren’s lips trembled uncontrollably.

It took her forever to choke out a single coherent sentence.

“I was afraid it would distract you… I wanted to wait until you were less busy before telling you…”

“Wait until I was less busy?” Ethan let out a laugh of pure, bitter irony.

“Or wait until she’d terminated the pregnancy? Wait until her heart was shattered beyond repair

and she walked out for good?”

Maren’s face went ashen.

Her entire body started shaking.

“ANSWER ME!”

Ethan shot to his feet.

The whiskey bottle toppled and shattered against the floor with a deafening crash.

Maren flinched violently, tears spilling instantly down her face.

“I just… thought you were under so much pressure lately… I wanted to wait until you were in a

better place…”

Watching her still play the innocent victim was the final trigger.

Ethan’s rage detonated.

His hand shot out and locked around her throat

You knew she was pregnant. You participated in her abortion. Why didn’t you tell me?!”

His grip tightened.

“And when she hemorrhaged after surgery–you delayed treatment for a full twenty minutes before

initiating resuscitation. She almost died. Was that your doing too?!”