Trapped in the Don's Vow novel Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Ethan froze for a second, then fumbled as he slid the ring onto my ring finger.

It fit perfectly.

He smiled with reddened eyes.

“I knew it… it’s perfect on you.”

Julian would never understand any of this.

“No… that’s impossible…”

Julian shook his head, his gaze unfocused.

“Nina, marriage is a big deal. You can’t just pick someone to get back at me!”

”

“He’s just pitying you…”

“Mr. Hayes, visiting hours are over.”

Ethan’s voice came from the doorway.

He was wearing his white coat, clipboard in hand, his tone calm but final.

Julian shot to his feet and blocked my bed.

“I’m her ex-husband. I’m the one who knows her best. Who are you to interfere?”

Ethan glanced at him coolly.

“Mr. Hayes, you ignore your own wife and child to fuss over my fiancée.”

“Is that what gets you off?”

The words cut straight into Julian’s most sensitive nerve.

He exploded, grabbing Ethan by the collar.

“Say that again!”

Ethan didn’t dodge.

He simply flicked his eyes toward Julian’s vibrating phone.

“You should take the call first, Mr. Hayes.”

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“Something urgent seems to be happening at home.”

Julian froze, then pulled out his phone.

Seeing Summer’s name, he frowned and answered.

The next second, his face changed completely.

“What?! What happened to Summer?!”

Summer’s mother’s sobbing voice came through the line.

“She had severe postpartum hemorrhaging and passed out!”

“There’s no one with the baby. Julian, come back now!”

Julian’s hand went slack, the phone slipping to the floor.

He looked at me, then at the door.

In the end, he clenched his teeth, turned around, and ran out.

Ethan bent down, picked up the phone, and handed it back to me.

“Postpartum complications.”

“Her condition isn’t good. She may not be able to have children again.”

I was stunned.

Summer loved children so much.

She had even orchestrated a fake death for one.

If she knew the outcome…

“She chose it herself,” Ethan said calmly as he tucked the blanket around me.

“Everyone has to pay for their own choices.”

My treatment lasted a full year.

When spring came, Ethan discharged me.

“Nina, congratulations,” he said.

“The first phase of treatment is over. Next comes the second.”

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能

“Learning how to be happy.”

We rented a small house in the suburbs, with its own little yard.

We planted all kinds of flowers.

Ethan was still my doctor after transferring my care, with fixed sessions twice a week.

But he was also my fiancé.

He cooked with me, went grocery shopping with me, watched movies and took walks with me.

He never avoided the past, but he used warmth to cover the scars.

He knew I was afraid of fire, so he took me to learn pottery.

I shaped clay with my own hands on the wheel, then watched it go into the kiln.

“See?” he said softly, holding my hand.

“Fire isn’t only about destruction. It can create, too.”

When he knew I feared the idea of home, he slowly set up our house with me, letting me make every

decision.

“This is our home, Nina,” he said gently.

“You can do anything here.”

“You can cry, you can fall apart. I’ll be here for all of it.”

Little by little, I got better.

I still had nightmares. I still had days when my emotions dipped.

But I no longer hurt myself. I no longer wanted to die.

Ethan told me, “You’re already amazing. Braver than anyone I’ve ever known.”