She Taught Him How To Love: He Used It To Destroy Me Chapter 08

She Taught Him How To Love: He Used It To Destroy Me Chapter 08

That night, Ethan called me twenty-seven times.

I didn’t pick up a single one.

At 1 a.m., he showed up at the door of my new apartment.

“Vanessa was using us from the start,” he said.

I stayed behind the door.

“So?”

“We’re family,” he said.

“Open the door. I’ll hand over everything from the studio.”

“What’s the condition?”

Silence on the other side for a few seconds.

“Tomorrow was supposed to be our Marriage License appointment,” he said.

“If we get married, the company can cover the claims against you.

“What else do I need to sign?”

Ethan’s voice dropped low.

“Acknowledge that your mom’s mental state was unstable after the Stroke.”

“That voice message can’t be used as evidence.”

I opened the door.

He was actually holding the appointment form and a guarantee agreement in his hands.

The date hadn’t changed.

Neither had the names.

As if my mom’s death was just a minor hiccup in the wedding planning that could be skipped over.

I took the appointment form and tore it up slowly.

“When she was alive, you made me trade her life for a Wedding,” I said.

“Now that she’s gone, you want me to trade her dignity for one too.”

Ethan’s face went pale.

“I’m just trying to protect you from the risk,” he said.

“Who created the risk?”

He didn’t answer.

I shoved the guarantee back into his chest.

“I’ll be at the press conference tomorrow.”

He blocked the doorway.

“You’ve lost weight,” he said.

“I brought you oatmeal.”

Oatmeal with Brown Sugar.

Less sugar, no peanuts.

Still warm.

I closed the door gently.

“Stop using the things I love to make me accept the hurt.”

The day of the press conference, the room was packed with media and brand representatives.

Vanessa wore a white suit.

Ethan sat to her left.

Half a table apart.

When I walked in, every camera turned toward me.

Vanessa started by putting up a screenshot of a script I’d written three

years ago.

[Healthy relationships need appropriate space.]

“This is the methodology Ivy Clarke originally proposed,” she said.

I picked up the mic.

“I wrote that,” I said.

The room erupted.

Vanessa’s lips had just started to curl upward when I pulled up the full email.

[Space doesn’t mean disappearing.]

[And it definitely shouldn’t turn the Silent Treatment into a test for your partner.]

“You cut the last two sentences,” I said.

“Then used the first one to prove that I taught them to lock their girlfriends out in the hallway.”

Vanessa’s smile stiffened.

“Content strategy requires edits,” she said.

“Then let’s talk strategy.”

A brand representative stood up.

“If we can’t confirm the actual controller and beneficiary today,” he said, “we will pursue claims against all related parties.”

I turned to Vanessa.

“Who approved the topics for the past three years?”

“Execution was handled by Ethan,” she said.

I turned to Ethan.

“Who decided the scripts?”

He gripped the mic.

“Vanessa set the direction. The studio executed.”

Vanessa shot back immediately.

“I only provided consultation,” she said.

“I didn’t upload the medical records or the secretly recorded footage.”

Ethan laughed coldly.

“You personally changed every title before each episode went live,” he said.

“The backend is in your team’s hands. The revenue went into your company.”

The brand representative pressed further.

“So who’s the actual controller?”

Vanessa pointed at Ethan.

“He is.”

Ethan stared at her.

“Nothing went out without her approval,” he said.

I didn’t push further.

They’d already proved it for me–I’d never been involved in the actual operations.

I held my mom’s Promissory Note up to the camera.

The transfer memo read:

[Loan.]

Next, I showed the Equity Purchase Agreement from Vanessa’s company.

Same two hundred eighty thousand dollars.

The memo read:

[MC-01 Project – Initial Payment.]

I played the partial recording.

On the whiteboard, Vanessa circled “Mother” in red.

“For the final episode, we have to hit the thing she cares about most,” she said.

Ethan’s voice came from off-camera.

“Her mom’s vascular condition is real,” he said.

“We wait until she actually ends up in the hospital.”

The brand representative’s face turned dark.

“If it’s confirmed that someone deliberately shifted verified-account liability onto Ivy Clarke,” he said, “those responsible will be prioritized for legal action by the brands.”