They Celebrated Her Rescue, No One Noticed I Was Missing novel Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Back then, Ethan had lowered his head and kissed the tears from the corners of my eyes.

“If I were the one whose life had been stolen,” he said softly, “I would’ve burned everything down.”

“Your family couldn’t see what she was doing to you. But I could. I saw how hard you tried to act strong. You

were the only one fighting alone.”

He brushed my hair back from my face.

“You’re too kind, Evelyn. That’s why you kept losing.”

I broke down in his arms that day.

“When they brought me back,” I sobbed, “I thought I’d finally have parents who loved me.”

“But they chose Audrey anyway. Why? Her mother switched us at birth. She stole my life. She let me grow up

in hell for sixteen years.”

“My own parents still defended her. Why didn’t they ever choose me?”

My voice cracked.

“I don’t have a home anymore, Ethan. I don’t belong anywhere.”

He held me until I stopped shaking.

“You do have a home,” he whispered.

“With me.”

“As long as I’m here, you’ll never be alone again.”

That boy, red-eyed and desperate to protect me, slowly blurred into the man standing in front of me,now.

The man shielding Vanessa Hale.

The man looking at me like I was the problem.

The shift was suffocating.

All the anger drained out of me at once. I just stood there.

My tears wouldn’t stop.

Ethan.

Chapter 2

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You once told me I had a home.

When did that stop being true?

He noticed the tears.

For a second, something flickered across his face. Regret, maybe.

He reached toward me.

“Evelyn, just stop making this harder than it has to be,” he said. “After Vanessa has the baby, I’ll buy her a place. She and the child won’t bother you again.”

He said it like he was offering a compromise.

“You’ll still be Mrs. Sterling. You’ll still have your place in society. Nothing changes.”

Before his hand could touch me, Vanessa’s voice cut in, trembling.

“Ethan… my stomach hurts. Something’s wrong. The baby…”

His expression changed instantly.

He bent down, scooped her up, and rushed toward the door.

Then he paused.

“Bring Evelyn,” he ordered the bodyguard.

At the hospital, he carried Vanessa straight into the exam room. I followed, dazed, the bodyguard’s hand clamped around my arm.

Two minutes later, Ethan came back out.

“Vanessa needs blood,” he said.

They pushed me into a chair,

When I saw the nurse preparing the needle, everything snapped into focus.

“You’re not serious,” I said, staring at him. “You know I pass out around needles.”

I tried to stand.

The bodyguard forced me back down.

Ethan didn’t even look uncomfortable.

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“Just get through it,” he said. “It won’t take long.”

“If she needs blood, use the blood bank,” I shot back. “That’s what it’s for.”

He sighed, almost amused.

“Vanessa’s upset. You slapped her. She wants your blood.”

He said it calmly. Reasonably.

“As a favor to me, let this go. I told them not to take too much. Four hundred milliliters. That’s all.”

Four hundred milliliters.

Like it was nothing.

Like I was nothing.

Chapter 2