Chapter 3

When morning arrived, both of them were gone.

A note was left on the dining table in Ethan's handwriting:

[I had a terrible night. Chloe spent hours calming me down and ended up running a fever this morning. I took her to the clinic. Don't worry, we'll be back soon.]

I stared at it in silence.

My phone screen lit up, displaying a new post on Instagram.

It had been uploaded thirty minutes ago.

Just a simple caption:

[First ultrasound! So nervous. Our family of three is finally meeting for the first time.]

The attached photo showed two hands tightly intertwined.

It was Chloe's burner account.

She had probably forgotten that she ever added me on it.

I crumpled the note into a tight ball and tossed it into the trash.

Then, I submitted a request for paid time off, booked the earliest flight home, and began packing my bags.

Halfway through packing, the front door clicked open.

They must have assumed I had already left for work.

In the living room, they embraced each other without hesitation.

"Happy to see the first picture of your baby?"

Chloe pulled out the ultrasound scan and waved it in front of him.

A wide smile spread across Ethan's face as he lovingly kissed her eyes and the tip of her nose.

"Of course I am. Happier than I've ever been in my life."

"Chloe, thank you for keeping this baby. I swear I'll take good care of you and our child for the rest of my days."

Tears welled in Chloe's eyes as she playfully pounded his chest.

"Why are you being so cheesy all of a sudden?"

"Hmph, weren't you snapping at me last night?"

Ethan pulled her back into his arms, showering her with kisses and whispered apologies.

"Wasn't that because an outsider was watching? I had to keep up appearances, didn't I?"

The word "outsider" pierced my heart like a dagger.

Ethan had been the one to pursue me relentlessly.

It took him three years and twenty-seven confessions before I finally said yes.

On the day of his proposal, Ethan had dropped to both knees in front of everyone.

"Serena, thank you for agreeing to marry me."

"I, Ethan, swear that you will be the only woman in my heart for the rest of my life. I will never do anything to betray you."

I had laughed, teasing him that nobody proposed on two knees.

He insisted it made him look more sincere.

Who could have guessed that his "lifetime" was so short?

Snapping out of my memories, I saw the two of them getting carried away in the living room.

"Why are you starting again... wait... the blinds aren't closed!"

Ethan's breath was ragged. "I can't wait... Nobody's home anyway, why care? I..."

Mid-sentence, he happened to look through the crack of the bedroom door, locking eyes with me.

Ethan's face drained of color. He shoved Chloe away in sheer panic.

Both of them stared at me, eyes wide with terror.

"Serena... why aren't you at work?"

I didn't answer his question.

Instead, my eyes locked onto their intertwined hands, and I asked the question I already knew the answer to.

"You're pregnant? With his baby?"

"When... when did this start?"

Ethan didn't dare meet my gaze, keeping his head low.

Chloe stepped forward nonchalantly, shielding him.

"Serena, since you've seen it, there's no point in hiding it anymore."

"I'm almost four months along. It's Ethan's."

"He and I... we've been together since your second year with him..."

Before Chloe could finish, Ethan snapped coldly, "Enough! Stop talking!"

A suffocating darkness closed in around me.

The second year...

That was the year I had suffered a miscarriage and was diagnosed with mild depression.

Ethan claimed he was overwhelmed with work, disappearing for days at a time.

So he was spending that time with her?

A wave of utter breakdown crashed over me. I slapped Ethan across the face.

Aching for him, Chloe stepped in to pull me away.

In the scuffle, my lower back slammed into the sharp corner of the table, while Chloe lost her footing and tumbled to the floor.

Ethan's expression morphed instantly into horror. "Chloe!"

He lunged forward, gathering her into his arms, his glare at me freezing cold.

"Serena! You've crossed the line!"

"If you're angry, take it out on me! The baby is innocent!"

I gasped in agony, my face turning deathly pale from the impact against the table.

Only then did he seem to realize I was hurt, hesitating for a fraction of a second.

Chloe suddenly burst into tears.

"Ethan, my stomach hurts so much... our baby... take me to the hospital, quickly..."

He instantly tore his eyes away from me, lifting Chloe into his arms and bolting for the door without looking back.

Before stepping out, he threw a final warning over his shoulder.

"If anything happens to Chloe and the baby, I will never forgive you!"