NovelNext Chapter 3
Chapter 3
I stood up and slapped him before he could speak.
"Who said you could give her my things? Have you no shame?"
Ethan grabbed my wrist, pinning me against the wall. "Everything here is bought with my money. I decide who uses what. You live under my roof, eat my food, and dare raise a hand at me?"
"Olivia's ten times the woman you are. Look how she tolerates your tantrums without a word. Pathetic."
His grip left bruises.
Olivia emerged in my pajamas, tearful. "Ethan, Lily just called. She invited you and Sophia to the club."
"Sophia, I know you're mad. I won't ask Ethan to accompany me anymore. Even if I'm dying... I'll suffer alone."
She clutched my hand, spewing empty promises.
Lily?
Since when did that rich-girl clique invite me? They'd ditch me the first chance they got.
I waved weakly. "Get out. I'm exhausted."
Ethan dragged me up, ignoring my condition. "We're going to the hospital. If you're fine, we'll join them. Stop complaining I never take you out."
"I said no!"
I fought, but he forced me into the car.
In the backseat, I watched Olivia point at the "Princess Orange Only" decal she'd stuck on the passenger seat.
"Ethan, you actually kept my joke decal!"
"It's just a sticker. Makes you happy?"
She beamed. "Girls love little gestures, right, Sophia?"
Her smirk made my fever spike.
"Pigs get branded before slaughter. Guess you're no different."
Silence.
She picked at the decal with her nail file, muttering apologies, the noise grating. I put on headphones.
Ethan kept glancing at me in the rearview mirror, for once ignoring Olivia's theatrics.
"Olivia, she's really sick. I'm taking her to the hospital."
"Of course! Sophia's health comes first."
At the hospital, my condition worsened to pneumonia. The doctor ordered immediate admission.
Olivia fidgeted, checking her phone nonstop.
Ethan noticed. "Go have fun. I'll stay."
She pouted. "It's exhausting caring for someone. I don't want you to suffer alone."
He cupped her face. She burst into tears, as if she were the patient, she the victim.
Ethan hugged her, murmuring comforts, blind to the irony.
In the end, he left me for her.
When the nurse came to change my IV, no one answered her calls.
Near midnight, the stench of alcohol woke me.
Olivia's fingers were tangled in Ethan's hair, her lipstick smeared across his neck.
They stumbled from my room into the hallway, only stopping when a nurse scolded them.
My doctor smirked. "That your husband?"
I nodded.
"And you're just... watching?"
"Should I applaud? I'm too tired."
He eyed my empty bedside, no food, no water, no caretaker, and handed me his number.
"Call if you need anything."
Ethan barely visited. His texts were empty promises: "Tell me if you feel worse. I'll come."
But my messages bounced back, blocked.
His social media vanished from my feed.
Worse, when I went to pay the hospital bill, I discovered all my money was gone, only $0.10 remained.
The doctor lent me the fees.
Meanwhile, Olivia posted photos from a luxury island resort with Ethan, wearing my clothes, carrying my purse, surrounded by a truckload of flowers he bought... with my money.
After discharge, her text arrived:
"Don't bother Ethan. He thinks you're disgusting."
I called the police.
"I'd like to report theft and unauthorized transactions from my account."
Then, to repay the doctor's kindness, I accepted his invitation to finally see that sunrise.
We hiked, picnicked, shared hotpot and drinks.
He was good company, steady, grounding.
When he dropped me home, I froze.
Ethan, Olivia, and his mother stood waiting, faces twisted in judgment.
"Sophia White. You shameless whore."
Ethan seized my collar. "You had us arrested just to screw some quack?"
His mother sneered. "Inside. No need to air dirty laundry."
The living room was packed, my parents, his parents, even my old professor, Professor Hayes.
Olivia flung down photos of me and the doctor.
Ethan's mother tsked. "I always said you were trash. Married a few years, already cheating?"
She eyed my parents, expecting outrage.
But my father stared at the brace on my wrist. "How'd you get hurt?"
I'd forgotten, Ethan had shoved me during Olivia's last visit, fracturing it.
"Oh. Ethan pushed me."
My mother stood abruptly. "'Accidentally' broke your wrist? Explain."
Ethan smirked, confident I'd cover for him like always.
But not this time.
"It was our anniversary. We were supposed to watch the sunrise. But Olivia wanted to go, so Ethan left me on the mountain overnight."
Crash!
My father shattered a vase. Shards sliced Ethan's arm. Olivia gasped.
"Sophia! You're just deflecting because we caught you cheating!"
"Deflecting?"
I activated the projector, displaying every photo Olivia had sent me.
The explicit images turned the elders pale.
"Forgot about these, Olivia?"
I ripped open her collar, exposing fresh marks.
"Even if Ethan and Olivia crossed lines, that doesn't excuse your infidelity!" Ethan's mother snapped.
But the evidence spoke for itself.