Chapter 2

Sometimes I wonder if love is just an illusion. A simple lapse in memory was all it took to redirect its entire course toward someone else.

Over those three years, people constantly tried to talk sense into him.

Every friend and family member who had witnessed our relationship begged him to come home, to give it time.

Later, they began comforting me instead, saying that once Ethan's memory returned, he would remember how desperately he had loved me.

So I endured it. For three whole years.

I endured it when they told me Ethan bought out the girl's entire company just so she would never leave his side. I endured it when they told me he bought an island to put in her name. I even endured it when I found out they were living together, playing house as husband and wife.

But now, my endurance had reached its absolute limit.

I picked up the pen calmly and moved it toward the signature line.

This time, I was setting us both free.

"Chloe, no, I won't let you," my mother-in-law pleaded, gripping my hand as tears streamed down her cheeks. "Ethan just lost his memories. He loved you so much, and you loved him. God, why are you testing these two like this?"

My parents had passed away when I was young. Over the years, Ethan's parents had treated me like their own flesh and blood.

"It's fine, Mom. Haven't you always wanted a grandchild?" I gently wiped away her tears. "She's pregnant. The child is innocent. Summer is a good girl, too. Maybe Ethan and I were just never meant to last."

"You actually agreed that easily?" Ethan let out a harsh sneer. There wasn't an ounce of affection left in his eyes, only utter disgust, as if looking at a desperate, clinging madwoman. To be fair, in his current mind, I was just an obstacle—a bitter ex refusing to sign the papers, standing in the way of his fairy-tale romance.

"Summer is carrying my child. If I don't divorce you, my baby will be born a bastard!"

Ethan's gaze dropped to my stomach, his lips curling into a cruel mockery. "Then again, I guess I couldn't have loved you that much back then anyway. Otherwise, after a whole year of marriage, why didn't you ever get pregnant?"

I grabbed the glass of water off the table and threw it straight into his face. "Get the hell out!"

He stumbled back, furiously wiping the water from his skin, still spitting venom. "Just you wait! Once the ink is dry, this house won't belong to you either!"

After he slammed the door, my mother-in-law pulled me into a hug, crying out of sheer indignation. "Chloe, come live with me. Even if you're not Ethan's wife anymore, you'll always be my daughter."

I shook my head. Over the past three years, Ethan had caused scenes with his parents more than once. He refused to come home, and whenever I tried going to his office, security was instructed to bar me at the door.

He needed my signature. When his friends refused to harass me on his behalf, he took his anger out on his parents. After they reprimanded him a few times, he cut them off entirely.