Shadows Gathered Under Fading Lights by Nyx Rowan novel Chapter 87

“Olivia, you’ve been asleep for a month. Why won’t you wake up? I miss you so much…” Ethan murmured, holding her

hand tightly.

Suddenly, he felt the faintest movement in her fingers. He froze, forcing himself to calm down and staring intently at

her hand.

She moved. She really moved.

Overcome with joy, Ethan quickly called for the doctor. After a flurry of activity, Olivia finally regained consciousness. She

was still weak, though, and drifted back to sleep soon after.

Ethan, overwhelmed with relief, didn’t notice the fleeting, complicated look Olivia gave him the moment she woke up.

In the following days, Ethan never left her side. He helped her with rehabilitation, stayed with her around the clock, and

only left when absolutely necessary.

But since waking up, Olivia had been unusually quiet. She spent most of her time staring into space, barely acknowledging Ethan’s constant chatter.

He noticed something was off, but assumed it was just part of her recovery and didn’t press her.

A few days before she was fully recovered, Olivia began finding small excuses!

away.

At first, he worried that she’d disappear the moment he stepped out. But each time, when he returned, she was there waiting for him like nothing had happened. Gradually, his guard dropped.

That day, Olivia once again told Ethan she was craving chicken noodle soup from Maplewood and Sticky Toffee Pudding from Sunmere. Without thinking too much of it, Ethan grabbed his keys.

“Be good and wait for me at home, okay? I’ll be back soon. If you think of anything else you want, just message me.”

But as he drove, a strange anxiety settled in his chest, eerily similar to the feeling he had the day of her accident. His heart pounded uncontrollably. Instinctively, he pulled out his phone and called her.

“We’re sorry. The number you dialed is currently powered off,” said the automated voice.

The moment he heard it, dread seized him.

He made a sharp U–turn and sped home, running red light after red light. When he arrived, he didn’t even turn off the engine. He leapt from the car and rushed inside.

The house was empty.

Room by room, he searched the villa, but no sign of Olivia anywhere.

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The unease that had been gnawing at him all day now turned into full–blown panic.

On the coffee table in the living room sat Olivia’s phone and a letter.

With trembling hands, Ethan picked it up and unfolded the page.

Ethan.

I had a long dream.

In it, you were just like Sebastian and the rest of my family.

You only had eyes for Lillian.

Even because of a few words she said, you tortured me endlessly.

The dream ended with me jumping into the freezing river, no struggle, no hesitation, no regrets.

After waking up in the hospital, it took me a long time to accept that this reality was different from the dream.

But even so, I still couldn’t accept it completely.

I couldn’t pretend none of it ever happened.

I know you had the same dream too. That’s why you’ve been so afraid of

There are so many things I want to say, but at the same time… maybe there’s nothing left to say.

I hope your life from now on is peaceful and healthy.

Just without me in it.

As Ethan finished reading, everything that had felt off over the past few weeks suddenly made sense.

She had been reborn too.

Tears fell from his eyes freely.

The sorrow became unbearable, and just before he lost consciousness, he heard the beeping of machines and urgent

voices around him.

Pain shot through his body. When he opened his eyes again, he was in a hospital emergency room, dazed and confused.

It was just a dream.

But why even in the dream couldn’t it have a happy ending?

Olivia, do you really not want to forgive me?

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I’m coming with you.

As the last tear slipped from the corner of Ethan’s eye, the heart monitor let out a piercing flatline.

The once–steady rhythm on the screen was suddenly yanked straight, like an invisible hand had pulled the pulse out of

his body until only a blindingly straight line remained.

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I had just closed a $300 million deal for the company. My husband, Ethan Foster, was so thrilled that he joked about

getting me

watch. Grinning, he grabbed a marker and sketched a cartoon watch on my wrist.

“Sweetheart,” he said, voice teasing, ‘the company’s taken a hit this year. I’ll get you a real one next year, promise.”

Later that night, I was scrolling through Instagram when a post from Zoey Shaw–Ethan’s assistant–popped up.

There she was, beaming under the glow of a rooftop candle display, while Ethan by her side. On her wrist? A

limited–edition watch worth over $100 million. The caption read:

“When a man truly loves you, he gives you something no one else has.”

So, the problem wasn’t the company’s finances.

It was that I wasn’t worth it.

I didn’t throw a fit. I just quietly liked the post.

Her comment section blew up within minutes.

Not long after, Ethan called me, panic thick in his voice.

“Babe, it’s not what it looks like! I only bought her that watch to boost morale. Motivate

You know?”

“Just unlike the post, clear it up in the comments, and I’ll make it up to you. How about a honeymoon this year, huh?”

I was tired. Tired of the empty promises, the gaslighting, the crumbs.

“Don’t bother,” I said, flat. “Let’s just get a divorce.”

Silence. Then his voice sharpened.

“I was trying to motivate the team, Jane. Half the company belongs to you–what I do benefits you, too! If you can’t appreciate that, fine. But tossing out the word divorce like that? That’s not funny.”

“Marriage isn’t a damn joke. I’m warning you–don’t do this again.”

“You had your chance to help me out. You chose not to. So don’t blame me for what happens next.”

He hung up, his anger still buzzing in the silence.

I looked up at the divorce window ahead and let out a long breath.

He didn’t understand–I was done.

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Enemies team up to get back at exes, but lines blur

fact

This time, I meant it.

The line was long, I sat there with my number ticket, scrolling through my phone. Zoey’s Instagram comments were still

flooding in–most of them from my team, venting their anger on my behalf.

*Stealing someone’s husband? Your manners are impressive. Mind teaching me how to social climb that fast?”

“So sucking up gets you further than hard work. Damn. Wish I’d known sooner.”

The sarcasm was relentless.

No wonder Ethan called, practically begging me to take it down. His darling Zoey was getting dragged.

But the thing is… everything they said was true.

Zoey had a pretty face and not much else. But Ethan had still turned down Ivy League grads just to make room for her, a

community college hire he bent the rules to bring in.

The office buzzed with rumors. People weren’t happy. When I asked Ethan about it, he just gave me a look like I’d let

him down.

“I thought you were different,” he said coldly. “I didn’t think you were the type to judge someone by their degrees.”

“Did you forget why we started this company? To give everyone a fair shot–level the p

I bought into it. Guilt clawed at me. I told HR to focus on talent, not resumes.

gfield

Then the next person they hired–a kid from a no–name liberal arts college–got torn apart by Ethan for a full

afternoon.

“Is this a damn garbage dump now? Anyone off the street can just stroll in? If you can’t even handle hiring, maybe you

should go!”

So much for fairness. Turns out, equality only applied to Zoey.

Just then, a message popped up from one of my girls:

“Boss, don’t stress–we’ve got your back!”

The flood of goofy reaction stickers and emojis made me smile for the first time all day. I was just about to tell them to ease off a little when a ping echoed from the team chat.

Ethan had posted a disciplinary memo:

“Any employee caught slacking on their phones during work hours will have their pay halved, performance bonus revoked. Repeat offenders will be terminated immediately.”

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I opened the attachment, scanned the list–and nearly laughed.