Please Come Back, My Love novel Chapter 295

Chapter 295

The sound that came out of me was barely human. No. No, you wouldn’t you couldn‘

“I could,” he said calmly, though his hands shook. ‘I can. And I will, unless you give me what I want.”

He walked back to me, cupped my face in both hands. I tried to pull away, trembling.

“Choose me. Elena. Choose me over Sterling, over Alexander, over everyone. Be mine completely. And your daughter lives.”

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“I can do whatever I want,” he interrupted, something manic in his eyes now. “Because I’m not the man you knew, Elena. That man–the

kind professor, the helpful friend–he was just a mask.”

“No,” I said firmly through my tears. “That’s not true. The Ethan I knew was real. He was kind and gentle and-”

“Weak,” he finished coldly. “He was weak. And that’s why he’s locked away now, screaming in the dark while I take what should have been

mine all along.”

He pulled out a knife, started pacing, the blade catching the light.

“Do you know what it was like?” he said, his voice rising. “Watching you pine for Sterling? Watching you throw yourself at a man who treated you like garbage? I could have given you everything! But you never looked at me. Not really. I was just your professor. Your friend. Your fucking consolation prize when Sterling broke your heart.”

He whirled around, pointed the knife at me, but then his hand trembled. “Don’t make me do this,” he whispered, and I heard the other Ethan. “Please, Elena, just… just run. Take Lila and run—”

“Ethan!” I cried out. “Ethan, I’m here! Please, you have to be stronger than him!”

“NO!” he roared at himself. “She’s going to choose me. She’s going to see me.”

I slumped in my chair, defeated. I’d seen this battle before.

“And if I don’t?” I asked quietly.

He smiled through his tears–the most terrifying thing I’d ever seen.

“Then I kill your daughter,” he said simply. “Right here. Right now. And I make you watch.”

He walked to Lila again, pressed the knife tip against her small throat. Not hard enough to break skin, but the threat was clear.

“What’s it going to be, Elena? Your life for hers? Your freedom for her survival?”

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Chapter 295

“Stop! I screamed. Stop, please, III do it! I’ll do whatever you want, just don’t hurt hert

“That’s not good enough. His voice was cold, though his hands shook. “I don’t want your compliance. I want you to choose me. To want

1. me. To love me

He grabbed my chin, forced me to look at him. So here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to tell me, right now, that you choose the over Lila. That if you have to pick between being my wife or being her mother, you pick me

“I can’t” I sobbed. I can’t say that-

“Then she dies. His voice was flat. “Simple as that.”

He raised the knife higher.

“Wait!” Nancy’s voice cut through the room. “Ethan, think about this. If you kill the kid now, you lose your leverage.

“I don’t care about leverage anymore,” Ethan snarled, his voice cracking. “I just want her. However I can get her.”

“Fuck Julian!” he shouted. “Fuck Sterling and his perfect fucking face and his money and his power! I’m done playing games! I’m done being second best!”

He turned back to me, madness burning in his eyes. “Choose. Right now. Me or the brat. Your future or her life. Choose!”

I looked at Lila, my beautiful baby girl. I looked at the knife against her throat. I looked at Ethan and saw no mercy there.

And I made my choice.

I gathered every ounce of strength I had left, looked him dead in the eye, and spat in his face.

“Fuck you,” I said, my voice clear and strong despite the tears. “I’ll never choose you. Never. You want me to pick between you and Lila? Fine. I choose to die so Lila can live.”