Chapter 4

Evelyn's POV

Serena walked in, flanked by a pair of security guards.

She had on a floor-length white dress. She looked fragile, like something that might shatter in a breeze.

"Ms. Hartley."

She lifted her sunglasses and gave me a soft, guileless smile.

"Ethan says the environment here is wonderful. He thought it might do me good to visit. You don't mind, do you?"

I stood up, stepping in front of Sammy.

"Ms. Blake," I said, keeping my voice level. "This is a school for children with special needs. The kids here are very sensitive around strangers. Please don't disturb them."

"I only want to help."

She pressed her lips together in a pout and moved toward Sammy before I could stop her, reaching out to touch his head.

"Hey there, sweetheart. What's your name?"

Sammy startled at the sudden movement. He hadn't heard her coming. He flinched backward on instinct and bumped into her leg.

Serena let out a sharp cry and toppled, landing hard on the floor.

"Serena!"

A voice erupted from the hallway, rough with fury.

Ethan came charging in. He shoved me aside and dropped to one knee beside Serena, gathering her carefully into his arms.

"Ethan, I'm scared... he pushed me..."

She curled against him, trembling, tears streaming down her face.

Ethan turned and looked at me. His eyes were cold and vicious.

"Evelyn. Is this how you run your school?"

His shove had sent my lower back into the corner of a table. The pain was sharp enough to make me break into a cold sweat.

I kept one hand on Sammy's shoulder and met Ethan's stare.

"Ethan. She stumbled on her own. Sammy barely touched her."

"Enough."

His voice cracked through the room like a whip.

"Serena has clinical depression. She cannot be startled or frightened. You stood there and let a disabled child knock her down. What happened to all that compassion you're so proud of?"

Disabled child.

The words came out of his mouth with a contempt he didn't bother to hide.

I stared at him, unable to fully process what I was hearing.

This was the man who had spent three months learning sign language to impress me. The man who used to say these kids were like his own. Now, for Serena, he was dismantling everything he had ever pretended to stand for, and he was using my students to do it.

"Ethan. That was out of line."

My voice shook.

"I'm out of line?"

He let out a short, cold laugh and got to his feet with Serena still in his arms.

"Evelyn, I think I've been too easy on you. You seem to have forgotten where the funding for this school comes from. Effective today, the new building expansion is suspended indefinitely. When you've learned to keep your students in check, we'll talk about resuming it."

He looked down at me the way you look at a pet that's disappointed you.

"I built this school for you to enjoy. Not so your kids could bite people."

He turned and left without another word, Serena in his arms, neither of them looking back.

I stood there and watched them go.

I felt like something had been torn open in the center of my chest.

The thing I had built my entire life around, my work, my purpose, the school, it was, to him, a toy. Something he had handed me on a whim. Something he could take back the moment it stopped being convenient.

He could spend without limit when he loved me.

But now that someone else had his heart, a single sentence was all it took to crack me in half.

A week later, it was my birthday.

Ethan had reserved the top floor of New York's most exclusive rooftop restaurant for the evening.

He seemed to know he had gone too far at the school. He was making an effort tonight, more attentive than he had been in months.

He cut my steak himself and slid a signed document across the table toward me.