His Secretary Takes Charge

Chapter 5

"The media's going to have a field day if they catch wind of this!" Mr. Carter snapped, voice shaking with panic.

"Ethan treats you so well, Grace! Don't let your emotions get the better of you. Marriage is sacred, don't throw it away over a misunderstanding," Mrs. Carter pleaded, tears brimming in her eyes.

Treats me well... The words stabbed at me, sharp and cold.

"If he treats me so well, why isn't he here right now?"

The room fell into a heavy silence. Ethan's parents exchanged a look, guilty, uncertain.

"Do you want to know where your son is?" I asked quietly.

I reached under my pillow, pulled out my phone, and opened Chloe Brooks' latest post on Twitter. I turned the screen toward them.

It was a photo of Chloe and Ethan in a passionate kiss. She was in a barely-there swimsuit, arms around his neck, while he looked at her like she was his whole world.

The caption read:

"Loving you is the bravest thing I've ever done."

Color drained from both their faces. Mr. Carter didn't say a word, he just grabbed his phone and stormed out of the room.

The silence that followed felt like a weight pressing down on my chest.

Mrs. Carter finally broke it, voice trembling. "Grace, please… I'll talk to Ethan. He's still young. He'll apologize. You've been through so much together, can't you give him another chance?"

I looked at her, eyes clear and calm.

"Mrs. Carter, this wasn't a one-time thing. He's cheated on me over and over again. He doesn't love me, he doesn't even respect me. If your son-in-law treated your daughter like this, would you tell her to forgive him?"

She looked away.

"My parents may have passed young, but they taught me better than this. I won't betray their memory by staying silent."

Before she could respond, the door slammed open.

Ethan barged in, tossed a bouquet of white roses onto my lap, and scowled.

"You really outdid yourself this time, Grace, using your 'condition' to get my parents on your side?"

He reached out and grabbed my arm, hard. "Let's go. We're getting that divorce right now."

"Ethan, stop it!" Mrs. Carter cried, rushing forward to separate us.

"Mom, don't let her fool you! She's always been manipulative. I know exactly what she's doing."

Before he could finish, pain exploded in my chest. I gasped, my knees buckled, and everything around me blurred. Cold sweat soaked through my hospital gown as I collapsed to the floor, struggling to breathe.

Emily had just returned with a tray of food. The second she saw me, she sprinted into the hallway, screaming for help.

Nurses burst in moments later, wheeling a monitor and an oxygen tank. One of them pressed an oxygen mask to my face while another adjusted the flow.

"She has asthma!" one nurse barked at Ethan. "You didn't know she had asthma?!"

Emily's eyes blazed. "Of course he didn't. He didn't even know she was pregnant, let alone that he nearly killed her!"

Ethan stood frozen, staring down at me, guilt flickering across his face for the first time.

"I… I didn't know. Grace, I'm sorry. I didn't know you had asthma…"

I didn't answer. What was the point? He'd already made his choice.

Emily walked over, calm and furious all at once, and slapped him hard across the face.

Neither of his parents tried to stop her.

Then, she went to the drawer, grabbed my medical file, and tossed it at his feet. The papers scattered across the floor like shattered glass.

"Take a good look, Ethan Carter," she said coldly. "Grace was pregnant. And thanks to you, the baby's gone. The doctors had to remove her uterus. She'll never carry a child again, not because of fate, but because of you."

Ethan dropped to his knees, fumbling with the papers. His hands shook as he read through the cold, clinical facts that spelled out everything he'd destroyed.

And when the tears finally came, they splashed down onto the paper like the truth he could no longer deny.