Chased by my Ex Husband novel Chapter 50

Grace

“ Did you… ” I swallow the lump in my throat to prepare myself for asking the terrifying question. “ …try to kill Tristin? ”

Ethan’s hand falls by his side as a cold look flashes across his droopy eyes. “ he is all you care about… ”

“ Did you? ” My chin wobbles. “ did you do it because of me? ”

Ethan stares into my eyes. I don’t know what happens, but in that moment, the look in his eyes becomes detached and it feels like we have finally chosen a separate path at the crossroads.

We are no longer lurking on the edges, desperately trying to stick together. Now we know, there is no going back. Maybe, we knew, when I tried to kill him. Maybe he realized the truth when he almost ended up dead.

“ No. ” Ethan shakes his head and looks away from me first. “ I had nothing to do with his accident. ”

The weight on my shoulders becomes less heavy. The numbness leaves my body and my eyes water.

I have been so scared in there. The voices still ring inside my head. But the thought that haunted me the most was the fact that Tristin might have gotten hurt because of me.

“ There is no way back, right? ” Ethan murmurs, turning his head to the other side.

“ You killed our child. There was never a way back from there, Ethan. ” I whisper, trying to stop crying.

As long as you are suffering but there is no one around you are familiar with, you continue to feel less affected by the pain. But once you find a familiar face in the crowd, the emotions pour out and it’s impossible to put a stop to them, to the tears, to the heartbreak.

Ethan grabs something from the bedside table and turns towards me. I wipe my cheeks and clench my hands on my lap.

It doesn’t take me long to recognize the papers. The world slows down again, and other voices disappear.

Ethan’s hand holding the pen hovers above the papers. I look up and meet his eyes which are filled with the same detachment.

“ If you stay my wife, they will keep forcing me to hurt you. ” Ethan says, his voice weak. “ You will suffer at the hands of people I can not fight. ”

My heart clenches. “ No one…hurt me more than you did. No one ever will. ”

His eyes freeze, a strange emotion flashing across them before he looks down and signs the papers.

In a single moment, it’s done. Suddenly, I remember my thoughts from the day when he was desperate for a divorce.

A signature bound us for life.

A signature broke that vow.

Ethan offers me the papers. With trembling fingers, I sign on my spot and suddenly, the weight crashes down on me again.

With a signature, we were finally pushed on the separate roads. The promises of accompanying each other through health and sickness and happiness and misery and life…proved false.

Words became meaningless just as love did.

I rise from the stool, the signed papers still in my hand, but the pen drops.

“ I am…Grace now. ” I whisper, moving robotically to get away from Ethan. “ Just Grace. ”

Before I can turn and leave, Ethan grabs my wrist. Fear grips my heart and I grip the papers harder.

“ No. No, don’t go back on your word. ” I sniffle, shaking my head. “ We are done. I don’t want to be with you. ”