Golden Cage Mommy Mutiny (Elyse) novel Chapter 48

I agreed to meet Ethan and hung up. Then I turned to Dylan with a small laugh.

“You see?” I said. “Aside from not being able to draw anymore, the ECT gave me another great side effect–I forget things now.”

I said it like talking about the weather, but Dylan’s eyes reddened.

“Chloe… I’ve seen your old designs,” he whispered. ‘It’s such a waste.”

I had the talent, and I had the passion. I’d barely begun my career at one of the country’s top design institutes before everything fell apart. I could’ve transferred to another department, but Kira’s report ruined that too, and I became someone the public treated like a disease.

I ended up in a forgotten little town, starting over from nothing.

Dylan sniffed.

“You really don’t want to see him, right? Want me to go get your driver’s license instead?”

“It’s fine,” I said, closing my eyes. “I still have something else at his place. I might as well pick it up.”

My old portfolio from school.

Back then, Ethan begged me to let him frame it, to treasure it forever.”

Looking back, giving it to him was far too generous

He chose the meeting spot–a café on the strip by our old campus. The bakery at the end of the

street, the one that made our anniversary cakes every month, had been renovated into a coffee

shop.

Ethan sat in the corner with perfect posture, and I nodded politely before taking the seat across

from him.

A Flat White sat on the table, already lukewarm, and I realized he must have been waiting a while.

His fingers tapped the table in a restless rhythm, a gesture I’d only seen three times–when he confessed, when he proposed, and now. I wasn’t sure what this moment meant to him.

The owner, the same one from years ago, kept sneaking glances before finally walking over.

“Well, look at that–it really is you two,” he said. “aven’t seen you in years! I still remember when you brought me wedding favors.”

I smiled. “You can still get his wedding favors these days now.”

Ethan’s neck flushed red, and the owner walked away quickly.

Chapter 5

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I gathered my driver’s license.

No point wasting time.

“Are the drawings I mentioned on the phone still there?” I asked.

He let out a long, quiet sigh and pulled out a worn sketchbook.

“Most of them… Kira destroyed when she got mad,” he admitted.

“These few are the only ones I managed to hide.”

The pages were clean, sealed, and preserved carefully, without the dust or neglect I had braced

myself for. My favorite pieces were still there.

I stood up and said, “Thank you. I’m leaving.”

“Wait!” he blurted, standing so quickly he shook the table, spilling coffee everywhere.

“I–I still have something to say-

“Ethan,” I said, cutting him off.

11

It was a name I’d said thousands of times-

“Ethan, help me with my homework.”

“Ethan, my feet hurt, carry me.”

“Ethan! You’re a damn animal, bite gentler!”

But this time, it wasn’t a plea. It was closure:

“Don’t say that cliché about regret,” I said. “You and I were never right.‘

I held the sketchbook and pushed the door open.

11

Later, when I told Dylan what I said, he was in the middle of an ad shoot and clicked his tongue.

“That’s it? That’s all you said?” he groaned. “You should’ve ripped into him, really let him have it, and then-”

He stopped, sighed, and shook his head.

“Forget it. After everything you’ve been through, the fact you can walk away at all is already impressive.”

My version of calm didn’t come overnight. It was built from years of sleepless nights and quiet suffering.

It took me four full years to step out of it.