NovelNext Chapter 25 To Us
Chapter 25 To Us
"Ethan Foster!" Sophia Williams' voice was laced with despair, her body trembling with cold. "If you want me dead, then go ahead and do as you please."
The words froze Ethan mid-motion.
Seizing the moment, Sophia shoved him away with all her strength. Ethan stumbled back, his face ashen and disheveled.
"Dead? Sophia, is Lucas Harrison's child so important to you? Important enough that you'd rather die than lose it?"
A sharp, aching pain twisted through his heart like a thin wire, long and relentless. His eyes burned red with unshed tears.
There was a time when Sophia had wept uncontrollably after he was shot, swearing that if he died on the operating table, she would follow without hesitation.
That Sophia, the one who had loved him so fiercely, so openly, had been lost to time.
Ethan touched his face, his fingers coming away wet. He slumped to the floor in silence, knowing he had lost.
Lost completely.
The moment he chose to betray her, he had forfeited her love forever.
A sudden buzz from his pocket broke the silence.
Ethan answered the call, his friend's frantic voice crackling through.
"Get out of there! Lucas is already on his way up the mountain!"
The call ended, draining the last of Ethan's strength.
These past few days, he had watched Lucas' desperation, his fear for Sophia.
"Go," Ethan whispered.
Sophia hesitated for only a second before bolting for the door.
Outside, she found herself on a desolate mountain. She ran like a madwoman down the slope, crashing straight into Lucas and his men.
"Lucas!"
"Sophia!"
She threw herself into his arms, tears streaming down her face. She had been so afraid, afraid she would never see him again.
Lucas' voice shook. These days had nearly driven him insane.
"I finally found you..."
He checked her over urgently. "Are you hurt? How did you get here?"
Before she could answer, an explosion ripped through the air behind them.
Sophia turned slowly. The cabin erupted in flames, debris scattering as heat washed over them.
Lucas covered her eyes.
"Don't look, Sophia."
She closed them.
For a fleeting moment, she saw Ethan at fifteen, pointing at the brightest star in the sky, promising to stay with her forever.
At twenty, when she had wanted to jump from the rooftop, it was Ethan who had pulled her back, begging her through tears not to leave.
At twenty-three, they had their first child. Ethan had named him Noah, pressing his ear to her belly, laughing as he called the baby well-behaved.
At twenty-six, their story ended.
On the day Sophia married Lucas, Ethan's mother appeared.
Her gaze dropped to Sophia's slightly rounded stomach. "Life takes its own course," she murmured.
Then she handed Sophia a document.
"Ethan wanted you to have this. He said it always belonged to you."
Inside were company shares, 81% ownership, everything Ethan had.
Sophia didn't sign. She wanted nothing of his, not even money.
This life now was the best outcome.
Ethan's mother didn't push. She only asked Sophia to visit him once before her honeymoon, to burn an offering, say a few words. A mother's last gift to her son.
Sophia agreed.
On a quiet afternoon, she and Lucas went together.
At a flower shop, she bought lilies, Ethan's favorite, and placed them on his grave.
The photo on the headstone was unchanged: proud, confident, as if time had left him untouched. Only they had changed.
As Sophia turned to leave, her eyes caught a familiar name beside Ethan's.
To our beloved Noah.
Later, the couple returned to Switzerland for their honeymoon.
Walking through their old home, reliving memories, Sophia felt nothing but happiness.
They curled up on the sofa, explored the town. Lucas never left her side, protective of her and their unborn child.
Sophia teased him once, asking if he'd fallen for her at first sight, was that why he'd moved her next door?
Lucas didn't deny it.
He held her from behind, whispering about his happiness.
A heavy snow fell in Switzerland, blanketing the city, erasing every trace of the past, smoothing over the quiet within.
And two lonely souls, now entwined, loved and cherished each other until the end.