She Became His World by Turning Me Into the Villain novel Chapter 2

**Married by Mistake, Loved by Fate — by L. Winters**

**Chapter 2**

As I stepped through the threshold of my home, the familiar scent of old paper and paint greeted me, wrapping around me like an old, worn blanket. I made my way to my desk, a chaotic landscape of messy sketches and half-finished ideas sprawled across the surface. Each drawing held a piece of my soul, yet they seemed to mock me in their disarray.

Summer’s comment echoed in my mind, sharp and unrelenting: I never did make it to college, and that door to a different life had slammed shut before I even knew it was there. The thought sent a pang of regret through me as I began to sift through the artwork, trying to find some semblance of order.

As I pushed the sketches back into the cabinet, my fingers brushed against something unexpected—an old envelope, yellowed with age and tucked away in the shadows of forgotten memories. The handwriting on the front was strong and deliberate, unmistakably masculine, and it read, “[For Nora Reed].” My heart quickened. I recognized it immediately; it was a letter from Ethan.

I could still remember the last words he had written, a promise laced with sorrow, claiming he would give me everything he had. But in the end, it was I who lost everything because of him. The weight of those words dragged me back into the depths of my past, where memories swirled like autumn leaves in the wind.

Ethan and I had been inseparable since childhood, two souls intertwined by fate. We had grown up in the same apartment complex, our lives woven together like the threads of a tapestry. Back then, his family was whole, vibrant, and filled with laughter. But as his father’s business soared to new heights, the warmth of that family began to fade. Ethan, feeling the chill of his home, would often dart over to my place, claiming that my house felt like a sanctuary, a real home, while his felt like a hollow shell.

I could still remember the fateful night when everything changed. Ethan was just six, a bright-eyed boy full of dreams, when his father’s betrayal shattered their world. His mother, heartbroken and furious, unleashed her wrath upon their apartment, smashing cherished belongings and, in the process, smashing her love for Ethan as well. The divorce turned their lives into a cruel game, with his parents tossing him back and forth like a forgotten toy.

What had once been a warm family of three transformed into an empty echo, a house devoid of laughter and love. My parents, sensing Ethan’s pain, took him in without hesitation. They welcomed him into our home as though he were their own flesh and blood. From that moment forward, we were bound together, two halves of a whole, navigating the tumultuous waters of childhood and adolescence side by side.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify