“Are you blind?! She’s been so weak these
past few days! Were you too busy staring at
Chloe to notice?” Sarah was practically
fuming. If we weren’t in a hospital, she
probably would have slapped him. “I swear…”
11
Ethan’s voice dropped to a mumble. “I didn’t
know…”
L
“Oh, you didn’t know? You knew enough to
transfer a house to that homewrecker, buy
her a Mercedes! What do you think caused
the miscarriage, Ethan?! You and your crap!”
“l…….”
“Just get out. I can’t even look at you right
now.”
Silence descended. I opened my eyes. Sarah
plopped down beside me, her hand on my forehead. “Hey. How are you feeling?”
Tears welled up. “You know?”
She tapped my forehead, a mix of frustration
and sympathy in her eyes. “I told you not to
marry him. Now look.”
A wave of sadness washed over me. My
parents had been against the marriage,
L
despite Ethan’s family’s money. I’d been too
blinded by love.
I remembered our parents‘ first dinner together. I’d overheard Ethan’s mother in the
restroom, on the phone. “We were ready to offer fifty grand as a dowry, but… honestly, his girlfriend’s family is so…tacky. Twenty should be enough to get rid of them.”
I’d told Ethan that night. He’d criticized his
mother, promising to make up the difference
himself. He never did. Three years into our
<
marriage, during a drunken confession, he
admitted, “Of course I knew about the dowry
thing. Mom asked me first. Olivia, you’re so
easy to fool. No wonder they say love makes
you stupid.”
Now, without the rose–tinted glasses, I saw
him clearly: a liar and a manipulator.
