After I Stopped Loving Him (Isabella and Ethan) novel Chapter 421

The moment Ethan’s assistant set a fresh cup of coffee on his desk, Keith walked in.

Without hesitation, Ethan waved the assistant away. Keith marched over and took the coffee right out of Ethan’s hand. He didn’t say a word. Instead, he walked straight to the private restroom, poured the steaming coffee down the sink, and returned a few minutes later with a glass of warm water.

“Mr. Adams, you’ve been working nonstop for two days. No sleep, barely any breaks. What’s going on?” Keith asked, concern etched all over his face.

The security team had already told Keith about the lights in the CEO’s office. Two nights in a row, they never went off. Every patrol, they saw Ethan hunched over his desk, still working.

Ethan slumped deeper into his black chair. He looked exhausted, shadows under his eyes, his energy gone. He let out a shaky breath.

“Keith, I think I’ve failed,” he said quietly. “I can’t let go of Natalie, but I ended up hurting Isabella. When Natalie kept the wedding gift I gave Isabella, Isabella didn’t say anything, so I let it go too.”

He rubbed his temples, the weight of it all heavy on his shoulders. “Now Isabella is demanding the gift back, but Natalie already invested it and refuses to return it. Isabella is only doing this to force me into divorcing her.”

Ethan’s voice broke a little. “I don’t want a divorce...”

He looked up at Keith, his eyes tired and lost. “That question I asked you last time—the one about the husband and wife who lost each other—it was about me. I’m the man who lost his wife, the one who made her lose all hope.”

For a moment, Keith just stood there, stunned. “Mr. Adams, wait. Slow down. You’re losing me a bit.”

Ethan ran his hands through his hair in frustration. He looked nothing like the confident man everyone else saw—just someone who finally realized he couldn’t control everything.

“Choosing between them isn’t the point anymore,” Keith went on. “Jordan’s been your friend for almost thirty years, but do you really think he still values that friendship? Every time The Lane Group wants to work with us, they use Natalie as an excuse. Jordan keeps saying he wants to make more money for his wife, but the truth is, their comfortable life comes at your expense.”

He leaned forward, his gaze steady. “Has Jordan ever done a deal with you where he didn’t expect something for nothing?”

Ethan remembered the latest project. For once, he’d turned Jordan down and partnered with The Mason Group instead. It was the first time he’d put his own interests above Jordan’s—and that only happened after he got married.

“Mr. Adams, you hold onto the past, but they take advantage of that. They use your loyalty as a weapon.”

Ethan felt the blood drain from his face. Keith’s words cut right through him, exposing the truth he’d tried so hard not to see. Thirty years of friendship, and all of it suddenly felt so fragile.